regent succeeded, with help from France, in reducing the castle in July, 1547.  Its defenders, including Knox, were sent as galley-slaves to France.  Henry VIII had died in the preceding January, but Hertford (now Protector Somerset) continued the Scottish policy of the preceding reign.  In the summer of 1547 he made his third invasion of Scotland, marked by the usual barbarity.  In the course of it, on 10th September, was fought the last battle between Scots and English.  Somerset met the Scots, under Arran, at Pinkiecleuch, near Edinburgh, and by the combined effect of artillery and a cavalry charge, completely defeated them with great slaughter.  The English, after some further devastation, returned home, and the Scots at once entered into a treaty with France, which had been at war with England since 1544.  It was agreed that the young queen should marry the dauphin, the eldest son of Henry II.  While negotiations were in progress, she was placed for safety, first in the priory of Inchmahome, an island in the lake of Menteith, and afterwards in Dumbarton Castle.  In June, 1548, a large number of French auxiliaries were sent to Scotland, and, in the beginning of August, Mary was sent to France.  The English failed to capture her, and she landed about 13th August.  The war lingered on till 1550.  The Scots gradually won back the strongholds which had been seized by the English, and, although their French allies did good service, serious jealousies arose, which greatly weakened the position of the French party.  Finally, Scotland was included in the peace made between England and France in 1550.

All the time, the Reformed faith was rapidly gaining adherents, and when, in April, 1554, the queen-dowager succeeded Arran (now Duke of Chatelherault) as regent, she found the problem of governing Scotland still more difficult.  The relations with England had, indeed, been simplified by the accession of a Roman Catholic queen in England, but the Spanish marriage of Mary Tudor made it difficult for a Guise to obtain any help from her.  She continued the policy of obtaining French levies, and the irritation they caused was a considerable help to her opponents.  Knox had returned to Scotland in 1555, and, except for a visit to Geneva in 1556-57, spent the rest of his life in his native country.  In 1557 was formed the powerful assembly of Protestant clergy and laymen who took the title of “the Congregation of the Lord”, and signed the National Covenant which aimed at the abolition of Roman Catholicism.  Their hostility to the queen-regent was intensified by the events of the year 1558-59.  In April, 1558, Queen Mary was married to the dauphin, and her husband received the crown-matrimonial and became known as King of Scots.  Scotland seemed to have passed entirely under France.  We know that there was some ground for the Protestant alarm, because the girl queen had been induced to sign documents which transferred her rights, in case of her decease without issue, to the King of France and his heirs.  These documents were in direct antagonism to the assurance given to the Scottish Parliament of the maintenance of national independence.  The French alliance seemed to have gained a complete triumph, while the shout of joy raised by its supporters was really the swan-song of the cause.  Knox and the Congregation had rendered it for ever impossible.