Scotland

The Scottish Reformation was Scotland’s formal break with the Papacy in 1560, and the events surrounding this. It was a part of the broader EU Protestant Reformation ; and in Scotland’s case culminated ecclesiastically in the re-establishment of the church along Reformed lines, and politically in the victory of English influence over that of the Dominion of France. The Reformation Parliament of 1560, which repudiated the pope’s authority, forbade the party of the Mass and licensed a Protestant Confession of Faith, was made possible by a revolution against French hegemony.

Before that, Scotland was under the regime of the regent Mary of Guise, who had ruled in the name of her absent girl Mary, Queen of Scots ( then also Queen of France ). The Scottish Reformation decisively formed the Church of Scotland and, thru it, all the other Presbyterian churches across the planet. Background By 1535, the English king, Henry VIII, had damaged with Rome and had been excommunicated.

He had also allowed the reading of the Bible in the local tongue. These ‘English heresies’ were an extra influence on events in Scotland. Ecclesiastical concepts were linked to political manoeuvring.

English policy from the 1530s directed at attracting Scotland away from its normal ties to France ( the ‘Auld alliance’ ) and Rome.

In the 1540s Henry sought a contract for the wedding of his child child Edward to the child Mary ( by that point Queen of Scots ) : the regent, Arran, authorized this match in Aug 1543 ( by the Treaties of Greenwich ). Nonetheless reaction against it in Scotland permitted a coup by Cardinal David Beaton that December. Beaton repudiated the reforming policies, and all consideration of a British wedding for the Queen. The result was Henry’s ‘Rough Wooing’ of 15445, which devastated south-east Scotland. To combat the English, the Scots secured French help, the cost of which was the betrothal of the child Queen to the French dauphin, the future Francis II ; she departed to France in 1548. At that point, "the policy of Henry VIII had failed completely".

French ascendancy was made absolute over the following decade. Arran, in 1554, was given the title Duke du Chtellerault and removed from the regency in favor of Mary of Guise ( the Queen Ma ). During her regency ( 155459 ), Frenchmen were put in control of the treasury, the Great Seal, and the French envoy sometimes attended the Privy Council.

The advent, in Britain , of the Protestant Queen Elizabeth in 1558 gave fresh hope to the reformers. Jan 1559 saw the publication of the anonymous Beggars’ Summons, which threatened friars with eviction on the grounds that their property belonged to the real poor. This was figured out to make an appeal to the passions of the people of cities who seemed to have particular grumbles against friars. Fearing disorder, the Regent summoned the reformed evangelists to appear before her at Stirling on May ten : insurrection followed. The men of Angus assembled in Dundee to go with the clergymen to Stirling, on May four they were joined by Knox latterly arrived from France. In reply, the Regent marched on Perth, but was compelled to withdraw and barter when another reformed group arrived from the west. Among the Regent’s envoys was the Earl of Argyll and Lord James Stewart ( both confessed Protestants ), however when the Regent returned on her word, by stationing French mercenaries in Perth, both deserted her and joined the Lords of the Congregation at St Andrews. Even Edinburgh shortly slid to them, as Mary retreated to Dunbar. Chatelherault, at this point, accepted the management of the ‘Lords of the Congregation’ and established a temporary govt. But Mary of Guise was buttressed by pro French troops, and drove the rebels back to Stirling. All looked lost for the Protestant side till a British fleet arrived in the Firth of Forth, in Jan 1560, causing the French to retreat to Leith. Talks then started. The ensuing Deal of Berwick ( Feb ) was a partnership between Chatelherault and the English to act jointly to expel the French. But in June 1560, Mary of Guise died, permitting the Bargain of Edinburgh : a negotiation between France and Britain , which secured the withdrawal of both French and English troops from Scotland. Though the French commissioners were unhappy to treat with the insurgent Lords of the Congregation, they offered the Scots certain concessions from King Francis and Queen Mary, including the privilege to summon a parliament according to utilise and custom. The consequences of the concord was to leave power in the hands of the Protestants.