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Henry VIII and Scotland

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2009

Extract

Henry VIII was a great king, and great things were done in his day. The story of his reign has been told by more than one famous historian, and in that story Scotland, as a rule, plays only a small part. Generally she appears as the ally of France used to embarrass England from time to time, as a sort of Highland dirk threatening the back of stout King Hal as he faced south—a dirk little used in fact, and in use very ineffective; witness Flodden and Solway Moss! If we may judge by the standard histories, Scotland had little to do with the action and the movement of a stirring period.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Historical Society 1947

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References

page 93 note 1 Hall, E., Chronicle (1809), p. 436.Google Scholar

page 94 note 1 Pickthorn, K. W. M., Early Tudor Government, ii. 33–5.Google Scholar

page 94 note 2 Skelton Laureate against the Scottes.

page 94 note 3 John, , Leland, , De Rebus Britannicis Collectanea, iv. 258.Google Scholar

page 95 note 1 Reprinted in An English Garner: Tudor Tracts, 1532–1558 (ed. 1903), pp. 86, 94, 127.Google Scholar

page 95 note 2 John Knox was born near Haddington, and was by descent an adherent of the house of Hepburn of Hailes (Knox, J., The History of the Reformation in ScotlandGoogle Scholar, ed. Laing, , ii. 323)Google Scholar. He was a prisoner in France in September 1547.

page 97 note 1 Foedera, xii. 673.Google Scholar

page 97 note 2 Ibid., xii. 722.

page 97 note 3 Ibid., xii. 793.

page 97 note 4 Ibid., xii. 787, 800.

page 97 note 5 Ibid., xiii. 12.

page 97 note 6 Ibid., xii. 804; xiii. 43, 44.

page 98 note 1 Foedera, xiii. 50.Google Scholar

page 98 note 2 A comparison between the poetry of Dunbar and that of Skelton is instructive. Dunbar was probably the author of the famous ‘London, thou art of taines A. per se’. If he were not, Scotland must have had at least two poets who make Skelton look very small.

page 99 note 1 See Pollard, A. F., The Reign of Henry VII from Contemporary Sources, i, p. lxGoogle Scholar, for a criticism of Bacon.

page 99 note 2 Scots translation by Father Dalrymple (1596) in Scottish Text Society, ii. 118Google Scholar. The story does not appear in the first (1534) edition of Polydore. I quote from the 1574 edition, p. 608.

page 100 note 1 Bannatyne Miscellany, i, p. i.Google Scholar

page 102 note 1 I do not forget Crom well's abject letter after his condemnation. Possibly not being gentle-born he dreaded a death worse than simple decapitation; possibly he thought that ‘anything was worth trying once’. It seems that he died bravely enough.

page 104 note 1 Foedera, viii. 157–8.Google Scholar

page 104 note 2 The story of Queen Anne's ring is told by Lindesay of Pitscottie, (S.T.S. Edn., i. 256)Google Scholar, who was very critical of James. George Buchanan, though he mentions English provocation, was critical too. The ‘supernatural’ warnings which preceded the march into England may be taken as evidence of a strong feeling in Scotland against the venture.

page 105 note 1 Pollard, A. F., Henry VIII, p. 66.Google Scholar

page 105 note 2 Whibley, Charles's edition, i. 76.Google Scholar

page 105 note 3 Brodie's edition of Vol. i of the Letters and Papers of Henry VIII (henceforth cited as Brodie), 1767.

page 106 note 1 The story of the Bartons appears from letters in the Epistolae Jacobi Quarti, Jacobi Quinti, et Marine Regum Scotorum, published by Ruddiman in 1722 (henceforth cited as E.R.S.); cf. i. 89, 91. In the reign of Henry VIII these letters are noticed in Brodie.

page 106 note 2 Brodie, , 484Google Scholar. The caveat of Denmark (Brodie, 1056) proves nothing, and list of depredations committed by the Scots (Brodie, 1262) begins at a date after the death of Andrew Barton.

page 106 note 3 Foedera, xiii. 270.Google Scholar

page 106 note 4 Brodie, , 587 (7).Google Scholar

page 107 note 1 Brodie, , 939, 945.Google Scholar

page 107 note 2 E.R.S., i. 122Google Scholar; see Flodden Papers (S.H.S., 1933).Google Scholar

page 107 note 3 E.R.S., i. 135, 179Google Scholar; Brodie, , 1110, 1615.Google Scholar

page 107 note 4 Flodden Papers, 20.Google Scholar

page 107 note 5 I obtained from Paris rotographs of the treaties of 16 March and 10 July. A comparison is instructive.

page 108 note 1 Brodie, , 1380 (09 1512).Google Scholar

page 108 note 2 E.R.S., i. 146Google Scholar; Brodie, , 1155 (04 1512)Google Scholar; cf. Brodie, , 1523Google Scholar, and Flodden Papers, Introduction, xxiv.Google Scholar

page 108 note 3 For Moray see Herkless, J. and Hannay, R. K., The Archbishops of St. Andrews, vol. ii. esp. p. 43Google Scholar, where it appears that Moray was allowed to think that he voiced the opinions of Henry as well as James, (cf. E.R.S., i. 136Google Scholar, and Flodden Papers, 17.)Google Scholar

page 108 note 4 Brodie, , 924, 34.Google Scholar

page 108 note 5 Ibid., 992.

page 108 note 6 Ibid., 984.

page 108 note 7 Ibid., 1317, 1450, 1451.

page 108 note 8 Ibid., 1533. Julius granted plenary indulgence to those who would join Henry's expedition against Louis.

page 108 note 9 Ibid., 1340, 1499, 1539, 1615, 1706–7.

page 108 note 10 Ibid., 1735, 1769, 1775.

page 109 note 1 Brodie, , 3617 (p. 1528).Google Scholar

page 109 note 2 In the section on Cripplegate Ward.

page 110 note 1 He did not press his claim to be ‘Protector of Scotland’ after Flodden (Pollard, , Henry VIII, p. 88).Google Scholar

page 110 note 2 Letters and Papers, IV, i. 551.Google Scholar

page 110 note 3 Pollard, , Henry VIII, 406 and n.Google Scholar

page 111 note 1 To restore the balance upset by the battle of Pavia.

page 111 note 2 Letters and Papers, IV, i. 571Google Scholar. Wolsey represents the marriage project as of Margaret's initiation.

page 112 note 1 A.P.S., ii. 431.Google Scholar

page 112 note 2 Statutes of the Realm, iii. 938.Google Scholar

page 113 note 1 Cf. Hamilton Papers, ii. 326, 360Google Scholar. It is fair to remark that the English hosts included foreign mercenaries.

page 113 note 2 Histoire de la guerre d'Ecosse (Maitland Club, 1830)Google Scholar. Jean de Beaugué was a gentleman who served with the French army in Scotland 1548–9. He alleges that the Scots bought English prisoners from the French and made them the targets of their lances.

page 113 note 3 See the curious letter of ‘John Elder, Clerke, a Redshanke’ of 1542. (Bannatyne Miscellany (1827), i. 1.)Google Scholar It may be noted that Sir Walter Scott who, without the evidence of the Letters and Papers, did not know the whole of the English design, considered that Henry's plan of uniting the two kingdoms by marriage alliance was ‘equally moderate and sagacious’ (The State Papers and Letters of Sir Ralph Sadler, Knight-Banneret, i, p. x).Google Scholar