Kirkcaldy

“ But it might be he should requite him in full, either in Scotland or in France.’
The French soon learnt to their cost that Kirkcaldy had not been indulging in mere braggart threats. At the head of a thousand horse, and accompanied by the Master of Sinclair, he lay in wait for them day and night, and made it unsafe for them to venture out of Kinghorn except in large bodies. One of his exploits was the capture of three ships, laden with victuals, and the slaughter of some sixty Frenchmen that were on board. ”

“ With a dying hand he wrote his tract against confederacies with ‘malignants;’ similar testimonies were embodied in his will, and dictated to an amanuensis when he could no longer hold a pen. In hope of recruiting his health he went with his wife to Kirkcaldy, and died there on 16 Dec. 1648. A Latin epitaph was placed on his tombstone at Kirkcaldy. By order of the committee of estates the stone was broken by the hangman at the cross of Kirkcaldy in January 1661. In 1746 the inscription was replaced by his grandson, George Gillespie, minister of Strathmiglo, Fifeshire. ”

“ During the troubled days that intervened between the death of Murray and the regency of Lennox, Sir William Kirkcaldy, whilst continuing to assert his allegiance to the youthful King, maintained his intercourse with Maitland and the other leading men of the party which openly favoured the captive Queen. The correspondence of the time bears evident testimony to the importance which his possession of the Castle gave him, and to the doubts and fears with which his conduct inspired Elizabeth’s ministers. ”

“ It commanded Andrew, Earl of Rothes, and William Kirkcaldy of Grange to enter themselves prisoners within the Castle of Dumbarton. On the 14th of the same month, Kirkcaldy was denounced as a rebel, and charged, under pains of treason, to deliver up the fortalice of Halyards. Next day a proclamation, setting forth that the Earls of Murray and Rothes, Grange, and Provost Haliburton, were riding and going about the Realm where they pleased, and were being entertained as if they were good and true subjects, forbade the lieges to supply those rebels with meat, drink, munition, or armour. ”

“ But, at the height of his fortunes, Kirkcaldy did not forget his own country, or abandon the policy which he conscientiously believed to be for her advantage. As a soldier, he was ready to serve the French King against his continental enemies; but, as a politician, he did not hesitate or scruple to thwart his schemes by all the means in his power when their object seemed to be the subjection of Scotland to the rule of France—the erection of the land into a province, as Melville forcibly puts it. ”

“ Through the treachery of his own wife, James Kirkcaldy, who had hitherto successfully acted as his brother’s agent with the Court of France, was captured, together with a considerable sum of money, which Mary had supplied from her dowry, and on which the Castilians were depending. Within the Castle, Maitland was as firm and uncompromising as the Governor himself; indeed, his enemies attributed the obstinate resistance of the soldier to the ‘enchantment’ cast over him by the statesman. ”

“ It was another disappointment to them, about the same time, to know that he had resolved to quit the Kirkcaldy schoolmastership. His relations with the Kirkcaldy people, or with some of them, had not been absolutely satisfactory, any more than Irving’s; both had “got tired of schoolmastering and its mean contradictions 265and poor results,” and had even come to the conclusion “Better die than be a schoolmaster for one’s living”; and in the end of 1818 they had both thrown up their Kirkcaldy engagements and were back in Edinburgh to look about for something else. ”

“ But, ‘though they loved the treachery, they had no great liking for the man.’ And they were anxious to prevent the possibility of his again turning against them, if circumstances should seem to favour the Queen’s party. On the 24th of August, he agreed to deliver the fortress into the Regent’s hands, subject to certain conditions, of which one was that the Laird of Grange should succeed him as Governor and should pledge his word for his safety. When Kirkcaldy returned to Edinburgh, he found himself appointed to the command of what was then one of the most important strongholds in Scotland. ”

“ Kirk Session, an ecclesiastical court in Scotland, composed of the minister and elders of a parish, subject to the Presbytery of the district.
Kirkcaldy (27) , a manufacturing and seaport town in Fifeshire, extending 4 m. along the north shore of the Forth, known as the "lang toon." It was the birthplace of Adam Smith, and one of the scenes of the schoolmastership period of Thomas Carlyle's life; manufactures textile fabrics and floorcloth; is a busy town.
Kirkcudbright (40) , a Scottish county on the Solway shore between Wigtown and Dumfries, watered by the rivers Nith, Dee, and Cree ”

