Part 56

230, l. 21 to 23, Spottiswood reads, "This sentence, as being the most heavy censure which can be inflicted by the Church, ought not to be rashly used but for grave causes, and due process of time kept, but being pronounced, ought with all severity to be maintained, and intimation thereof made through the whole realm, lest any should pretend ignorance of the same."

235, l. 3 to 18, "Yea, the Seniouris," &c. This paragraph is thus altered: "If a Minister be of a loose conversation, negligent in his study, and one that was little bent upon his charge or flock, or one that proponeth not fruitful doctrine to his people, he ought to be admonished by the elders; and if he amend not, the elders may complain to the ministry [of the two next adjacent churches, to whose admonition, if he shall be disobedient, he ought to be discharged of his ministry] till his repentance appear."

The words enclosed within brackets are omitted in the old printed editions of Spottiswood's History, we may suppose by accident, as this appears to be the only variation which Bishop Russell has discovered upon collation with the MSS.

253, A great part of this page is omitted.

255, The last paragraph is somewhat altered, or at least transposed.

255-8, "The Conclusioun" addressed to the Lords, with the "Act of Secret Counsall," and the signatures, are wholly omitted.

* * * * *

A great many lesser variations, consisting of words omitted, sentences abridged, &c., might have been specified, if such an enumeration would have served any useful purpose. The above may suffice to satisfy any impartial reader, who desires in this FORM OF POLICY "to see what were the grounds laid down at first for the government of the Church," that implicit reliance should not be placed upon the Archbishop's fidelity, although he does affirm, "I HAVE THOUGHT MEET, WORD BY WORD, HERE TO INSERT THE SAME." (History, vol. i. p. 331.)

No. III.

FUNERALS OF MARY OF GUISE, QUEEN REGENT OF SCOTLAND.

MARIE DE LORRAINE, daughter of Claude Duke of Guise, was born 22d November 1515. On the 4th August 1534, she was married to Louis of Orleans, Duke de Longueville; and after his death, in 1538, she became the second wife of James the Fifth, King of Scotland. (See vol. i. p. 61, note 6.) In this place it was proposed to collect merely a few notices respecting her death and funerals.

In the present volume, at page 71, Knox has given an account of the Queen's death, which took place in the Castle of Edinburgh--he says on the 9th June 1560. Dr. Robertson following Bishop Lesley, and other early authorities, says it was on the 10th; while according to Chalmers, and later writers, it happened on the 11th June. In the Diurnal of Occurrents the time is very precisely stated, yet it so happens that either the 10th or the 11th might be assigned for the date. The passage stands thus:--

"Upoun the tent day of Junij, the yeir foirsaid (1560,) Marie Quene Dowriare and Regent of this Realme, _at 12 houris at evin_, deceissit in the Castell of Edinburgh, and maid the Erie of Merchell, and Schir Johne Campbell of Lundy, knycht, hir executouris in Scotland." (p. 59; see also p. 276 of the same work.) This would seem to fix the 10th; but in the grant to Seigneour Francis, referred to in a note, page 507, the 11th of June was reckoned as the day of the Queen's decease. Sir William Cecil and Dr. Nicholas Wotton, in a letter written on the 17th June, intimate their having heard of the Queen's death, when they were on their way from Berwick; and in a subsequent letter from Edinburgh, dated the 19th June, they say, "The xith of this monethe, the Quene Dowagier dyed here at Edenboroughe, as we understande of a dropsie; by whose deathe the Nobilitie of Scotlande be entred into greater boldness, for mayntenaunce of their quarrell, then before they durst shew." (Lodge's Illustrations, vol. i. p. 329.) In the Treasurer's Accounts of that month are the following entries:--

"Item, to Johne Weir pewtterar, for ane wobe of leid weiand (blank) stanis, to be ane sepulture to inclose the Quenis Grace in. iiij lb. xv s.

"Item, to the said Johne for sowdane of the said wobe of leid, xxxij s.

"Item, for ij^e dur nalis to the Quenis Grace sepulture, iij s.

"Item, for xxj elnis and ane half of blak gray, to hing the chapell of the Castell of Edinburgh the Quenis G. bodie lyand thairin, vj lb. ij s. iiij d.

"Item, foure elnys of quhite taffateis of the cord to mak ane cross aboun the Quenis Grace, price of the eln xxiiij s. Summa, iiij lb. xvj s."

After these items, there follows a list of sums paid to the attendants, servants, and other persons connected with the Queen's household; in all 97, chiefly French, amounting to £1352, 8s.

