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The Attitude of Whitgift and Bancroft to the Scottish Church

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2009

Gordon Donaldson
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Extract

The friendship and understanding which had joined the reformed churches of England and Scotland in the early years of Elizabeth's reign were not menaced until shortly after Whitgift's accession to the see of Canterbury in 1583. The new primate had to deal with problems which had been quite unknown to his predecessors—problems arising from the success of the Scottish presbyterians and the efforts of their English imitators. The constitution of the Scottish reformed church, after developing in the direction of ‘conformity with England’, had not attained stability before being undermined by the emergence of intransigent presbyterianism. In 1581 the general assembly had approved the full presbyterian programme, and in August 1582 a coup d'état, the ‘Ruthven raid’, by the ultra-protestant party among the Scottish nobles had produced a government favourable to the first brief presbyterian experiment. In England also the struggle between presbyterianism and episcopacy had begun, and Whitgift himself had been the protagonist of the episcopalian cause. The English crown was immune from such coups d'état as made possible three changes in the constitution of the Scottish church within five years; but the English presbyterians had powerful friends among the radical politicians and diplomats. Already there were signs of co-operation between the ecclesiastical rebels in the two British kingdoms, and the incipient alliance soon had political repercussions, for the conduct of Anglo-Scottish relations was during several years in the hands of Francis Walsingham and William Davison, two diplomats who, as secretary and ambassador, consistently used their influence on behalf of the Scottish presbyterians, whom they alleged to be the only sincere supporters in Scotland of the cause of ‘amity with England’.

Type
Research Article
Information
Transactions of the Royal Historical Society , Volume 24 , December 1942 , pp. 95 - 115
Copyright
Copyright © Royal Historical Society 1942

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References

page 95 note 1 In the author's absence.

page 96 note 1 Melville, James, Autobiography and diary (Wodrow Soc., 1842), pp. 53, 293Google Scholar; Row, John, History of the kirk of Scotland (Wodrow Soc., 1842), p. 115Google Scholar; Historie and life of king James the sext (Bannatyne Club, 1825), p. 205Google Scholar; Brit. Mus., Cotton MSS., Calig. C. ix. fo. 161.

page 96 note 2 Calderwood, , History of the kirk of Scotland (Wodrow Soc., 1843), iii. 371–2; iv. 500.Google Scholar

page 97 note 1 Cf. Cal. S.P. Scot., ii. no. 439; vi. no. 705; viii. no. 56.Google Scholar

page 97 note 2 Calderwood, , op. cit., iv. 145, 163Google Scholar; Wodrow Soc, Miscellany i (1844), p 417.Google Scholar

page 97 note 3 There are accounts of Adamson's mission in Melville, James's Diary (p, 141)Google Scholar, Calderwood, 's History (iii. 763Google Scholar; iv. 49, 55,: 431–2), Calderwood, 's. Vindiciae contra calumnias Johannis Spotsuodi (edn. 1623, p. 54)Google Scholar and Brit. Mus. Add. MSS. 32,092, fos. 42–5. The Whitgift-Adamson correspondence, which is used throughout this and the succeeding paragraphs, is as follows: (a) Adamson to Whitgift (copy, undated, but either late December 1583 or early January 1583/4), Brit. Mus., Add. MSS. 32,092, fo. 75v; (b) Whitgift, to Adamson, (copy, dated 4 01 1583/1584)Google Scholar, ibid., fo. 76r; (c) Adamson to Whitgift (copy, undated, probably late April 1584), ibid., fo. 76v); (d) Adamson, to Whitgift, , 16 06 1584Google Scholar, Harl. MSS. 7004, fo. 3 (copy in Add. MSS., 32,092, fo. 79v), printed (except the endorsement) in McCrie, Thomas, Life of Andrew MelvilleGoogle Scholar, appendix iv.

page 98 note 1 S.P. Scot. Eliz., xxxiii. nos. 71, 74, 94 (Cal., vi.Google Scholar nos. 681, 684, 707); Registrum secreti sigilli (H.M. Gen. Reg. House, Edinburgh), xlix. fos. 175v–176.

