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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 February 2016
Above the entrance doorway at Carnasserie Castle in mid-Argyll there is a finely carved panel containing the coat of arms of Archibald Campbell, fifth Earl of Argyll, and his first wife, Lady Jean Stewart. Along the foot of the panel, in the script employed in Gaelic manuscripts, there is a motto which reads: ‘DIA LE UA NDUIBH[N]E’ or ‘God be with Ó Duibhne.’ The designation Ó Duibhne referred to the fifth Earl of Argyll as chief of Clan Campbell. The inscription and its setting provide a perfect illustration of the different cultures and traditions which the fifth Earl combined in his personal and public life and permitted him to be both a Protestant earl and a godly Gael. The short Gaelic phrase of the motto was the first post-Reformation inscription within the Gaidhealtachd or Gaelic-speaking area, which covered the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.
1 Bannerman, J., ‘Two early post-Reformation inscriptions in Argyll’, Proceedings of the Scottish Antiquarian Society, 105 (1972-4), pp. 307–12.Google Scholar
2 The castle was described c.1630 as ‘builded be him [Carswell] to the Earle of Argyll’, MacFarlane’s Geographical Collections, 3 vols, Scottish History Society, 51-2, 55 (Edinburgh, 1906-8), 2, p. 149.
3 Carswell, J., Foirm na n-Urrnuidheadh, ed. Thomson, R., Scottish Gaelic Text Society (Edinburgh, 1970), p. 181.Google Scholar
4 Dawson, J., ‘Calvinism and the Gaidhealtachd in Scotland’, in Pettegree, A., Duke, A., and Lewis, G., eds, Calvinism in Europe, 1540-1620 (Cambridge, 1994), pp. 231–53.Google Scholar
5 For a full description of Carnasserie Castle, see Argyll: an Inventory of the Monuments, Royal Commission of the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland [hereafter RCAHMS], 7 vols (Edinburgh, 1971-92), 7, pp. 214-26.
6 For a useful chronology of the involvement of both the fourth and fifth Earls in the Scottish Reformation, see Reid, W. Stanford, ‘The earls of Argyll and the Reformation’, Scottish Tradition, 17 (1992), pp. 1–50.Google Scholar
7 There are interesting similarities in the handwriting of the two men which suggest that Carswell might have helped teach the fifth Earl to write, see e.g., Scottish Record Office [hereafter SRO], GD 112/3 9/9/16, 17.
8 Carswell, Foirm, p. 173.
9 Ibid., p. 175.
10 Sanderson, M., Ayrshire and the Reformation (East Linton, 1997), ch. 6.Google Scholar
11 Knox, J., History of the Reformation in Scotland, ed. Dickinson, W. C., 2 vols (Edinburgh, 1949), 1, p. 121Google Scholar. Lord James Stewart was the bastard son of King James V and the half-brother of Lorn’s wife, Lady Jean Stewart. Mar’s mother was Lorn’s great-aunt.
12 Knox, History, 1, p. 123.
13 Ibid., p. 132.
14 Ibid., pp. 136-7.
15 Ibid., p. 138; Durkan, J., ‘Heresy in Scotland, the second phase 1546-58’, Records of the Scottish Church History Society, 24 (1992), pp. 352–3.Google Scholar
16 Keith, R., History of the Affairs of Church and State in Scotland , 3 vols, Spottiswood Society (1844-50), 1, p. 152Google Scholar; Knox, History, 1, p. 125.
17 Knox, History, 2, p. 251.
18 Ibid., 1, pp. 138-9.
19 Ibid., pp. 196-7.
20 Argyll’s mother was Arran’s aunt. Durkan, J., ‘James third earl of Arran: the hidden years’, ScHR, 65 (1986), pp. 163–4.Google Scholar
21 Thomas Randolph to Henry Killigrew, 15 April 1560, Calendar of State Papers relating to Scotland [hereafter CSRSc], ed. J. Bain et al. (Edinburgh, 1898-1969), 1, no. 734, pp. 362-3.
22 Thomas Randolph to William Cecil, 25 Aug. 1560, CSPSc, 1, no. 891, p. 469.
23 Dawson, J., ‘The fifth Earl of Argyle, Gaelic lordship and political power in sixteenth-century Scotland’, ScHR, 68 (1988), pp. 3–4.Google Scholar
24 Dawson, J., ‘“The face of ane perfyt reformed kyrk”: St Andrews and the early Scottish Reformation’, in Kirk, J., ed., SCH.S, 8 (1991), pp. 413–35.Google Scholar
25 29 Sept. 1559, The Scottish Correspondence of Mary of Lorraine, ed. A. I. Cameron, Scottish History Society (Edinburgh, 1937) pp. 426-7.