Bishop Lesley, in noticing the Queen's death, says, "Hir bodie thaireftir was carried to France in ane ship, to the Abbey of Feckin in Normandie." (History, p. 289.) Knox, at page 160, speaks of her burial having been deferred, and that "lappet in a cope of leid," her body lay in the Castle of Edinburgh till the 19th October, "quhan sche by pynouris was caryed to a schip, and sa caryed to France." Another authority asserts, that it was not till the spring following that her body was removed from Edinburgh.

"Upoun the xvj day of the said moneth of March, [1560-1] at xij houris in the nycht, the corpes of vmquhile Marie Quene Douriare of Scotland and Regent, was convoyit secretlie furth of the Castell of Edinburgh, and put in ane schip in Leith, and convoyit thairfra to France, be Mr. Archibald Crawfurd person of Eiglishame; quhair sho was honourablie buryit." (Diurnal of Occurrents, p. 282.)

In mentioning the Queen Regent's funerals, Bishop Lesley, in his Latin History, is somewhat more circumstantial, by adding, that after reaching the sea-port of Fécamp in Normandy, and lying for a time in the Monastery, the body was finally removed to Rheims. His words are,--" Ejus autem corpus in Galliam postea transvectum primum ad Monasterium Feckamense, quod in Normania est, deinde ad coenobium S. Petri Rhemis in Campania, cui Soror ipsius pie tunc præerat, delatum, honorifice condebatur." (De Rebus gestis Scotorum, p. 569.)

Throckmorton also, in a letter addressed to Queen Elizabeth from Paris, 13th July 1561, says, "The said Queen of Scotland's determination to go home continues still: _She goeth shortly from Court to Fescamp, in Normandy, there to make her Mother's funerals and burial_, and from thence to Calais, there to embark." (Tytler's History, vol. vi. p. 398.)

After the funeral ceremonies at Fécamp, the Queen's body was transported to the city of Rheims, and interred in the Church of the Abbey or Convent of Saint-Pierre-les-Dames, of which her sister Renée de Lorraine was Abbess. This younger daughter of Claude de Lorraine, first Duke of Guise, was born in 1522. She became Abbess in 1546, and survived till the 3d of April 1602, when she was interred beside her sister the Queen of Scotland. There was a handsome marble monument erected in the choir of the church; but the Abbey itself was in a great measure destroyed during the excesses of the French Revolution in 1792. The monument was adorned with a full length figure in bronze of the Queen in royal apparel, holding the sword and the rod of justice, "tenant le sceptre et la main de justice." (Anselme, Hist. Genealogique, tome iii. p. 492.)

No. IV.

NOTICES OF JOHN BLACK, A DOMINICAN FRIAR.

FRIAR JOHN BLACK, of the Dominican Order, is celebrated by Lesley, Dempster, and other Roman Catholic writers, for his learning and exertions on behalf of the orthodox faith. In August 1559, the Queen Regent came from Dunbar to Edinburgh, and having taken possession of Holyrood House, it is stated, that Archbishop Hamilton, "upon a day, past to the pulpit in the Abbay," and after displaying "a little of his superstition, he declared he had not bene weill exercised in that profession, (_i.e._ of preaching,) therefore desyred the auditors to hold him excused. In the meantyme he showed unto them that there was a learned man, meaning Fryer Blacke, who was to come immediately after him into the pulpitt, who would declare unto them the truth; and therefore desyred them to lett him cease." (Hist. of the Estate of Scotland, Wodrow Miscellany, vol. i. p. 67.)

Bishop Lesley mentions a public disputation between Friar Black and John Willock, at Edinburgh, in the summer of 1561, which lasted for two days. As usual, however, in all such controversial disputes, "_in the ende, nothing was agreit_." (Hist. p. 295. See also Leslæus de Rebus Gestis Scotorum, p. 577, Romæ, 1578, 4to; and Sir James Balfour's Annals, Works, vol. i. p. 235.) Under the year 1560, (see this vol. p. 68,) Knox mentions Friar Black as performing Mass when the Queen Regent was in the Castle of Edinburgh, notwithstanding that she was aware of his licentious conduct. Two years later the Town Council of Edinburgh having apprehended and confined Friar Black "for manifest adultery," Queen Mary addressed the following letter to the Provost, Baillies, &c., of Edinburgh, commanding them to deliver the said Friar to the Captain of the Castle, to remain there till he should be brought to trial:--

"PROVEST, BAILLIES, AND COUNSALE OF EDINBURGH,--It is oure Will, and we charge zow, that incontinent efter the sicht heirof, ze deliver Freir Johne Black to the Capitane, Constabill, and Keiparis of oure Castell of Edinburgh, till be keipit thairintill surelie, unto sic tyme as we haue ordanyt for the triell of his offences before oure Justice-Generale or his Deputtis; and this on na wayis ze leaf undone, as ze will ansuer to ws thairupoun. At Sanct Androis, the 11th of April 1562.

