refreshment having eat much of his own Flesh and many of his Members miserably perished in the extremity of Hunger a great evidence indeed of God's anger against his Lustful youth but no less evidence of a cruel and barbarous heart in the merciless and inhuman Uncle This Cruelty is for a time concealed from the good King at last Time revealeth it not without some indignation of the Author The Duke is questioned but by a cowardly if not traiterous Jury pack'd by himself acquitted the poor distressed King praying to Heaven for a Vengeance upon them and all their Posterity who were guilty of that horrid Murther the Duke to gloss all the better draggeth some to Prison Flagitious men indeed but altogether innocent of this Crime condemneth and executeth them as Murtherers of the Prince palliating one wickedness with another as many other wicked men have done The good King solicitous for his onely Son now remaining resolveth for his greater safety to send him over to France to be educated in the Court of Charles the Sixth the French King and commendeth him to the safe conduct and oversight of Lord Henry Sinclare Earl of Orkney he setteth Sail from the Basse and passing by flamborrowe-Flamborrowe-head a Storm ariseth and forceth the Ship into Harbour the Prince afflicted with Sea-sickness goeth on Shore is apprehended by the English and sent Prisoner to King Henry of England who notwithstanding of the Mournful Letters of the afflicted King his Father sent up of purpose some weeks before to prevent the obstruction of his Journey and contrary to the Advice of the most of his Council pleading for his Liberty detaineth him Prisoner This hard measure is in great measure recompenced by the liberal Education he gave him whereby he became the most Learned Prince of his time the sad news of his Imprisonment brought to his still afflicted Father for the loss of his eldest Son as he sat at Supper cut him to the Heart and oppressed with Grief he falleth down dead his Company about him in vain seeking to recover Life in him they carry him to his Chamber where his Spirits revive a little but abstaining from all manner of nourishment after three days abstinence he departeth this Life opprest with two cruel tyrants Hunger and Grief in the 16th Year of his Reign April the First 1406 A Prince of a very proper and proportionable Person a Good man and a Meek not furnished indeed with Austerity and such like qualities as might have rendered him more fit than in truth he was to Govern a People so unlike himself in Conditions THE LIFE OF JAMESI KIng Robert departed this Life his Son James Prisoner in England is Proclaimed King of Scotland and his Uncle Robert Duke of Albany continued by Act of Parliament in his Government at this time a sweet calm of Peace continued between the two Kingdoms above twelve years together a great blessing to both Nations In the mean while a black Cloud appeareth in the North of Scotland Donald Lord of the Isles pretending the recovery of his Lands in Ross which the Governor kept from him by a a trick of Law Invadeth Ross from thence marcheth into Murray from thence into Buchan and so to Aberdeen doing much Mischief all along as he went To stop this Current Alexander Earl of Marre and others of the Nobility advance against him with such Forces as could be raised on the sudden both Armies Encounter at Harlaw a fierce Battel continueth for many hours with such slaughter on both sides that at Night the darkness whereof was the first commander of Cessation each Army thought it self overcome no man appearing next day morning to claim the glory of the Victory onely the poor Village Harlaw where the Battel was is famous from it to this day This Rebellion over the Dauphine of France sendeth an Ambassadour to Scotland to demand Assistance against the English according to their ancient League then warring in France declaring with a sad Narrative that himself was disinherited and the English King Henry the 5th Married to his Sister the Lady Catharine declared Regent of France in present and Heir apparent to the Crown with whom likewise the Duke of Burgundy had joyned his whole Force this pitiful Letter soon quickened the Scottish Nobility dreading the effects of King Henry his Greatness an Army of 7000 resolute and stout men are sent immediately over into France under the Conduct of John Earl of Buchan Archibald Earl of Wigton Son to Archibald Earl Dowglas with whom were divers Persons of Quality all safely arrive and are immediately sent by the Dauphine towards Turon the Duke of Clarence Brother to the English King well high surpriseth them in their way they take the Alarm nigh Bergie and on Easter-Eve they give Battel to the English fought with great valour and various fortune on both sides at last the Duke of Clarence is dismounted his whole Army routed 2000 slain on the spot amongst whom were the Duke of Clarence the Earl of Kime the Lords Gray and Ross Many Prisoners likewise taken whereof divers Persons of Quality as the Earls of Huntington and Somerset and others The Earl of Salisbury a man of singular vertue and valour endeavoureth to repay