26 Knox, History, 1, p. 260.
27 Knox, History, i, p. 257.
28 Dawson, J., ‘Two kingdoms or three? Ireland in Anglo-Scottish relations in the middle of the sixteenth century’, in Mason, R., ed., Scotland and England (Edinburgh, 1987), pp. 113–38.Google Scholar
29 William Cecil to Queen Elizabeth, 19 June 1560, CSPSc, 1, no. 821, pp. 426-7.
30 2 April 1561, PRO, SP 63/3 fo, 138r.
31 Records of Argyll, ed. Lord A. Campbell (Edinburgh, 1885), p. 6.
32 18 Nov. 1565, PRO, SP 63/15, fols 172r-v.
33 Dawson, ‘Two kingdoms 01 three?’, pp. 124-31.
34 Dilworth, M., ‘The Commendator system in Scotland’, InR, 37 (1986), pp. 51–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
35 Northumberland to William Cecil, 18 June 1559, CSPSc, 1, no. 469, p. 216.
36 Cited in Barty, A., History of Dunblane (Stirling, 1995), p. 64.Google Scholar
37 James Croft to Privy Council, 19 May 1559, CSPSc, 1, no. 455, p. 213.
38 Campbell, Niall, ‘Two Papers from the Argyll Charter Chest’, ScHR, 21 (1923-4), pp. 142–3Google Scholar; Argyll Transcripts [hereafter AT], V, p. 115. [I am grateful to the Duke of Argyll for permission to cite from the Argyll transcripts.]
39 For the Campbell kin who descended from Abbot Donald, see Cowan, E., ‘The Angus Campbells’, Scottish Studies, 25 (1981), pp. 25–38.Google Scholar
40 Knox, History, 1, pp. 189-92.
41 Thomas Randolph to William Cecil, 24 Sept. 1561, CSPSc, 1, no. 1023, p. 555.
42 Knox, History, 1, p. 364.
43 Epistle to Argyll, in Carswell, Foirm, pp. 176-7.
44 Argyll Inventory (RCAHMS), 1, pp. 103-5 (Campbeltown), 7, p. 75 (Inveraray); K. Steer and J. Bannerman, Late Medieval Monumental Sculpture in the West Highlands, RCAHMS (1977), nos 69 and 104, plates 11 and 12.
45 The Assembly records do not always contain sederunt lists, so it is not possible to be precise about the number of meetings Argyll attended between the first Assembly in December 1560 and his letter of apology on 28 July 1567 explaining why it was not safe for him to be present at future meetings: T. Thomson, ed., The Booke of the Universall Kirk. Proceedings of the General Assemblies of the Kirk of Scotland, 1560-1618 [hereafter BUK], Bannatyne and Maitland Clubs (Edinburgh, 1839-45), 1, p. 101.
46 This was achieved by the tax of a third on all ecclesiastical benefices which remained in the hands of their original possessors. The proceeds from the thirds was divided between the Kirk and the royal household: Accounts of the Collectors of the Thirds of Benefices, 1561-72, ed. G. Donaldson, Scottish History Society, 42 (Edinburgh, 1949).
47 The Countess of Argyll was required to make public repentance by the Kirk for acting as godmother in the royal baptism: BUK, 1, p. 117.
48 Knox, History, 2, p. 76.
49 Beattie, W., ‘Some early Scottish books’, in Barrow, G., ed., The Scottish Tradition: Essays in honour of Ronald Gordon Cant (Edinburgh, 1974), pp. 118–20.Google Scholar
50 Norvell, Robert, The Meroure of an Christiane (Edinburgh, 1561), sig. A iii.Google Scholar
51 Ibid., H vi, fol. 62V.
52 Durkan, ‘James third earl of Arran’, pp. 154-66.
53 Carswell’s letters in the Breadalbane collection, SRO, GD 112/39/5/10; 8/15; 9/16; 9/32; 10/5; 11/3. It is possible that Carswell was of Campbell stock so that Argyll was his clan chief by blood as well as personal loyalty, see the Campbell seal on his letter GD’ 112/39/5/10.
54 Kirk, J., Patterns of Reform (Edinburgh, 1989), pp. 302–3.Google Scholar
55 Carswell, Foirm, pp. 174-6.
56 Ibid., p. 178.
57 Ibid., p. 179: ‘May almighty God, for the love of his dear son Jesus Christ, keep and comfort your mind and heart by his powerful Holy Spirit, that you may do this divine will which is revealed to you in his blessed law, may he pour out his grace and his great miracles with abounding favour on your people and on your country and on your men and on your tenantry, and especially on your ministers throughout all your dominion. So be it.’
