Anglo-French war broke out in 1337, they staunchly supported their old
allies and fought by their side. Interrupted by short periods of truce,
border raids went on in Britain with varied success: the English were
defeated at Otterburn in 1388, but took their revenge at Homildon in 1402.
On the French front the Scots also took part in every major action. Thus,
when Joan of Arc raised the siege of Orleans, she was welcomed to the
city by its Scottish bishop, John Carmichael, and escorted by her loyal
Garde Ecossaise (their march tune, used by Robert Burns for his stirring
hymn \"Scots wha hae wi Wallace bled\", is still played in the French army,
too).
Anglo-Scottish hostilities went on until the mid-sixteenth century. Still
sung today in many a ballad on both sides, they were replete with acts of
valour and treachery, good fortune and tragedy, as when the Scottish King
James II fell by the bursting of his own cannon, and the prophecy that a
dead man would win Roxburgh Castle came true. In 1513 on the field of
Flodden the fighting was so desperate that the king of Scots, heading the
charge, broke the enemy centre to within a spear-length of the English
commander - only to perish and lose the day with the flower of his
chivalry. One of the final chapters in the Three Hundred Years\' War is
known as \"Rough Wooing\", when Henry VIII of England forcibly attempted to
procure the infant Mary Queen of Scots as bride for his son — all in vain.
The outcome of this deadly struggle (for survival of a nation was at
stake) seems nothing less than a miracle, given the overwhelming odds.
Possessing at least five times more manpower and wealth, England also
employed mercenary units from overseas, and even some trusty Scottish
barons with their resources. Her armies virtually always had sound
advantages in experience, discipline, armament and sheer strength. Yet for
all the utmost exertions of successive English kings and generals, for the
immense loss of gold and blood, they only managed to acquire the border
town of Berwick-upon-Tweed (it changed hands fourteen times) and the Isle
of Man. The only source of Scotland\'s endurance lay in the spirit of her
defenders and her integrity. Patriotic heroes like Wallace and Bruce did
inspire, but even when these were exiled or confined the leaderless Scots
still fought, as they declared, \"for the Lion\", the heraldic symbol of
their realm. Knight and cleric, tradesman and peasant, Highlander and
Lowlander embraced the common cause.
And the ultimate irony was that the crown of England shortly fell to the
Scottish royal house of Stewart.
Reformation
No part of Europe could stay away from the powerful social and spiritual
currents of approaching change. In the later Middle Ages ever louder calls
were heard against the hallowed order of the church. Martin Luther\'s
theses of 1517 announced a deep and lasting religious divide which is
still there.
Scotland\'s two archbishops (St. Andrews and Glasgow), eleven bishops and
several dozen abbots and priors may not have been opulent by higher
continental standards, but for a country with rather limited resources
they were endowed extremely well. For centuries the crown and secular
lords lavished the church, which took a fiercely patriotic stance in the
wars of independence, with estates, privileges and donations. As a result
it amassed, allegedly, over half of national wealth. The prelates often
acted as principal advisors to the government in supreme offices of state
and held sway in the cultural and moral sphere.
On the other hand, the corruption and venality of those expected to be
models of virtue were increasingly deplored and condemned, not least by
clergymen themselves. While a king\'s bastard sons, teenagers and even
infants, were ordained bishops and abbots to enjoy vast ecclesiastical
revenues, some parishes could not afford to repair their dilapidated
churches, and some priests did not know enough Latin to celebrate mass.
The clergy met with growing indignation of the faithful as well as envy
and greed of the gentry, yearning for its riches.
The choice lay between Catholic France and Protestant England. For a long
while the position of the former party, led by Cardinal Beaton and Marie
de Guise, mother and regent to young Mary, queen of Scots, looked
impregnable. The age-old alliance with France was sealed by the legal
introduction of a single Franco-Scottish citizenship and the wedding, in
1558, of the queen of Scots and the Dauphin who soon became king of
France. The English, for their part, toiled hard to arouse and exploit the
Protestant movement, and changed tactics from crude force to diplomatic
pressure, intrigue and bribery. A sudden outburst determined the course of
history.