this loss but could effect nothing save the recovery of the dead Body of the Duke of Clarence which he afterwards sent over into England After this Victory the Dauphine createth Buchan Constable of France one of the highest Preferments in that Kingdom In the same Year 1420 Robert Duke of Albany departed this Life and his Son Mordake established in his place Buchan returneth from France and is immediately recalled he arriveth at Rochett accompanied with Archibald Earl of Dowglas and Five thousand Auxiliary Foot the Dauphine much cheared up at their arrival receiveth them with ample Gratulation John Duke of Bedford is sent over from England much about the same time with 4000 Horse and 10000 Foot and soon after King Henry himself arriveth and with him James King of Scotland of purpose by his presence to withdraw the Scots from the Dauphine or at least to render them the more suspected to him but he is disappointed in both the Scots unanimously declaring that they could not render whilst a Prisoner the Obedience otherwise due to him Soon after both the French and English King depart this Life Henry the Sixth of England about Eights Months old is Proclaimed King of England and France John Duke of Bedford appointed Regent of France The Dauphine at the same time Proclaimed by his Adherents King of France by the Name of Charles the 7th The Regent advanceth against him with a powerful Army the Duke of Alenson encountereth him Charles himself is with general consent and unanimous request of all his Friends desired to withdraw and not to hazard his Person the miscarriage whereof was an apparent ruine of them all and giveth him Battel not far from Vornoil The Fight continued very fierce for some hours at
much discontented which the French Ambassador Lamote layeth hold on as the fittest opportunity to work him into a War against the English his pernitious perswasions seconded with the daily solicitations of the Scottish Clergy especially Foreman Bishop of Murray his Ambassador then in France prevail too much and overcome him at last to denounce by his Herald War against King Henry then in France who answered the Herald with expressions of the greatest disdain that could be Arms are raised on both sides the Scots under the Command of their King the English under the Conduct of the Earl of Surrey Both Armies advance and at last joyn Battel at Flodden in Northumberland the Battel is exceedingly furious and continueth some hours within Night the darkness whereof commandeth at last a Cessation of Arms No man knowing on whose side the Victory lay each Army thinking it self worsted The Earl of Hume who traiterously refused to joyn in Battel with his Brigade enricheth himself with the Spoil of the Field and departeth by break of day at which instant the Lord Dacres came into Field and finding the Scotch Carriages without Guard and the Camp not wholly Pillaged dispatcheth a Messenger to the Earl of Surrey forthwith to Rally and to return which was with marvellous Expedition performed no Enemy appearing and now the Day being up the English Celebrate the Victory with great Joy This Overthrow is reckoned by the Scots the greatest that ever befel them not so much for the Number as the Quality of the Slain many of the Nobility and Gentry besides Five thousand common Souldiers were killed on the place King James himself never after appeared what to determine of him I know not the English contend that he was killed in the Battel his Body found and exposed to publick View the Scots assert that the Corps so exposed were the Relicts of Sir Alexander Elphinston in Habit Stature and Figure resembling their King as some others did that day the better to encourage the Army Some contend that he escaped into Scotland after the Battel and was traiterously Murdered by the Retainers of the Earl of Hume nigh Kelso to avoid his wrath for their Treachery on the day of Battel and some there are who are bold enough to assert that the King perceiving the huge Slaughter of the Nobility and Gentry privately withdrew himself and in an obscure habit travelled as a Pilgrim to Jerusalem to make good his former Vow where he spent the remnant of his days in Sorrow however it was certain it is That after the Battel he never appeared to the World A Prince of a most comely Person and of that moderation and temper that no provocation could force from him any the least intemperate word and yet a man of an undaunted and indeed too resolute a Spirit very much inclined to Mercy never executing Penal Justice without grief and sorrow of Heart I leave him with that Epitaph he had bestowed upon him for his wanting of a Tomb. Fama orbem replet mortem sors occulit at tu Desine scrutari quod tegit ossa solum Si mihi dent animo non impar fata sepulchrum Augusta est tumulo terra Britanna meo THE LIFE OF JAMES V. JAMES the Fourth thus lost his Son James a Child of two years of Age is Proclaimed King the Queen his Mother conformable to the last Will of the King published before his last Expedition towards England in which it was provided that the Queen should have the Supreme Power during the time of her