page 98 note 2 Cal. S.P. Scot., vi.Google Scholar nos. 691, 696, 703, 706; Border papers, i. no. 188.Google Scholar

page 98 note 3 Ibid.; Cal. S.P. Scot., vi.Google Scholar no. 702 ; Registrum secreti sigilli, loc. cit.

page 98 note 4 Cal. S.P. Scot., vi.Google Scholar nos. 705, 706; Adamson, 's ‘articles’Google Scholar, of which there is a copy in Latin in Add. MSS. 32,092, fos. 73–5, are printed (in translation) in Melville, J.'s Diary, pp. 148–53Google Scholar, and Calderwood, 's History, iv. 50–5.Google Scholar

page 99 note 1 Adamson's application to Walsingham, which is undated (like most of his letters), has been attributed to December 1583, but was probably written after Whitgift's letter of 4 Jan. 1583/4. S.P. Scot. Eliz., xxxiii. no. 94 (Cal., vi. no. 707).Google Scholar

page 100 note 1 SirMelville, James, Memoirs (Bannatyne Club, 1827), p. 315.Google Scholar

page 100 note 2 Hist. MSS. Comm., Report xiiGoogle Scholar, pt. ix, 149–50. The MS. collection which includes the minute book of the Dedham classis contains a copy of Propositiones ministrorum Scotiae serenissimo regi oblatae among writings which were ‘inserted … because they were conferred of in our meetings’. The leakage of Adamson's ‘articles’ into the hands of the English and Scottish presbyterians may have taken place through Jean Castel, minister of the French church in London (cf. Cotton MSS., Calig. C. ix. fo. 161), or through Walsingham and William Davison.

page 100 note 3 Adamson, P., Poemata sacra (1619)Google Scholar, sig. A. 3 verso.

page 100 note 4 Adamson, P., Opera (1619)Google Scholar, sig. T. 2 verso.

page 101 note 1 Hist. MSS. Comm., Report ii. 45.Google Scholar For Beale's character and views see Fuller, Church history, ix. v. 9.Google Scholar

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page 102 note 1 Cal. S.P. Scot., vii. no. 138.Google Scholar

page 102 note 2 Ibid., nos. 138, 146, 149, 161, 165, 167, 175, 195, 208, 241, 267, 349, 479, 508, 542; Calderwood, , History, iv. 352, viii. 267–8Google Scholar; Wodrow Soc., Miscellany, i. 413–14.Google Scholar These references give evidence of the friendly attitude of Walsingham, Davison and other English politicians to the Scottish presbyterians, of Walsingham's dealings with the exiled ministers in London, and of the policy of the Scottish government.

page 103 note 1 Cal. S.P. Scot., vii.Google Scholar nos. 233, 236.

page 103 note 2 The letter (Harl. MSS., 7004, fo. 3) is endorsed ‘The receat of his letter I signifiet to her majestie at Nonesuch in Sommer anno 1584’.

page 103 note 3 [Blank] to Whitgift, 10 Jan. 1584/5, Add. MSS., 32,092, fo. 78v (copy). This letter, written in Scots and dated from Holyroodhouse, contains only invective against the Scottish presbyterian ministers.

page 104 note 1 Nat. Lib. Scot. MSS., 6.1.13, fos. 33–4; copy in B.M., Add. MSS. 32,092, fo. 88v. Giles Fletcher described the assembly's proceedings to Walsingham also (Cal. S.P. Scot., viii. no. 407).Google Scholar

page 104 note 2 Udall, John, Diotrephes (ed. Arber, 1880), p. 7.Google Scholar

page 106 note 1 Bancroft, , A sermon preached at Paules crosse (1588), pp. 72–6Google Scholar; Browne, Robert, A new year's guift (ed. C. Burrage, 1904), pp. 8, 25–6Google Scholar (the MS. of this work [B.M., Add. MSS., 29,546, fos. 67–72] was used by Bancroft, who underlined the passages which -he quoted). Bancroft afterwards explained in a letter to Burghley the line of thought which he had followed in his sermon (Nat. Lib. Scot. MSS., 6.1.13, fos. 46–55).

page 106 note 2 Lambeth Palace MSS., vol. 374, fos. 135, 228, 229Google Scholar; Fenner, Dudley, Defence of the counterpoyson (1586)Google Scholar, preface and Sig. A. 3.

