and to whom Angus was useful, scolded his sister in true Tudor fashion, and told her that, alike by the laws of God and man, she must stick to her husband.  A formal reconciliation took place, but, henceforth, Margaret’s one desire was to be free, and to this she subordinated all other considerations.  In 1519, she came to an understanding with Arran, her husband’s bitterest foe, and in the summer of the same year we find Henry marvelling much at the “tender letters” she sent to France, in which she urged the return of Albany, whose absence from Scotland had been the main aim of English policy since Flodden.  While Francis I and Henry VIII were on good terms, Albany was detained in France; but when, in 1521, their relations became strained, he returned to Scotland to find Angus in power.  Scotland rallied round him, and in February, 1522, Angus, in turn, retired to France, while Henry VIII devoted his energies to the prevention of a marriage between his amorous sister and the handsome Albany.  The regent led an army to the borders and began to organize an invasion, for which the north of England was ill-prepared, but was outwitted by Henry’s agent, Lord Dacre, who arranged an armistice which he had no authority to conclude.  Albany then returned to France, and the Scots, refusing Henry’s offer of peace, had to suffer an invasion by Surrey, which was encouraged by Margaret, who was again on the English side.  When Albany came back in September, 1523, he easily won over the fickle queen; but, after an unsuccessful attack on Wark, he left Scotland for ever in May, 1524.

No sooner had Albany disappeared from the scene than Margaret entered into a new intrigue with the Earl of Arran; it had one important result, the “erection” of the young king, who now, at the age of twelve years, became the nominal ruler of the country.  This manoeuvre was executed with the connivance of the English, to whose side Margaret had again deserted.  For some time Arran and Margaret remained at the head of affairs, but the return of the Earl of Angus at once drove the queen-mother into the opposite camp, and she became reconciled to the leader of the French party, Archbishop Beaton, whom she had imprisoned shortly before.  Angus, who had been the paid servant of England throughout all changes since 1517, assumed the government.  The alliance between England and France, which followed the disaster to Francis I at Pavia, seriously weakened the supporters of French influence in Scotland, and Angus made a three years’ truce in 1525.  In the next year, Arran transferred his support to Angus, who held the reins of power till the summer of 1528.  The chief event of this period is the divorce of Queen Margaret, who immediately married a youth, Henry Stewart, son of Lord Evandale, and afterwards known as Lord Methven.