509 



BALNAVIS, HENRY. 



BALNAVIS, HENRY. 



510 



to Perth, where he was unsuccessfully besieged by the Earl of March, 

 whose followers soon after dispersed. The ancient adherents of Baliol's 

 family, and all persons disaffected to Bruce, now crowded to Baliol's 

 standard, and he was crowned King of Scotland at Scone, on the 24th 

 of September, only seven weeks from the day of his landing at Kinghorn. 

 Baliol did not hold the crown long at this period. Having privately 

 renewed to Edward III. all the forms of feudal subjugation imposed 

 on his father by the first Edward, and concluded an armistice for the 

 purpose of settling the kingdom by a convention of the states, he lay 

 carelessly encamped at Annan, where he was surprised by a body of 

 horse commanded by the young Earl of Moray, brother to the earl 

 who fell at Dufflin. Baliol with difficulty escaped half naked to the 

 English Marches, once more an exile and a fugitive. This event 

 occurred on the 16th of December, within leas than three months 

 from the date of his coronation. 



Edward III. promptly interfered in favour of his vassal ; and the 

 battle of Halidon Hill, July 10, 1333, again placed Edward Baliol on 

 the throne of Scotland. The loss of the Scots in this action was very 

 great, aud probably Baliol's seat would have been firm had he not 

 outraged the national feelings by the extent of his concessions to his 

 royal benefactor. Besides renewing his feudal homage in the fullest 

 term*, he by a solemn instrument made an absolute surrender of the 

 fertile provinces of Berwickshire, Roxburghshire, Selkirkshire, Peebles- 

 shire, Dumfriesshire, together with the Lothians. Disgusted with 

 Baliol's -ubservieney to the English monarch, the nation centred its 

 hopes on David, the infant son of Robert Bruce. So long as Baliol 

 was supported by the king of England he exercised a nominal sove- 

 reignty, but the moment the pressure of that monarch's iron hand 

 was withdrawn, the deep-rooted hatred of the Scots against their 

 vassal king broke out into fresh acts of resistance. Baliol himself 

 placed so little reliance on his subjects, that he fled to England at 

 every reverse of fortune. Baliol continued for some years to struggle 

 against the obstinacy of his opponents, and the lukewarmness and 

 perfidy of his adherents. In 1334 he was compelled to fly, in conse- 

 quence of a quarrel between the most powerful of his confederate 

 barons. He was soon after restored by the arms of his feudal master. 

 Next year Edward III. again marched an army into Scotland, for the 

 double purpose of sustaining his vassal and securing the territories 

 which had been ceded to him. But happily for Scotland, the power 

 and ambition of this warlike and able monarch were soon after allured 

 by a more splendid prize, the conquest of France, which mainly 

 engrossed his attention and resources for several years ; during which 

 fortress after fortress fell from the hands of Baliol, and the cause of 

 King David, the heir of Bruce, daily acquired strength. 



In 1355 Edward III. determined to put an end to the interruptions 

 which the Scottish wars had constantly offered to his operations in 

 France. He marched an immense army, composed, in great part, of 

 the victorious veterans in the French wars, with a view of effecting a 

 final conquest of the kingdom, and annexing it, as Edward I. had 

 annexed Wales, to the larger and richer portion of the island. As a 

 preliminary step he purchased Baliol's rights to the Scottish throne, 

 rights which Baliol, now, a king merely in name, advanced in years, 

 and without children or near of kin to inherit, gladly exchanged for 

 the retirement and calm suitable to the evening of life. For the 

 surrender of a barren and disputed title he received a present of 5000 

 marks, and an annuity of 20002. sterling. His name does not again 

 appear in history. He retired into a peaceful though inglorious 

 obscurity; and died childless at Doncaster, in the year 1 363. With 

 him ended the line of Baliol. 



BALNAV1S, HENRY, of Halhill, an individual who, by his talents 

 an 1 probity, raised himself from obscurity to a situation of the first 

 importance in the state of Scotland. He was born in 1520, of poor 

 parents, at Kirkaldy, in the county of Fife, and after pome instruction 

 at one of the schools at St. Andrew's, he proceeded abroad. At 

 Cologne he got admission into a free school, where he received a liberal 

 education, together with instruction in the principles of the Pro- 

 testant faith. He returned to bis native place towards the latter end 

 of the reign of King James V., and having applied himself to the 

 study of the Roman jurisprudence, for some time acted as a procurator 

 in the courts of the then metropolitan city of St. Andrew's. About 

 the same time he married Christian Scheves ; and on the 10th August, 

 1539, he had a charter to himself and his spouse of the lands of 

 Halhill, in the county of Fife, from which he thereafter took his desig- 

 nation. From St. Andrew's he removed to Edinburgh, where he was 

 one of the earliest friends of the Reformation ; aud notwithstanding 

 the jealousy of the papal clergy, his reputation introduced him to the 

 court. On the 31st of July 1538, he was appointed a Lord of Session. 

 He sat in the parliament of 4th November 1538, by special commis- 

 sion ; and in the subsequent parliaments his name often occurs. In 

 January 1541, he was joined in a commission to adjust one of the 

 frequently-recurring disputes about the Borders. 