page 106 note 3 Add. MSS., 32,092, fo. 106.

page 107 note 1 Egerton MSS., 2598, fos. 240–5 (Cal. S.P. Scot., x.Google Scholar no. 337) ; cf. Usher, R. G., The reconstruction of the English church, i. 56–7.Google Scholar

page 107 note 2 Cal S.P. Scot., x.Google Scholar nos. 349, 353.

page 107 note 3 Calderwood, , History, v. 77.Google Scholar It is possible that there was no connection between Naunton and Norton and that Bancroft had employed the Nortons independently. On the other hand, Calderwood's account may be inaccurate, and Norton's confession may in fact have implicated Naunton.

page 108 note 1 Nat. Lib. Scot. MSS., 6.1.13, fos. 37–8. Dr. H. W. Meikle identified this paper as being a series of answers to Bancroft's questions. The same volume includes (at fos. 33–4) a letter to Whitgift of which there is a copy in the British Museum (Add. MSS., 32,092, fo. 88v) and (at fo. 42) a letter from a Scotsman which undoubtedly reached England; it is therefore likely that the papers directed to Bancroft which it contains came into his hands safely. It is noteworthy that Calderwood, who had access to a copy of the questions, did not apparently see any answers to them.

page 108 note 2 Ibid., fos. 39–41. The identification of Bancroft's informant is conjectural; see Register of presentations to benefices (H.M. Gen. Reg. House), i. 144; ii. 113, 115v; Venn, , Alumni Cantab., ii. 211Google Scholar; Scott, Hew, Fasti Eccl. Scot., i. 353.Google Scholar

page 108 note 3 Wodrow Soc., Miscellany, i. 470.Google Scholar

page 108 note 4 Ibid., 489–96; Calderwood, , op. cit., v. 72–7.Google Scholar

page 110 note 1 Wodrow Soc., Miscellany, i. 503–20Google Scholar; Melville, J., Diary, pp. 280–1Google Scholar; Calderwood, , op. cit., v. 100–1, 106, 112.Google Scholar

page 110 note 2 S.P. Scot. Eliz., xlvi. nos. 48, 58 (Cal., x. nos. 482, 492).Google Scholar

page 112 note 1 Nat. Lib. Scot. MSS., 6.1.13, fos. 46–55.

page 112 note 2 S.P. Scot. Eliz., xlvi. nos. 69, 71; xlvii. no. 4 (Cal., x. nos. 505, 517).Google Scholar

page 112 note 3 Penry, , A briefs discovery, pp. 42–4.Google Scholar

page 113 note 1 ‘A petition directed to her most excellent majestie’, Harl. MSS., 7581, published probably in 1591 (Short title catalogue, 1521).Google Scholar The section dealing with Scotland is on fo. 28 (p. 51) of the MS. and p. 46 of the printed version.

page 113 note 2 Calderwood, , op. cit., v. 118–23Google Scholar; Melville, J., Diary, pp. 281–2Google Scholar; Cal. S.P. Scot., x. no. 548.Google Scholar

page 114 note 1 Bancroft, , Survay, pp. 48–9, 75, 78, 147, 174, 186, 458–60Google Scholar; Daungerous positions, p. 6.Google Scholar

page 114 note 2 Survay, pp. 48–9, 228Google Scholar; Daungerous positions, pp. 10 ff.Google Scholar

page 115 note 1 Daungerous positions, pp. 5, 27.Google Scholar For Gibson, James see Calderwood, , op. cit., iv. 484–8.Google Scholar One cannot fail to comment on the fact that B.M., Add. MSS., 32,092 (which contains a transcript of the Adamson-Whitgift correspondence, letters which passed between Beza and Scottish divines, various papers relating to Scottish ecclesiastical affairs, and a letter from Robert Naunton to John Copcot) is such a volume as might have been compiled for Bancroft's use. With Nat. Lib. Scot. MSS., 6.1.13, it provides the principal material for this subject.

page 115 note 2 Melville, J., Diary, p. 679Google Scholar; , S. P. Scot. Eliz., lxiii. no. 85Google Scholar; Heylin, Peter, Aērius redivivas (1672), p. 355.Google Scholar

page 115 note 3 Usher, R. G., op. cit., ii 154–74.Google Scholar