Balfour was one of those servants of the state, who, being advanced rather on account of merit than birth, used at all times to give great offence to the Scottish nobility. It seems to have never been supposed by this haughty class, that there was the least necessity for ingenious or faithful service in the officials employed by majesty; birth and following were the only qualifications allowed by them to be of any value. Accordingly, it is not surprising to find that the same conspiracy which overthrew the "kinless" adventurer Rizzio, contemplated the destruction of Balfour. He was so fortunate, however, as to escape, and even derived some advantage from the event, being promoted to the office of clerk-register, in room of Mr James Macgill, who was concerned in the conspiracy. He was also about this time made a knight, and appointed to be one of the commissioners for revising, correcting, and publishing the ancient laws and statutes of the kingdom.
In the beginning of the year 1567, Sir James Balfour was appointed governor of Edinburgh castle. In this important situation, he naturally became an object of great solicitude to the confederate lords, who, in the ensuing May, commenced a successful rebellion against Queen Mary. It would appear that Sir James was not now more loyal than many other persons who had experienced the favour of Mary. He is said to have even been the means of throwing into the hands of the confederates that celebrated box of letters, upon which they endeavoured to ground the proof of her guilt. There can be no doubt that he was at this time in the way of receiving high favours from the Earl of Murray, who was the chief man opposed to the dethroned queen. He was, in September, 1567, admitted by Murray a lord of his privy council, and made commendator of the priory of Pittenweem; and in December, a bargain was accomplished, by which he agreed to accept a pension of L.500 and the presidency of the Court of Session, in lieu of the clerk-registry, which Murray wished to be restored to his friend Macgill. Sir James continued faithful to the party which opposed Queen Mary, till the death of Murray, January, 1569-70, when he was in some measure compelled to revert to the Queen's side, on account of a charge preferred against him by the succeeding Regent, Lennox, who taxed him with a share in the murder of Darnley. For this accusation no proof was ever adduced, but even allowing Sir James to have been guilty, it will only add another to the list of great men concerned in the transaction, and show the more dearly how neither learning, rank, official dignity, nor any other ennobling qualification, prevented a man in those days from staining his hands with blood. Balfour outlived Lennox, and was serviceable in bringing about the pacification between the King's and Queen's party, under Morton, in 1573. He would appear to have been encouraged by Morton in the task of revising the laws of the country, which he at length completed in a style allowed at that time to be most masterly. Morton afterwards thought proper to revive the charge brought by Lennox against Sir James, who was consequently obliged to retire to France, where he lived for some years. He returned in 1580, and revenged the persecution of Morton, by producing against him, on his trial, a deed to which he had acceded, in common with others of the Scottish nobility, alleging Bothwell's innocence of the King's murder, and recommending him to the Queen as a husband. Sir James died before the 14th of January, 1583-4.
* * *
Chapter Thirty-One
Mary considered the Lords Seton, Livingston and Fleming as her closest friends and allies
* * *
Chapter Thirty-Two
1561
Mary, Queen of Scots, arrives from France. Sets about subduing the Scottish Borders - her half-brother James Stewart leads raid into Middle March, hanging or imprisoning the leaders
1562
More attempts by Scottish forces to control their side of the border
1563
Henry, Lord Scrope of Bolton, is new English Warden of West March
1564
Feuding between Elliot and Scott families breaks out
1565
Further feuding between Scotts and Elliots - who are supported by Crosiers and Nixons plus wild men from the Debateable Land: burning, death, stolen cattle. Scrope unofficially assisting the Elliots, giving them shelter and money
Mary, Queen of Scots, marries Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley
Control of the border breaking down on both sides - more raiding and looting
1566
19 June Prince James (I and VI) born
4 Oct Bothwell leaves for Liddesdale with 300 horse.
7 Oct Mary leaves Edinburgh for Jedburgh with an entourage of 40 men including Moray, Huntly, judges & court officials, staying en route with Home at Home, Wedderburn & Langton
9 Oct Mary arrives in Jedburgh, staying at the fortified house just off the main street. She hears of Bothwell's injuries
10-15 Oct Mary presides over the assizes, considered by Moray as over-lenient in her sentencing, fining those found guilty rather than seeking their execution
16 Oct Mary visits Bothwell at Hermitage, believing he is dying, in order to get a briefing from him as governor of this border district. On her return she falls ill
1567
Lord Darnley murdered by Earl of Bothwell - whom Mary then marries
Mary later imprisoned - Moray becomes Regent
1568
Mary escapes, raises an army which is beaten by Moray's forces at Langside. Borderers fight on both sides. Mary escapes to England - and eventual execution
Queen Elizabeth appoints Henry Carey, Lord Hunsdon, as Warden of East March and Captain of Berwick - a hard man, sets about the reivers
1569
Moray leads military raids into Scottish West March: border brought under control - with the exception of Liddesdale.
October: Moray rides against Liddesdale again. Eventually Armstrongs, Johnstones, Elliots and Grahams give pledges to refrain from warlike activity
* * *
Chapter Thirty-Three
Claude Nau (died 1605), full name Claude Nau de la Boisseliere, was a confidential secretary of Mary, Queen of Scots in England from 1575 to 1586.
Nau was a successful lawyer practicing in Paris when he was recruited by the Guise family in 1574 to be Mary's secretary. He was presented by the Duke of Guise, Mary's nephew, to Henry III of France who gave him diplomatic accreditation and sent him to Elizabeth I of England. Elizabeth gave a him a letter of introduction to the Earl of Shrewsbury the Scottish Queen's keeper at Sheffield Castle. Nau was frequently mentioned in Mary's correspondence, and many of his own letters survive.
In June 1579, Mary sent Nau as her ambassador to her son, James VI of Scotland, instead of John Lesley, Bishop of Ross. However, the Scottish court at Stirling Castle would not allow him an audience, apparently because Mary's letter was addressed to her son, not the King. Although Nau was accompanied by Nicholas Arrington, Provost Marshal of Berwick upon Tweed, he had no papers from Elizabeth. The Privy Council of Scotland issued a proclamation that he deserved punishment and should be commanded to depart.[1]
Claude's brother, the Sieur de Fontenay, sent from France, had more success. Fontenay was able to meet James VI in August 1584. Fontenay wrote to Claude about his good reception, James had met him in his cabinet at Holyroodhouse, and lent him a horse to join the hunting.[2] In November 1584, Nau spoke with Elizabeth, on the subject of Mary's allegations against Bess of Hardwick. Nau was arrested at Chartley in 1586, but seems to have lived comfortably with the family of Francis Walsingham. After Mary's execution he returned to France where he was exonerated from accusations of treachery to Mary by the King and the Duke of Guise.[3]
Joseph Stevenson discovered Nau's memoirs of Mary and her history and published these works in 1883. Stevenson also attributed a treatise in French on Mary's title to the English throne to Nau.[4] Nau started translating John Lesley's Latin history of Scotland, the De Origine, into French. He did not complete this historical work.
—
NAU, CLAUDE de la BOISSELIERE (fl. 1574–1605), secretary of Mary Queen of Scots, was descended from an old French family originally settled in Touraine, b
ut subsequently in Paris under the patronage of the house of Guise. He was educated for the law, and for some time practised in the courts of parliament. After acting as secretary to the Cardinal of Lorraine, he entered the service of the king of France, by whom he was made counsellor and auditor of the Chambre des Comptes (M. De La Chenaye-Desbois, Dictionnaire de la Noblesse, Paris, 1775, s.n.) On the death of Queen Mary's secretary Raullet, in 1574, he was, on the recommendation of the Cardinal of Lorraine, chosen to succeed him, and entered upon his duties in the spring of 1575. Mary was then a prisoner in the Earl of Shrewsbury's house at Sheffield. Besides succeeding to the secretarial duties of Raullet, he was entrusted with the management of the queen's accounts. He was also her confidant and adviser in all important matters of policy. He showed himself both zealous and able, but a letter to his brother in 1577 indicates also supreme devotion to his own personal interests. He advised his brother, for whom he was desirous to obtain the office of treasurer to the queen, whenever he talked to any of the king's servants about him, 'to always complain of my stay here, and that I am losing in this prison my best years, and the reward of my services and all hopes of advancement' (Leader, Captivity of Mary Stuart, p. 397).