(_Sequitur subscriptio_,) "MARIE R."

The records of criminal proceedings furnish no evidence of the Friar having ever been brought to trial; but this warrant, no doubt, saved him from the punishment which the Town Council at this time had adjudged to all fornicators, to be ducked in the North Loch. (See Maitland's Hist. of Edinb. p. 25.)

On the 12th February 1565, Andro Armestrang, and three other burgesses of Edinburgh, were brought to trial, "delatit of the hurting and wounding of Freir Johne Blak, betwix his schulderis, to the effusione of his blude, upon the fyft day of Januar last bypast, betwix aucht and nyne houris at evin, in the Cowgait, betwix Nwyderis Wynd and the Freir Wynd." (Pitcairn's Criminal Trials, vol. i. pp. 475*, 476*.) From another authority, mentioned below, it would seem that the Friar was killed during the fray in Holyrood, on the same night when Riccio was murdered.

The transcriber of MS. W, of Knox's History, has introduced some lines, playing upon the Friar's name, "because he was borne in the _Blak_ Freirs in Edinburgh, and was a man of _Blak_ personage, called _Blak_ to his name, and one of the Ordour of _Blak_ Friers;" and in the margin of the MS. he says, "This was added be me, Tho. Wood, quhilk I heard, thocht not mentioned by Mr. Knox." Mr. Sharpe, who says, "this copy of verses affords an excellent (?) specimen of the satirical poetry of the Reformers," has inserted the lines, in a note to Kirkton's History of the Church, p. 10, Edinb. 1817, 4to.

In a MS. volume of Calderwood's History, written in the year 1636, we find introduced, as "A description of the Queen's Black Chaplane," a somewhat different version of the lines referred to:--

"Master Knox relateth, that the Queen Regent herself had a little before deprehended the said Frier Black with his harlot in the chappel. But whoordoome and idolatrie agrie weill together. This Frier Black was Black in a threefold consideration, first in respect of his Order, for he was a Black Frier by profession; secondlie in respect of his Surname; thirdlie in respect of his Black workes. Wherupon these black verses following wer made as a black trumpet to blaze furth all his blacknesses:--

"A certane Black Frier, weill surnamed Black, And not nicknam'd: for Black wer all his workes, In a black houre borne, in all Mack deedes frack; And of his black craft one of the blackest Clerks; He took a black whoor to wash his black sarks, Committing with her black fornication: Black was his soule to shoote at such black markes; Frier Black, Black Frier, Black was his vocation."

It may be considered more important to notice, that Black had been promoted by Archbishop Hamilton, to the place of Second Master in St. Mary's College, St. Andrews. This fact, not elsewhere recorded, appears from the following grant, in the Register of Presentations to Benefices:--

"Our Soverane Lord, &c., ordanis this letter under the Previe Seill, ratifiand and perpetualie confirmand the gift and provisioun maid and grantit be John Archebishop of Sanct Androis, foundar and erectar of our Lady College, within the citie of Sanct Androis, to Maister Robert Hamiltoun, then Third Maister of the said College _of the Secund place and Maister thairof_, usit to be possessit be ane theologe (the lyke quhairof he is) _vacand be deceis of Johne Black, Blackfriar_, last possessour of the samyn," &c., 12th November 1567. "Subscrivit at Saint Androis the last day of Maij 1569." (Register of Presentation to Benefices, vol. i. fol. 25.)

Dempster celebrates Black (_præclarus Christi miles_) for his eloquence and opposition to heresy, and for having sealed his constant profession of the faith with his blood. (Hist. Ecclesiastica Gentis Scotorum, p. 85.) This alludes to the fatal termination of the Friar's career, not on the 7th of January 1562, for which he quotes Lesley, p. 577, but on the 8th March 1565-6, when he was slain on the night of David Riccio's murder, in Holyrood House. It is singular that no notice of this should occur in our own historical writers. But Parkhurst, Bishop of Norwich, in a letter to Buttinger, giving him a summary of passing events, dated 21st August 1566, after noticing the murder of "Signor David, skilled in necromancy, and in great favour with the Queen of Scots," mentions that Black, a Dominican Friar, held in great estimation among the Papists, was also killed that night. But even this grave prelate cannot restrain his humour in reference to the Friar's name; his words are: "Fraterculus quidam, nomine Blacke (niger, _Swartz_,) Papistarum antesignanus, eodem tempore in Aula occiditur.

