How was it that Protestantism first came to Scotland?
• Scotland’s interest in Protestantism came at a time when the Scottish were very sensitive to their own national feelings. England had long been a problem for Scotland. But by the mid 1500s France was just as big a problem. • Scotland had been under the rule of the Stuart family and now the rights of the throne belonged to Mary Stuart, a young woman engaged to marry Francis, the Dauphin or Prince of France. When she moved to France to be with Francis the Scottish felt a bit betrayed. She left the rule of Scotland to her rigidly Catholic mother, Mary of Guise, who would serve as regent until Mary Stuart came of age. The Guise family was well known for its hatred of Protestants. • It was also well understood that when Mary Stuart finally did marry Francis, Scotland would be offered to him as a gift. Scotland would thus lose its position as an independent nation and become merely a province of France. The Scots did not like this idea at all. • Rumors about Protestantism were swirling thr
