SCOTLAND'S INTERNATIONAL POSITION

Another reason for the initial non-receptiveness of the Scots to the ideas of the Reformation was due to the international position of their country. For centuries, England had been Scotland's 'Auld Enemy', while France was the 'Auld Ally'. Since England was breaking away from the Roman Church, and France was remaining Catholic, it followed that Scotland should choose to remain Catholic too. This tendency was further bolstered by the recent memory of the defeat of all the available forces of Scotland by the English in the battle of Flodden in 1513. To stay with France seemed the only way to avoid conquest and assimilation by the English under the Tudors.(l3) But many historians who hold this view also believe that the battle at Flodden, paradoxically, also marked the turning point in Anglo-Scottish relations, because Scotland was defeated in foolhardy support of their French allies, and gradually more and more Scots came to accept that the destiny of their country lay with England, not with France; and such attitudes helped eventually to precipitate the Scottish Reformation. Upon the death of James V in 1542, Henry VIII proposed a match between his son Edward and the infant Queen Mary Stewart; but the deal would have implied the absorption of Scotland by England, and was therefore rejected by the Scottish court. Marie of Guise, the French queen dowager and regent of Scotland, was thus enabled to pursue a pro-French policy and a match between her daughter and the Dauphin. This in turn meant absorption by France; and those patriots who had previously feared England now feared the even closer danger of France, as personified in the queen dowager. By this time, England under Mary Tudor was Catholic and persecuted Protestants; Scottish leaders, in reaction against both France and England, became much more receptive to Protestant ideas.(14) In this connection, it may be noted that unsuccessful internal reforms undertaken by the Scottish hierarchy in the 1540's and 50’s were actually quite close to Lutheranism in certain parts of theology (such as justification by faith), suggesting that the active elements among the clergy might not have been averse to a Henrician-type reformation, and that it was for reasons other than religion that such a reformation did not take place.(15)

The above analysis is not intended to suggest that diplomacy was the determining factor in the outbreak of the Scottish Reformation. Rather, international relations was one of several important factors. One of the points which a strictly diplomatic interpretation of the Scottish Reformation would not explain was the possibility of a Protest ant Scotland allied with a Catholic France against a Protestant England, or a Catholic Scotland allied with a Protestant England against a Catholic France. Sixteenth-century international relations were often not dictated by religious affiliation, to say the least; and it is further inappropriate to assume that the religious policies of the Scots were simply reacting to the fluctuating situation south of the border. Other important causes of the Scottish Reformation are to be found in the domestic politics of the country.

13)See, for example, P. Hume Brown, John Knox, a biography (London, 1895), 39-41; Lee, op. cit., 14; and the New Catholic Encyclopedia, op. cit., 1231-1232.

14)Lee, ibid. Also, Donaldson, op. cit., 52.

15)Dickinson, 140-141, 121. Donaldson, 50.