Widowhood and the King his Minority hath the Supreme Government committed to her and as a tender Mother writeth with all earnestness to her Brother King Henry the Eighth of England imploring his Royal and Fraternal favour particularly that he would be pleased out of his tender regard to her and her young Son to abstain from War against the Scots King Henry very nobly returneth Answer that the Scots should be choosers of War or Peace this gladded the heart of the Scottish Queen who assuredly by her discreet Government had proved a Nursing Mother to that Nation but that within one year she was pleased to Marry herself to Archibald Dowglas Earl of Angus by which Marriage her Government determined and immediately Divisions break out amongst the Nobility touching the choice of a Vice-Roy The Dowglasses wholly for the Queen the Earl of Hume a Person then of great Power and Authority opposeth her contending for a free Choice to be made of one of the Nobility after much Debate it was at last concluded that the Duke of Albany John Son to Robert Brother to James the Third should be declared Vice-Roy which being done Letters are dispatched to him then an Exile in France The Duke accepteth the Honour and Charge and arriveth at Dunbarton about the 8th of May 1515 forthwith in Parliament is the Duke restored to his Patrimony and declared Vice-Roy The Vice-Roy beginneth his Government in a Progress all the Kingdom over endeavouring to establish Peace among all The Earl of Hume the great Instrument of the Vice-Roy his advancement finding himself much neglected repenteth him of his Service done to him and tenders the same to the Queen whom he formerly opposed suggesting to her the danger of the young King now in the hands of such a Vice-Roy whose Father for his traiterous Conspiring against the King and his ambitious aspiring the Crown was Exiled to his dying day the present Vice-Roy his Son born and brought up likewise in Exile appearing a man of no less Ambition than his Father the young King the only Rub in his way to the Crown must needs therefore be in great danger if some extraordinary Expedient be not found out for his Safety and in order hereunto he adviseth her to withdraw herself and her Son into England under the Protection of her Brother who so largely the other day declared his Royal affection and favour towards her All is soon and secretly bewrayed to the Vice-Roy who immediately surpriseth the King and his Mother the Queen in the Castle of Sterlin The Queen and all Dowglas his Faction are removed from the King the Tuition of whom he commits to the care of three Noble Men besides the Lord Areskin Governour of the Castle The Lord Hume and his Brother withdrew to England the Queen and the Earl of Angus her Husband soon follow after the Vice-Roy sendeth his Agents after them and complaineth of their Causeless departure All of them are by their Friends perswaded to return the Queen only being heavy with Child is advised to stay where soon after she was brought to Bed of a Daughter Named Margaret The Earl of Hume Summoned to appear before the Vice-Roy in a publick Convention is Condemned and his Estate confiscate because of non-appearance Ten thousand Horse and Foot are raised to reduce him which the Earl perceiving he casteth himself upon the Faith and Favour of the Vice-Roy by whose command Hume is committed to the
Family of the Guise Widdow of the late Duke of Longoville in Marriage to King James the Marriage is agreed to the Year following she arriveth in Scotland and the Marriage solemnized at St. Andrews 1538. This Year exemplary Justice was done upon divers Persons of Quality conspiring the Death of the King some the Year following were Burnt some Banished for embracing the Protestant Doctrine Preached in Germany by Luther and others James Hammilton the Bastard accused of High-Treason is sentenced to Death his Head and Quarters affixed to publick places in Edenburgh the King soon after thought in his Dream that Hammilton cut off first his right and then his left Arm threatning withal to appear again to take his own Life the King awaking is very much troubled with thoughts of this Dream and revolving with himself what might be the meaning of it a Messenger comes to him with the sad News of the Death of both his Sons at the same time the one at Sterlin the other at St. Andrews King Henry of England sendeth the second time to invite King James to a Conference at York the Scotch Clergy still oppose it and the Conference again refused King Henry in great Indignation against his Nephew for refusal of Conference with him resolveth to talk with him in harder Terms and to that end he raiseth an Army and sendeth it into Scotland and under the Command of the Duke of Norfolk The Scottish Ambassadors in vain intreating a Cessation King James prepares a considerable Army for defence the English enter into Scotland and after some mischief done at the approach of the Scotch Army they retreat the Lord Gordon marcheth before the main body with Ten thousand Men doing much hurt and annoyance to the Rear of the English Army King James with all earnestness