"Sic Niger hic Nebulo, nigra quoque morte peremptus, Invitus Nigrum subito descendit in Orcum."

This letter, first published by Burnet, (Hist. Reform., vol. iii. App., p. 360,) is included in the collection of Zürich Letters, published by the Parker Society, p. 99. London, 1842, 8vo. The translator thus renders the above distich:--

"Seized by black Death, this blacker Knave Descended to the gloomy grave." (Ib. p. 166.)

No. V.

NOTICES OF DAVID RICCIO.

IT appears somewhat doubtful whether Knox contemplated giving any detailed account of Riccio's life: compare vol. i. p. 235, and vol. ii. p. 422. If so, it would probably not have been so much a narrative of his private history, as an exposure of the influence which he seems to have exerted in public affairs, tending to the overthrow of the Reformed Religion. Although we cannot attribute to Knox the passages in the Fifth Book which relate the murder of Riccio, yet some detached notices exhibiting his progressive advancement at the Scotish Court, chiefly derived from the Public Records, may not be considered as out of place in this Appendix.

DAVID RICCIO, a native of Pancalieri, in Piedmont, was born about the year 1534, and was first in the service of the Archbishop of Turin. In December 1561, the Marquis de Morette, the Ambassador of Savoy, arrived in Scotland to congratulate Queen Mary on her return to her native kingdom. It was in the suite of the Marquis that Riccio, when about twenty-eight years of age, came to this country in quality of Secretary. (Labanoff, Recueil des Lettres de Marie Stuart, Reine d'Ecosse, vol. i. p. 120, vol. vii. pp. 65, 86.) His knowledge of the French and Italian languages, and his skill in music, recommended him to the Queen's notice, and led to his permanent residence in Scotland as "virlat," "chalmer-cheild," or one of the valets of her chamber. In the Treasurer's Accounts in the early part of the year 1562, we find the following payments:--

1561-2.--"Item, the said day, (viij day of Januar,) be the Quenis Grace precept to David Ritio, virlat in the Quenis Grace chalmer, 1. lib. (£50.)

1562.--"Item, the xvj day of Aprile, be the Quenis Grace precept to David Ritio, Italiane, chalmer-cheild, as his acquittance schawin vpoun compt beris, xv. lib."

These payments seem to have been additions to the annual pension granted to him by the Queen. In the "Compt of the Collector Generall of the Thirds of Benefices," for the year 1561, and rendered 18th February 1563-4, we find among the pensions paid, the following entry:--"And of the soume of threscoir fivetene pundis, pait be the Comptare to DAVID RYCHEO, Italiane, vallet of the chalmer, for his zeirlie pensioun, granted to him be the Quenis Majestie, of the zeir compted, as hir Hienes letters vnder hir subscriptioun, and the said Davidis acquittance schawin and producit upoun compt proportis, lxxv. lib."

In 1564, Riccio's salary was £80, paid quarterly; and in December that year, he was nominated French Secretary to the Queen, in place of Raulet. (Randolph's Letter to Cecil, 3d December 1564, Keith's Hist., vol. ii. p. 259; and Labanoff, vol. i. p. 248.) In the Treasurer's Accounts in August 1565, there are numerous payments made "to David Riccio Secretar," for articles of furniture, dress, &c., "be the King and Quenis Graces precept," chiefly for the use of "the Kingis Grace." He had been an active promoter of the Queen's marriage with Darnley, which may have contributed to increase his interest at Court. Randolph, in a letter to Cecil, dated 3d June 1565, uses this strong language:--" David now worketh all, and is only governor to the King and his family; _great is his pride, and his words intolerable_. People have small joy in this new master, and find nothing but that God must either send him a short end, or them a miserable life. Tho dangers to those he now hateth are great, _and either he must be taken away, or they find some support, that what he intendeth to others may fall upon himself_." (Keith's Hist., vol. ii. p. 291.) It has been said that he was appointed Keeper of the Great Seal about this time. This undoubtedly is a mistake: see vol. i. p. 446. But the influence he had obtained, and the prospect that when the Parliament assembled he might prevail upon the Queen to proceed against the Earl of Murray and the chief Protestants, in connexion with the foolish jealousy of her husband, gave rise to that conspiracy which terminated in Riccio's murder--one of those deeds which disgrace the history of this country.

