The marriage of Queen Mary to the Dauphin in April 1558 was celebrated with due rejoicings in Scotland, but it rather in jured than assisted the French cause, for there was a suspicion, which is now known to have been well-founded, that agreements signed by the girl-queen on her marriage formed a danger to the independence of the country. Mary had, in fact, been induced to sign documents which, in the event of her decease without is sue, transferred the succession to the French king and his heirs, a stipulation which directly contravened assurances solemnly given by Henry II. to the Scottish parliament.
The Lords of the Congregation.—The revolt of the Scot tish Protestants against the French alliance and the Roman Church was hastened by events in England. While Mary Tudor lived, they could form no English alliance, in spite of the Eng lish queen's hostility to France. When Elizabeth succeeded in Nov. 1558, Henry II. was guilty of the foolish insult of assert ing the claim of his daughter-in-law to the English throne as the nearest heir of Henry VII.—Elizabeth being, in the eyes of Roman Catholic Europe, an illegitimate child. It was, therefore, in the interests of England to help the Scottish Protestants against the Scottish Government, and it happened that the queen regent chose this unfortunate moment for severe measures. In 1559 she
denounced the Protestant leaders as heretics, and their reply came in the form of the destruction of the religious houses at Perth. Alarmed by the outbreak, Mary of Guise promised not to send a French garrison to the city, but her arrival at Perth with a personal bodyguard of French soldiers was interpreted as a breach of her promise. The destruction of religious buildings continued, and the Protestant leaders, known as the Lords of the Congregation, invited English help. Henry II. was killed in the summer of 1559, and the king of France, Francis II., became, in right of his wife, king of Scots. The Guises were the Government of both France and Scotland, and France, just released from the burden of a Spanish war, was free to prosecute its policy in Scot land. But the Lords of the Congregation gave the Scottish Gov ernment no time for preparation. In Oct. 1559 they announced the deposition of the queen regent, and asked Elizabeth "to ac cept the realm of Scotland into her protection and maintenance, only for preservation of them in their old freedom and liberties, and from conquest, during the time the marriage shall continue between the Queen of Scots and the French King."