“ Knox had prophesied that Kirkcaldy would be hanged, but did not live to see his desire on his enemy, or on Mary, whom Elizabeth was about to hand over to Mar for instant execution. Knox died on November 24, 1572; Mar, the Regent, had predeceased him by a month, leaving Morton in power. On May 28, 1573, the castle, attacked by guns and engineers from England, and cut off from water, struck its flag. The brave Kirkcaldy was hanged; Lethington, who had long been moribund, escaped by an opportune death. The best soldier in Scotland and the most modern of her wits thus perished together. ”

“ IX. LANGSIDE—AND AFTER Whilst Sir William Kirkcaldy was cruising in the North, important events were taking place in the Capital. The enforced abdication of Queen Mary had been followed by the appointment of her half-brother, the Lord James, Earl of Murray, to be Regent of the Realm. One of his first acts was to obtain the surrender of Edinburgh Castle from Sir James Balfour, who had been made Governor of it by the interest of Bothwell. That had not prevented him, however, from siding with the Lords when he saw the success of their arms. ”

“ That is what the queen thought also; for the result of her conference with Lord Kirkcaldy was that she should abandon Bothwell’s cause, and pass over into the camp of the Confederates, on condition that they would lay down their arms before her and bring her as queen to Edinburgh. Kirkcaldy left her to take these conditions to the nobles, and promised to return next day with a satisfactory answer. ”

“ Kirkcaldy and his companion landed on the west coast of Scotland in the spring of 1549. But they were not in safety yet. It was only across the Border that they could consider themselves beyond the reach of their enemies. The short journey southwards, however, presented but slight difficulties as compared with what they had already gone through; and before long they found a refuge in [48] Berwick. There they saw John Knox, who had been released that winter; and within a few months they were able to meet others of their friends in England ”

“ For all this, there was no wavering on the part of Kirkcaldy. He felt the fullest confidence as to his ability to hold out, so long as he had Morton alone to deal with; and he believed that fear of irritating the French Court, and unwillingness to incur the heavy expenses of sending a siege train to Scotland might yet deter Elizabeth from lending active assistance to the Regent. In spite of the besiegers’ utmost efforts to prevent him, he continued the work of fortifying the [145] Castle with earth, stone, and timber ”

“ KIRKCALDY or KIRKALDY, Sir JAMES (d. 1556) , of Grange, lord high treasurer of Scotland, was descended from the elder branch of a family which at a very early period had been settled in Fifeshire, his father being William Kirkaldy of Grange. Introduced to the court of James V by his father-in-law, Sir John Melville of Raith, he soon became a special favourite of the king, who made him a lord of the bedchamber, and on 24 March 1537 appointed him lord high treasurer of Scotland. He was one of the chief opponents of the ambitious political projects of Cardinal Beaton and the ecclesiastics. ”

“ On that day Kirkcaldy, to whose knowledge it had come that he had publicly been accused of being a traitor and a murderer, issued a public challenge, offering to fight, in single combat, and to the death, any man, of whatsoever estate he might be, who took it on himself to support such a charge. It was taken up by Alexander Stuart of Garlies. He ridiculed the style assumed by Grange—a style more befitting the chief nobility or even the Royal Blood, than one whose father had but eight ox-gangs, and whose progenitors were, for the most part, saltmakers. ”

“ In the interval the Kirkcaldy people, many of whom were dissatisfied with Irving’s conduct in the new academy there, and especially with the severity of his discipline among the young ones, had resolved on resuscitating their regular or Burgh School; and, on the recommendation of Professors Leslie and Christison, Carlyle had been offered the mastership of that school. If Carlyle accepted and went to Kirkcaldy, it would thus be as Irving’s rival. ”

“ But there is evidence that he was at St Andrews in the beginning of June. It was there that John Knox first proposed to him that they should endeavour to obtain assistance from Queen Elizabeth. ‘If England would but see her own advantage,’ the Reformer said, ‘Yea, if she would consider the dangers wherein she is standing herself, she would not suffer us to perish in this quarrel; for France hath decreed no less the conquest of England than of Scotland.’ As the result of their ‘long reasoning,’ it was resolved that Kirkcaldy should open negotiations with the English. ”