presseth an Engagement with the English the Nobility peremptorily oppose him in it the King enraged upbraideth them with Cowardise unworthy to be owned as Sons of their Noble Ancestors vowing that though they should all desert him himself and his own Family alone should give the Enemy Battel The Lord Maxwell to pacify the King tendereth his Service to lead into Cumberland Ten thousand Men thereby to divert the Enemy The King accepteth his Service but being enraged against the whole Nobility he resolves that none of them should have the Honour of any thing done in that Expedition and for the cause giveth a Dormant Commission to Oliver Sinclare Brother to the Lord Roslin Having entred Cumberland and now in view of Five hundred English Horse Sinclare produceth his Commission it is read at the head of the Army Maxwell is thereby inraged the whole Army falleth in Mutiny and in such a confusion that they become a Prey to the Five hundred English Horse divers of the Nobility and the new General Sinclare are sent Prisoners to the Tower of London this dishonourable Disaster which hapned at Solway strikes the Valorous King with such grief and sorrow that he never after joyed but soon after departed this Life having first made Peace with King Henry at whose request he recalled Archibald Earl of Angus Thus dyed King James the Fifth a Prince of singular Endowments most patient of Cold Hunger and Travel sometimes setting on Horseback Twenty Four hours when the necessity of his affairs required it a great Justitiary and a person of singular Foresight and Wisdom THE LIFE OF QUEEN MARY QUeen Mary was the only Child James the Fifth her Father left to Inherit the Crown born to him not above eight days before his death James Hammilton Earl of Aran is therefore chosen Vice-Roy to whom King Henry of England sent his Ambassador Sir Radolph Sadler to procure Peace between the two Kingdoms and to demand Mary in Marriage to his Son by the influence of the late Prisoners in England especially the Exiled Dowglasses whom King Henry had wrought much to his Service by his Royal Favours whose Counsels were now very prevalent in the management of publick affairs both were assented the Contract of Marriage Signed and Pledges promised for better performance of all Conditions agreed upon notwithstanding of the Opposition of the Queen and Cardinal who fearing the Subversion of Popery still established in that Kingdom by this agreement endeavour what they can to cross all Tumults are stirred against the English Ambassador and daily Affronts put upon his Attendants in the Streets the Ambassador complaineth and demandeth the Pledges promised for confirmation of the Agreement lately made exemplary Justice is executed upon the chief movers in the Tumults in answer to this Complaint but the Cardinal by the influence of his power had so obstructed the matter of his demand that not one of the Nobility would yield up himself voluntarily a Pledge to the English and to such a business none could be compelled King Henry hereby provoked seiseth all the Scottish Ships in the English Havens and Harbours and proclaimeth War against the Scots in the mean while the Queen Mother sendeth to France to entreat the French King to send home Matthew Earl of Lennox to strengthen her against the English Faction otherwise Religion and the French League were like to come to nothing Lennox is sent home and forthwith levieth Four Thousand men and with this strong guard cometh to the Queen the Vice-Roy inferior in Power sends Commissions to treat for Peace by agreement the young Queen is committed to the Education of Four Indifferent Noble Men ingaged in neither Faction viz. the Lords Graham Areskin Lindsay and Leviston and accordingly they take charge of her at Sterlin where all the Nobility do Homage to her The Vice-Roy joyneth himself wholly to the Cardinal which Conjunction so inrageth Lennox that immediately he flyeth to Arms raiseth an Army marcheth to Leith and provoketh the Cardinal to Fight the Cardinal keeps himself close in Edenburgh Castle Lennox through want of Provisions is forced to withdraw and to put himself in a posture of Defence in and about Glascow King Henry hearing of these Stirs sends into Scotland to demand the custody of the young Queen until she came to years fit for Marriage The French Faction now prevailing his Demands are refused An Army is therefore forthwith sent into Scotland under the Conduct of the Earl of Hereford and a great Navy of Two hundred Sail under the Command of Viscount Lisle as Admiral The English enter the City of Edenburgh without resistance first they Pillage and then they Fire it and divers other Towns and Villages about it the like fate befel the Town of Leith and forthwith they return to England laden with Spoil The Queen Mother writeth to the French King and layeth all these mischiefs at Lennox his door as the only enemy of their Peace and Union by reason of his private Feud against the Vice-Roy for the death of his Father At her Request Lennox is recalled to France but finding the French King provoked against him he still keeps to his posture of Defence