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Mary,
Queen of Scots (II)
George
Buchanan
George Buchanan, a Gael from Kilearn, was one of Europe's
most brilliant Renaissance scholars. He worked and
travelled across the continent and was ‘the’
Latin poet and philosopher of his age. On the return
of Mary, Queen of Scots, he acted as her court poet,
but he was also a convinced Calvinist and a moderator
of the Church of Scotland.
Through his books Buchanan came up with a very radical
justification for the overthrow of Mary, Queen of
Scots. He asserted that the ancient Gaelic Kings of
Scotland had been elected and not divinely appointed.
Hence they were subject to the law of Scotland and
not above it. So, if a monarch broke his or her contract
with the people and became a tyrant, then in law,
the people, by which he meant the Scots nobility,
were entitled to depose that monarch. In Buchanan's
view, Mary had broken her contract and had been legally
deposed, but, just in case this argument failed to
convince the people, he also started the myth of Mary’s
promiscuous lovel-life and accused her of being a
whore.
Buchanan’s ideas would go on to form the basis
of the covenanting revolution of the 17th century,
but for decades these ideas were eclipsed by those
of his illustrious protégé, King James
VI of Scotland. Buchanan was appointed tutor to the
young James VI in the hope that he would create a
godly prince who would obey the congregation and serve
the Protestant church. James went on to share his
tutor's enthusiasm for Latin and Protestantism, but
he rejected any idea of his kingship being subject
to the law.
King James VI 1567-1625
James developed his own ideas on kingship, at a time
when the rule book was being rewritten in any case.
He saw himself as the ‘godly prince’: the
rightful head of the Protestant Church, but he also
believed that no one except God had the right to depose
him as king. He styled himself in the image of the
great Biblical kings, David and Solomon, or as the
Roman Emperor Constantine - the Church's great benefactor
who had released Christianity from persecution. In
doing so, James slowly asserted his control over the
Protestant Kirk which was rapidly sinking into crisis.
From Conformity to Conversion
After 1573 the Protestant Kirk faced a manpower crisis
as the initial wave of reformers like John Knox died
off. Attitudes were hardening on all sides across
Europe as Catholicism and Protestantism became more
rigidly defined. Plots abounded to restore Catholicism:
in France the Protestants were massacred; in England
Catholics were martyred. Scottish Protestantism had
captured the state, but feared it had only secured
conformity rather than genuine conversion.
It was King James VI who secured Protestantism's future
in Scotland and he wanted the Kirk firmly under his
control. Many agreed that the Kirk should be under
the king’s direction and James was able to introduce
Episcopacy - governance of the church by bishops appointed
by the king. It was under the control of James VI
that the idea that everyone should have a Bible was
popularised (cheap Bibles were finally produced at
the end of his reign in the 1620s). He oversaw the
payment of ministers and founded Edinburgh University
to compensate for the shortfall in professionally
trained ministers. The Kirk, funded by James and guided
by his bishops, set about ingraining genuine Protestant
belief into the minds of the population through the
catechism - set questions and responses in order to
inculcate orthodox belief - and the adaptation of
popular ballads into Protestant songs. This was a
propaganda machine which any monarch would have been
proud of.
A
New Society
The reformers aimed at an improvement of manners to create
a godly society. Similar concerns had been aired before
1560, but the Reformation brought a new intensity and
vigour to the debate. Protestantism had localised the
focus of religious activity to the Parish Kirk. They aimed
to make people come to church and behave properly. Discipline
was seen as essential to the godly society and the instrument
they used for delivery was the Kirk Session. A local church
‘court', composed of respectable Kirk elders and
ministers, was established to act as an instrument of
social control.
In Scotland, 60 per cent of all cases before the session
were about sex (compared to only 5 per cent in France).
Errant fathers had to recognise their illegitimate children,
adultery was punished and promiscuity revealed. Discipline
was tight, but the Kirk’s surveillance of everyday
life seems to have been accepted. It took three generations
to achieve, but by the 1630s a new society began to emerge,
led by ‘godly’ ministers and lairds who wanted
a share in running Scotland.
The Union of the Crowns, 1603
In 1603, James VI’s Protestantism and diplomacy paid
off when he succeeded Elizabeth I to the throne of England
and Ireland. To many Scots nobles Scots king ruling over
the wealth of England seemed to be a triumph, but elation
soon turned to disillusionment. The expected bonanza of
titles and offices never materialised and the Scottish
kingship and court - the centre of Scottish society and
patronage - vanished south. With the monarchy out of the
way, it was left to the Protestant Church and nobles to
form the core of a new Scottish identity.
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