“ In spite of the irregular and desultory fighting of which the meeting between Kirkcaldy and Evers was an incident, Scotland and England were not actually at war with each other. France, it is true, was using all its influence to create a diversion in its own favour by inducing the Queen-Regent to send a Scottish army across the Border ”

“ As early as the beginning of January 1566, steps were being taken to procure an amnesty in favour of Sir William Kirkcaldy, and to enable him to return to Scotland. They were not successful, however, and two months later he was still in England, and according to a communication made by Bedford and Randolph to Cecil, was one of those who were privy to the plot for the assassination of David Rizzio. ”

“ The day that the new Regent was elected, there occurred another important event, which was destined to exercise great influence on Kirkcaldy’s fate. On that same 24th of November, John Knox died in Edinburgh, to which he had returned shortly before in a sinking condition. As he lay on his death-bed he desired his friend, David Lindsay, the minister of Leith, to take a message from him to the Laird of Grange. “‘Go, I pray you,’ he said, ‘and tell him that I have sent you to him yet once to warn him; and bid him, in the name of God, leave [142] that evil cause, and give over that Castle. ”

“ By none was the valiant Master of Rothes more deeply and more sincerely regretted than by his companion in many a perilous adventure—William Kirkcaldy. He [50] had been given the command of a hundred light horsemen; and with these he had been sent out on a secret expedition, from which he did not return till the day after the fatal skirmish. Within a few hours, the battle of Renti afforded him and his Scots an opportunity of avenging their countryman. That he who was ‘like a lion in the field’ did not spare the enemy may well be assumed. ”

“ Those who, realising the difficulty of his position, and believing that he was as much the victim as the accomplice of the unscrupulous policy of Elizabeth and her astute minister, Cecil, were still inclined to give him credit for sincerity and honesty of purpose, felt their confidence in him die away when, to propitiate Elizabeth, he consented to the impeachment of Maitland. Amongst them was Kirkcaldy. ”

“ Murray’s unconditional refusal to resign the regency and restore Mary, was followed on both sides by active preparation for war. In answer to his proclamation some 4,000 men assembled in Glasgow, which he had made his headquarters. Amongst them was a body of arquebusiers and archers, who had come from Edinburgh with Sir William Kirkcaldy. The Queen’s partisans had gathered round her in even greater numbers; and contemporary accounts estimate the strength of her forces at fully 6,000. ”

“ Kirkcaldy, therefore, on the 28th sent privately to Hume and Crawford, who commanded the Scottish contingent, and delivered the castle into their hands, thus avoiding the surrender of it to the English. Next morning he gave up his sword to Sir William Drury, by whom he was treated with every courtesy. On 3 June he and Maitland wrote to Elizabeth that they had surrendered themselves to her, and hoped that she would not put them ‘out of her hands to make any others, especially our mortal enemy, our masters;’ but on the 18th they were delivered up to Morton. ”

“ Respectfully, yet firmly, addressing his sovereign, he begged to be told what offence he had committed, and why he had suddenly been deprived of the favour with which he had so lately been honoured. The reply was such as he expected it would be. ‘Why,’ asked James, ‘why did you refuse to send me the maiden whom I wrote for, and give despiteful language to him I sent for her?’ Put in this form, the charge was easy to meet. Kirkcaldy dared anyone present to accuse him of disobedience to the King’s command. He had, he admitted, declined to give Helen Leslie into the Prior’s keeping ”

“ Although the Queen had pledged her word for his safety, it is asserted by Sir James Melville, that [91] Bothwell had instructed a soldier to shoot him. Mary perceived the man, as he was taking aim, and uttering a loud cry, she exclaimed, ‘Shame us not with so foul a murder!’
In his conversation with the Queen, Kirkcaldy assured her that all in the field were ready to honour and serve her on the condition that she abandoned the Earl of Bothwell, who had murdered her husband, and who could not be a husband to her, as he had but lately married the Earl of Huntly’s sister. ”