In 1579 Nau was sent by Mary on a mission to Scotland, the removal of Morton from the regency having aroused hopes that her cause might win the support of the new advisers of the king of Scots. On 17 June he presented himself at the castle of Edinburgh, desiring to speak with the master of Gray, but was refused an audience (Moysie, Memoirs, p. 23). He therefore, on the 19th, passed to Stirling; but as the communication sent by Mary to King James was merely addressed 'To our Son the Prince of Scotland,' the king, with the advice of the privy council, declared 'the said Franscheman unworthy of his Hienes presence or audience, and to deserve seveir puneisment for his presumptioun, meit to be execute presentlie upoun him war it nocht for the respect of his dearest suster, the Queene of England, and hir servand that accumpanyis him'
* * *
Chapter Thirty-Four
Possibly from the Anglo Saxon meaning 'Place of the Crane'. The families … owning lands around Edinburgh and Roxburghshire, the first recording of the name was Elfric de Cranston who is one of the witnesses to a charter by William the Lion in the Abbey of Holyrood around 1170. During the reign of Alexander II Thomas de Craystoun was recorded as giving over land in East Lothian to the church and a Hugh de Cranstoun signed the Ragman Roll in 1296. David II of Scotland granted a charter to Thomas de Cranston for all the lands of Cranston.
The Cranstouns appear to have faired well until late in the 16th Century when their fortunes changed after Thomas and John Cranston were accused in 1592 of conspiring with the Earl of Bothwell who had attacked Holyrood Palace. With members of the Cranstoun family being accused of treason Sir John Cranston fell foul of the law for harboring his family members.
—
Lord Cranstoun was a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created on 17 November 1609 for Sir William Cranstoun of that Ilk, sometimes designated 'of Morristoun', Berwickshire. On the death of the eleventh lord, unmarried, in 1869, the peerage became extinct.
—
In 1592, Thomas and John Cranston were accused of treason for supporting the 4th Earl of Bothwell. In 1600, Sir John Cranston became embroiled in the Gowrie Conspiracy to murder James VI. He was pardoned by the King although his brother, Thomas, was executed. In 1609, however, Sir John Cranstoun of Morristoun, James VI's Captain of the Guard, was created Lord Cranston.
* * *
Chapter Thirty-Five
4 miles south of Hawick, east of Slitrig Water
Was burnt in 1712 when virtually all the family papers were destroyed
Stobs was a property of the Cranstons from 1370 or earlier, but had passed to the Elliots of Stobs in 1607 or before.
* * *
Chapter Thirty-Six
Penchrise
Wednesday was a braw day for a hill walk. After a brief meet up with David Dalglish and his wife Helen in Hawick I took to the hills. Destination, the summit of Penchise 1,436 feet. This is a view on the way, with some kilts on the hoof, and Penchrise rising in the background.
I soon reached the top. There was a lot of old concrete lying around as there had been an army watch tower here during World Wars I and II. The army camp and ranges around this area closed in 1959.
The view looking towards the south west and Dumfries, which is out of sight beyond the hills.
A telephoto view looking north towards Hawick, which can just be made out left of centre through the distant haze.
Time was short to get back for Ann so I returned along the old railway track.
The railway followed the valley of the Slitrig Water all the way down to Hawick.
The railway company built these cottages when the railway was built, to provide living accommodation for track maintenance workers. The cottages have been unoccupied since the railway closed in 1969 and have become derelict but the daffodils in the gardens still bloom every year.