On 11 May, 1559 in St. John\'s Church at Perth a stern long-bearded priest
named John Knox, who had collaborated with Calvin at Geneva, preached a
sermon \"vehement against idolatry\". The inflamed mob set to desecrate the
altars and ravage religious houses all over the burgh. Within weeks the
scene recurred in many other places, and Protestant nobles styling
themselves Lords of the Congregation rose an armed rebellion with English
backing. In the midst of resolute measures against them the queen mother
died, and the Catholics lost her devoted leadership; their cause badly
lacked an exponent of Knox\'s calibre. The rebels concluded a treaty of
alliance with England and summoned the Reformation Parliament which
abolished papal supremacy, forbade the Latin mass and adopted \"The
Confession of Faith\", stating the Protestant doctrine.
The radical Calvinist approach meant that old hierarchy yielded to Kirk
(i.e. church) Sessions of elected elders and local Presbyteries, empowered
to ordain ministers. Catholics, of course, were not exterminated, but
became a minority restricted in civil and religious rights. The
Reformation had a profound, if contradictory, effect on Scottish life and
mentality. A new national system of education emerged with schools
provided in every parish. On the other hand, the development of secular
literature and fine arts, especially music and theatre, was stifled by
emphatic Calvinst demands for pious austerity. Most sculptured or painted
images and all stained glass windows were smashed by bigots.
It was this country, abruptly alienated from France and Rome in favour of
England, which the Catholic Mary, queen of Scots and dowager queen of
France, returned to govern in 1561. A widow at eighteen, famed for beauty
and charm, she also revealed admirable courage. For most of her short
reign she succeeded in keeping her contumacious nobles at bay, and pursued
the wise policy of religious toleration. All too soon, however, she gave
in to passions of the heart, which proved baneful. Both her subsequent
marriages — to Lord Darnley and, after his murder, to the Earl of
Bothwell, who was widely blamed for the deed, - were rash and disastrous.
General resentment and revolt followed, and Mary was forced to abdicate in
1567. She made her last fatal error by seeking refuge with her cousin
Elizabeth of England, whose very throne she claimed herself, since in the
eyes of Catholic Europe Elizabeth was illegitimate. For the remaining
nineteen years of her life Mary faded away in English custody and was
beheaded by orders of her cousin.
Mary\'s words \"In my end is my beginning\" came true. Her fate commands a
timeless fascination, and no woman in history surpasses her poetic and
artistic renown. The prophecy was also fulfilled in another sense. In 1603
Mary\'s son James VI, king of Scots, succeeded the murderess of his mother
to the English throne, and became James 1 of Great Britain.
The union of the crowns took shape. Naturally, the king and his court
removed to the luxuries of London, which, for Scotland, meant increasing
neglect, drain of talent and funds, and growth of English influences, but
in every respect she remained a country apart. On the whole, James showed
himself a skillful statesman, generally in control of his motley dominions
with little coercion or bloodhed.
Covenant and Revolution
In 1625 the ill-starred Charles I inherited the sceptre of his father. A
Scot by birth, if not by conviction, he promptly revealed autocratic
leanings and a firm belief in his divine rights. Charles\'s proud title,
\"Defender of the Faith\", inevitably raised the vital question - which one?
His English subjects were mostly Episcopalian, the Irish adhered to
Catholicism, the majority of Scots were strict Presbyterians, with other
confessions also represented in each case. The king\'s decision to enforce
a version of Anglican liturgy in Scotland plunged the British Isles into
chaos, strife and revolution.
In 1638 a multitude of Scots of every rank, enraged by \"popish\"
innovations, signed the manifesto known as the National Covenant. It
protested against the \"corruptions of the public government of the Kirk\"
as well as \"our poor country being made an English Province\", and pledged
to uphold \"the true religion\". Although the document promised to abide by
the king\'s authority, before long the Covenanters came to grips with the
Royalists. Needing money to deal with the insurrection, Charles turned to
his London parliament, which openly defied him. All parties (far from
unanimous within themselves) were now entangled in armed conflict and
tried to play off one of their adversaries against the other. At first the
English parliament, hard pressed by the king\'s supporters, appealed for