Referring again to the Treasurer's Accounts, one or two other entries may be quoted:--

"Item, be the Quenis grace command, the last of Januar [1565-6,] to David Riccio, for reparatione of his chalmer, as his acquittance schawin upoun compt beris, ij^c lib. (£200.)"

On the last of February he received, on the Queen's account, £2000 in part payment of 10,000 merks, for "the dewitie of the Cunzehouse." And after his death, we find,

"Item, the xxix day of Maij (1566) to ane boy passand of Edinburgh with letters of our Soueranis, to be deliverit to Robert Commendator of Halierudhouse, to command and charge all and sindrie personis, intrometteris, havaris, withhalderis, and detenaris of the horssis quhatsumevir partening to umquhill DAVID RICCIO, _Secretar_, to be deliverit to the said Commendator, ix s."

The Collection of Queen Mary's Letters, formed with almost unexampled care and zeal by the Prince Alexander Labanoff, includes two long and interesting dispatches in Italian, (one without date, the other, 8th October 1566,) addressed to Cosmo Duke of Tuscany, which furnish various particulars both relating to Riccio's history and the events preceding his murder, on the evening of Saturday the 9th March 1565-6. "Ah povero Davit, mio buono et fedel servitore, Dio habbi misericordia di vostra anima!" (Recueil, &c., vol. vii. pp. 65, 86, 93.)

Calderwood repeats what George Buchanan states in his History regarding Riccio's funeral: "After the flight of the Noblemen from Edinburgh, the Queen caused to take up in the night Seigneur Davie his corps, which had been buried before the Abbey kirk doore, and lay it near to Queene Magdalene; which ministered no small occasioun to the people of bad constructions." (History, vol. ii. p. 316.)

"A Relation of the Death of David Rizzi, chief favourite of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scotland; who was killed in the apartment of the said Queen on the 9th March 1565. Written by the Lord Ruthen, one of the principal persons concerned in that action," was printed at London 1699, 8vo, and has been several times reprinted. One of these editions, forming part of a volume entitled, "Miscellanea Antiqua Anglicana," London, 1815, 4to, is accompanied with a portrait of Riccio: It has much the look of an original by Zucchero, and is "painted on a small circular pannel; and on the back are rudely cut into the wood the name _Davit Rixio_, and the date 1564."

No. VI.

THE ABBOTS OF CULROSS AND LINDORES IN 1560.

IT is often impossible to identify persons at an early period who held high ecclesiastical appointments, from only their baptismal names and designations being given in deeds and the public records. But it is singular that any difficulty should have been experienced in regard to persons who flourished so late as the middle of the 16th century. Among the dignified clergy who were present at the condemnation of Sir John Borthwick for heresy, in May 1540, we find the names of William Commendator of Culross, and John Abbot of Lindores. Both of these individuals took their seats as Lords of Session, on the Spiritual side, 5th November 1544; they had also a seat in Parliament; and both of them having joined the Reformers, were present when the Confession of Faith was ratified and approved in August 1560.

I. WILLIAM COMMENDATOR OF CULROSS, 1539-1564.

I have two deeds dated in 1539-40, and 1541, granted by "William Commendator and Usufructuar of Culross, and John be the permission of God Abbot of that ilk, and Convent of the samyn," signed, "VILLELMUS Commendatarius de Culross, JOHANNES COLVILE Abbas," and by "Frater Johannes Christeson," and the other brethren of the convent. Another deed, dated 20th March 1564-5, is signed by William Commendator, &c., along with the brethren of the Convent; John Colville, Abbot, having probably died before this. William Commendator of Culross filled the office of Comptroller from 1546 to 1550. His name occurs among the signatures to the Book of Discipline, see page 258. That the Commendator as well as the Abbot was a Colville might be shown from several incidental notices. One instance may suffice; in the Register of Signatures, there is recorded the Confirmation of a pension of £61, 6s. 8d., and "twenty bollis rynnand met of quheit, granted by umquhill WILLIAME Commendator of Culross, and Convent thairof, TO MAISTER ROBERT COLVILL BROTHER TO THE SAID UMQUHILL COMMENDATOR," 15th April 1569.

II. JOHN ABBOT OF LINDORES, 1540-1566.