On Mary's accession to the Scottish throne, in 1543, the Earl of 

 Arran wax made regent of the realm, and Balnavis, who is said to 

 have powerfully contributed to Arran's appointment, was promoted 

 to the Mtuation of ecretary of state. Balnavis and his party found 

 however that the timid and yielding Arran was not one to be depended 

 upon for efficient support. Balnavis was instrumental to the passing 

 of the important act, introduced into the parliament by the Lord Max- 



well, and passed, notwithstanding the opposition of the lord chancellor 

 and all the prelates, for allowing the Holy Scriptures, " baith the New 

 Testament and the Auld," to be translated and read by the people 

 in the vulgar tongue. In May of the same year he was one of the 

 commissioners dispatched by the parliament to the English court to 

 treat of a peace with England, and of a marriage between Prince 

 Edward and the young Queen of Scotland, both of which were quickly 

 agreed to, except as to the time of Mary's passage into England, on 

 which point new instructions were given and additional commissioners 

 appointed. These treaties were hailed as tokens of peace by the 

 friends of the Protestant faith, but they were with equal earnestness 

 deprecated by Cardinal Beaton and his coadjutors. When the 

 cardinal succeeded to the chancullorate, be used all his influence to 

 get the treaties annulled by the parliament. Balnavis also was dis- 

 missed from his office by Arran, at the instigation of the regent's base 

 brother, John, abbot of Paisley, a bigoted Catholic, just returned 

 from France, and on whom the cardinal, sure of his influence over the 

 timorous regent, immediately conferred the privy seal, and soon after- 

 wards the post of lord treasurer. The same year Baluavis, the Earl 

 of Rothes, and the Lord Gray were seized at Dundee, and conveyed 

 to the castle at Blackness, on the Forth, where they in all probability 

 lay immured till the arrival of the English fleet in the river, in the 

 month of May following, set them at liberty. It has been asserted 

 that Baluavis entered into the conspiracy at the court of King Henry 

 for the murder of Beaton ; but of this there is no evidence, though 

 unquestionably he took refuge in the castle of St. Andrew's, like 

 Kuox and several others who were not engaged in the conspiracy ; and 

 in all likelihood he participated also in the reformer's sentiments on 

 the fall of 'the bludie boucher.' (Knox, 'Hist.' 4.) 



On the accession of Edward to the English throne, in January 1547, 

 the conferences for a peace and marriage were renewed ; and on the 

 9th of March following, Balnavis and others bound themselves to 

 endeavour to the utmost of their power to bring about the union, and 

 also, for the more effectually securing that object, to keep possession of 

 the caatle of St. Andrew's : Edward, on the other hand, gave them 

 pecuniary assistance and a military force to defend the place. On the 

 loth of tue same month also Balnavis and his friends bound themselves 

 to Edward to endeavour to get Mary into England to be educated 

 and brought up there until her marriage, and on the latter event taking 

 place, to deliver up tha castle of St. Andrew's to the English monarch. 

 These proceedings have been condemned as treasonable by writers who 

 dislike Balnavis, and defended by his admirers as having been undoubt- 

 edly taken in good faith, and not for private or personal aggrandise- 

 ment, but for the public weal. Such a plea is however manifestly a 

 dangerous one, and Balnavis must be content with such justification 

 as the general practice of persons in similar circumstances can 

 afford. In August however a fleet and land-forces from the king of 

 France appeared before St. Andrew's in. support of the regent aud the 

 papal faction, and those within the castle were, after a vigorous defence, 

 at length obliged to surrender. They were conveyed to France, and, 

 in violation of the articles of capitulation, sent to the castle of Rouen, 

 in Normandy, as prisoners of war. Here, as we are expressly assured 

 by Knox, wuo was one of the captives, solicitations, threats, and even 

 violence, were employed to make them recant their Protestant opinions, 

 but to no purpose. While in prison Balnavis employed himself in 

 writing a treatise on justification, and the works and conversation of 

 a justified man. Kuox was so pleased with the performance that he 

 divided it into chapters, added some marginal notes and an epitome 

 of its contents, and to the whole prefixed a recommendatory preface. 

 The manuscript was discovered after Kuox's death by his servant, 

 Richard Bannatyne, at the house of C'ockburn of Ormiston, aud printed 

 under the title of ' Confession of Faith, containing how the troubled 

 man should seek refuge at his God : compiled by M. Henry Balnavis, 

 of Halhill, one of the Lords of Council aud Session of Scotland, being 

 a prisoner within the walls of the old pallaice of Roan (Rouen) in the 

 year 1548.' T. Vautrollier, Edin., 1584. 



In 1554 Arran resigned the regency, to which the. Queen Dowager, 

 Mary of Guise, was then raised ; and she, to soothe her Protestant 

 supporters, recalled the laird of Grange and the other conspirators 

 from their banishment ; and the forfeiture which had been pronounced 

 against Balnavis was also rescinded. In the proceedings of the people 

 of Scotland which soon afterwards followed, Baluavis took a leading 

 part for the reformers ; and on more than one occasion he was em- 

 ployed in confidential business by the Lords of the Congregation. For 

 awhile however the tide of prosperity again flowed in their favour, 

 and in the parliament of 1560 the reformed religion was established 

 by law. 



On the llth of February 1563, Balnavis was reappointed a lord of 

 session, in the room of Sir John Campbell, of Luudy, deceased ; and 

 on the 29th of December in the same year he was named by the 

 General Assembly of the Church of Scotland one of the commissioners 

 appointed by that venerable body to revise the ' Book of Discipline.' 

 He attended the regent Murray as one of the commissioners from 

 Scotland to York in relation to the charges agaiust Mary for the mur- 

 der of Darnley ; and he was one of the two afterwards sent to London 

 on the part of the regent in the same matter. According to one 

 account, Baluavis died in 1570 ; Mackenzie (' Lives,' vol. iii. p. 147) 

 says that he died in 1579. Besides the treatise above mentioned, 