A good view of Stobs Castle from the railway embankment. The castle was requisitioned as accommodation for army officers during World War II but is now a private residence.
* * *
Chapter Thirty-Seven
1566
October
Thurs 3rd Michael meets Alex.
Fri 4th Day of Truce
Sat 5th Michael meets Alex. She's injured. He's taken captive by the Grahams. Escapes at night. Armstrongs attack Graham bastle house. Steal Duke
Sun 6th
Simon goes south to xxdale to get reinforcements and ride a hot trod. But Alex and Hob go after Duke on their own. Get Duke, but get caught by Bothwell and flung in his prison to await judgement from the Queen (when she arrives at Jed)
Mon 7th Bothwell's fight with Jock Elliot. He's injured and too sick to take anyone for judgement.
Michael arrives in Jed but Mary has not yet arrived
Tues 8th Mary arrives in Jedburgh
Michael gets an audience with Mary, who says she's already tasked Bothwell with subduing Liddesdale
What does Michael do then? Look for Alex? Mary asks him to stay and advise on her assizes.
Tues 15th Mary hears Bothwell is sick
Wed 16th Mary travels to Hermitage (via Stobs) with Michael in party, to visit Bothwell.
While there, Mary is asked to judge the prisoners (Alex included). Michael recognises her - even though she's dirty and thin from the conditions in the dungeons. He points out that it's her horse (gets her to 'dance' with it) stands bail for her, and gets her released into his care.
Mary returns to Jed. Falls in bog. Is rescued by Alex. Somehow that is to Alex's advantage. Maybe Mary makes her a dame or something of Scotland and that means Michael can marry her?
Thurs 17th Mary falls sick
25th Mary's condition improved marginally
? Bothwell visits from Hermitage, on a horse litter as still weak from his injury
Mid-Nov Mary well enough to tour Borders again
* * *
Chapter Thirty-Eight
November 1558: Queen Elizabeth succeeds to the crown of England. Her parents' marriage follows Henry VIII's earlier divorce so is in the view of the Catholic Church, Elizabeth is illegitimate. So in Catholic eyes, especially in Scotland and France, Mary Queen of Scots is the rightful claimant to the English crown.
11 May 1559: John Knox preaches a sermon in Perth, starting a major Protestant uprising that spreads swiftly across central Scotland.
29 June 1559: John Knox preaches a sermon in St Giles' in Edinburgh that can be regarded as the real starting point of the Reformation of the Church in Scotland.
10 July 1559: Francis, the husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, becomes King Francis II of France.
27 February 1560: The Treaty of Berwick is concluded at Berwick-upon-Tweed.It is an agreement made between the English and the group of Protestant Scottish nobles known as the Lords of the Congregation to pursue the removal from Scotla
nd of the French troops who are defending the regency of Marie de Guise.
11 June 1560: The death in Edinburgh Castleof Marie de Guise, Regent of Scotland and mother of Mary, Queen of Scots.
5 July 1560: The Treaty of Edinburgh is agreed between England and France bringing to an end the siege by English troops of French forces occupying Leith.
August 1560: The Scottish Parliament prohibits the practise of the Latin Mass in Scotland and denies the authority of the Pope, in effect implementing the Reformation across Scotland.
5 December 1560: King Francis II of France, husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, dies of an infected ear and is succeeded by his brother, Charles IX of France.
19 August 1561: Mary Queen of Scots, aged eighteen and now a widow, is increasingly isolated in France, and has little choice but to accept an invitation to return to a now Protestant Scotland as Queen.
4 September 1561: Mary Queen of Scots meets John Knox at the Palace of Holyroodhouse to try to resolve the religious differences between them. The meeting fails and Mary neither ratifies nor revokes the Protestant Acts passed by Parliament.
A Love Beyond: A Scottish Historical Romance (The Reivers Book 2) Page 12