58 In his dedication Carswell spoke of the whole translation project in the plural and then reverted to the singular voice when apologizing for his Gaelic style within the translation itself. Foirm, p. 177.
59 Ibid., pp. 110-111.
60 Meek, D., ‘The Gaelic Bible’, in Wright, D., ed., The Bible in Scottish Life ana Literature (Edinburgh, 1988), pp. 9–23.Google Scholar
61 For a fuller discussion see Dawson, ‘Calvinism’, pp. 231-53.
62 Kirk, Patterns of Reform, chs 7, 8, 12; Bannerman, J. ‘MacPhails in Muckairn’, in The Beatons (Edinburgh, 1986), pp. 150–1Google Scholar; idem, ‘The MacLachlans of Kilbride and their manuscripts’, Scottish Studies, 21 (1977), pp. 1-34.
63 Fasti Ecclesiale Scoticarne, ed. H. Scott, io vols (Edinburgh, 1915-81), 4, p. 13; Kirk, Patterns of Reform, pp. 408, 480; Neil Campbell to Colin Campbell of Glenorchy, 16 Dec. 1570, SRO, GD112/39/11/20.
64 8 April 1571, AT, VI, p. 158.
65 22 October 1569 AT, VI, p. 137.
66 Records of Argyll, p. 50.
67 This practice was described on 1 July 1574, less than a year after the fifth Earl had died, concerning one of the journeys of his brother, the sixth Earl. CSPSc, V, p. 34.
68 Description in John Davidson’s Memorial, in C. Rogers, ed., Three Scottish Reformers, Grampian Club, 9 (1876), pp. 114, 121.
69 See the description of MacLean’s household in a Gaelic poem, Bàrdachd Ghàidhlig, ed W.J. Watson (Inverness, 1976), p. 209, 11. 5596-7.
70 BUK, 1, pp. 270, 300, 314-15, 33T-2, 340, 350-2.
71 Marriage contract 1/5 July 1553, after betrothal 10 Dec. 1538, AT, V, pp. 25, 27. Original contract in Moray Muniments, NRA(S) 217 Box 15, no. 441.1 am grateful to Lord Moray for permission to consult his muniments.
72 Knox, History, 2, pp. 73-6.
73 Small, T. A., ‘Queen Mary in the Counties of Dumbarton and Argyll’, ScHR, 25 (1927-8), pp. 13–19.Google Scholar
74 BUK, 1, p. 114.
75 Ibid, pp. 148-9.
76 Ibid., pp. 262-3.
77 See letter from Countess of Argyll to Atholl, 2 July 1570, SRO, GD 112/39/8/1.
78 Act ‘anent thame that divertis fra utheris being joynit of befoir in lauchfull mariage’, Acts of Parliaments of Scotland, ed. T. Thomson and C. Innes, 12 vols (Edinburgh, 1814-42), 3, 1567-92, pp. 81-2; Riddell, J., Inquiry into the Law and Practice in Scottish Peerages (Edinburgh, 1842), pp. 546–55.Google Scholar
79 Knox explained his mild treatment of Bothwell as ‘a part of the obligation of our Scottish kindness’ as his ancestors had been beholden to the earls of Bothwell: Knox, History, 2, p. 38. He chose to place all the blame for Bothwell’s divorce upon the ‘papistical court’ but there was a double process using both the Commissary court of Edinburgh as well as the newly reconstituted Consistorial court of the Archbishop of St Andrews: ibid., p. 205 and n.; Donaldson, G., Mary Queen of Scots (London, 1974), p. 117.Google Scholar
80 Knox, History, 2, p. 74.
81 There was a similar tension between noble and clerical ideals over the issue of the bloodfeud, see Brown, K., The Bloodfeud in Scotland (Edinburgh, 1986), ch. 7.Google Scholar
82 Cross, C., The Puritan Earl: the Life of Henry Hastings Third Earl of Huntingdon, 1536-1595 (London, 1966).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
83 Ibid., p. xiv.
84 Argyll Inventory, 7, pp. 178, 547.
85 The date of the fifth Earl’s birth is uncertain, probably 1538, as given on the tomb, or possibly slightly earlier.
86 For an important modern exception see Wormald, J., ‘Trinces and the regions in the Scottish Reformation’, in Macdougall, N., ed., Church, Politics and Society: Scotland 1408-1929 (Edinburgh, 1983), pp. 65–84.Google Scholar