Hope Endures

by Nigel Tranter

Genres: Historical Fiction

Synopsis

The son of an Edinburgh merchant, Hope had a spectacular beginning to his career: at the age of seventeen, before he had even finished his legal education, he travelled to France to triumph in his first court case and caught the attention of his young king, James VI. It was the beginning of a life at the heart of the government of Scotland. From James VI and I to Cromwell, from John Knox to Montrose, Lord Advocate Hope was a rock in a fast-changing world. He witnessed the reigns of Charles I and Charles II, the founding of the East India Company, affairs of state and affairs of the heart, matters political and diplomatic. No dry-as-dust-lawyer, he was a friend as well as an advisor to the three kings he served. An age of change, violence and upheaval brought vividly to life in this gripping historical novel. HOPE ENDURES is the last novel Nigel Tranter completed before his death in January 2000.

Release date: May 8, 2006

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton

Print pages: 224

Sample

Thomas Hope: Son of an Edinburgh merchant and French mother.

James the Sixth, King of Scots: Son of Mary, Queen of Scots.

Charles of Lorraine: French Duke of Mayenne.

Henry, Duke of Guise: Great French noble.

Harry Hope: Thomas’s younger brother.

Sir Thomas Hamilton of Binning: Later Earl of Haddington (Tam o’ the Coogate).

George Heriot: Goldsmith in Edinburgh, and banker.

Elizabeth Bennett: Daughter of John, laird of Wallyford.

James Stewart, Earl of Moray: Great Scots noble.

Ludovick, Duke of Lennox: Kinsman of King James. Lord High Admiral and Great Chamberlain of Scotland.

Patrick, Master of Gray: Said to be the handsomest man in Europe.

Queen Anne: Princess of Denmark. Wife of King James.

Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk: Earl Marshal of England.

Alexander Seaton, Earl of Dunfermline: Chancellor of Scotland.

King Christian the Fourth of Denmark: Brother of Queen Anne.

Sir William Alexander of Menstrie: King’s Master of Requests, later Earl of Stirling, founder of Nova Scotia.

George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham: English royal favourite.

Prince Charles: Son of King James. Later Charles the First.

Princess Henrietta Maria of France: Later Queen of King Charles.

James Graham, Earl of Montrose: Later marquis and noted soldier.

General Alexander Leslie: Veteran Scottish soldier.

Oliver Cromwell: Great English Puritan soldier. Captain-General and Lord Protector.

Prince Rupert of the Rhine: Nephew of King Charles.

Archibald Campbell, Marquis of Argyll: Great Scots noble known as MacCailean Mor.

Charles the Second: Succeeded his father, Charles the First, as king.

John Maitland of Lethington, Second Earl of Lauderdale: Later duke.

General David Leslie: Nephew of General Alexander. Covenant leader.

Andrew Cant: Leading Covenant divine.

Lewis, Marquis of Huntly: The Gordon chief, known as the Gudeman o’ the Bog.

William Keith, Earl Marischal: Hereditary leader of Scots army.

Sir Hector Maclean of Duart: Highland chief.

General George Monk: Parliamentarian English general. Later Duke of Albemarle.

Thomas Hope stared at his father. “You are … to die? Die! I knew that you were sickening. But to die! Must it be so? The physicians say it?”

“They can do no more for me, lad. But do not grieve overmuch. I have known that it would come to this for some time. They told me, the physicians. It comes to us all, one day. And I will go to join your mother again – Jaqueline. I look forward to that!”

“But when? When do you go, Father?”

“Soon, I am told. Sad I am, not at the dying, but that I will not see your graduation, when you, Thomas, become a writer, a lawyer. As you wish. In more than another year. That will be the great day. My son an advocate!”

“No. Not yet. Two years more, for that.”

“Ah, yes. That for the advocate. But the lawyer sooner. Then you will earn your own moneys. You could do well, grow rich. Lawmen do well for themselves.” He nodded. “But, meantime, you will not starve. My affairs are in good order, here in Edinburgh. And your mother’s, in Dieppe, still better. You will fare well enough. And our house, in this Edinburgh here, Todd’s Close, will serve you for your work when you have graduated, and still lodge you and your young brother, Harry, whom I must leave in your care, Thomas.”

Henry Hope, burgess of the city, merchant-trader, patted the shoulder of the young man, scarcely more than a youth indeed at seventeen years. “To be left, at your age, to fend for yourself and your brother is hard. But you are of stout enough character, and will do none so ill.”

Thomas shook his head, biting his lip. “To lose you. Left alone. With Harry. It is …”

“You have your uncles, my brothers Edward and Alexander and James. They will guide you, James in especial, since he is a lawyer, as you aim to be. And Edward is Guild-Brother, of note, and strong in the Kirk, even was friend to the man Knox – to whom he is welcome! As you know, I am less than fond of these reformers, as they call themselves. But their Kirk is becoming ever more powerful. So Edward could be of much use to you, perhaps.”

“I mislike to have you talking to me in this fashion, Father,” Thomas declared. “As though all was … over with you …”

“It almost is, lad. You must accept it. As I do. I have a great belief in the hereafter. So, sorry as I am to be leaving you meantime, I will be waiting for you, with your mother, in the other world beyond the stars. But meanwhile you have your mark to make in this life. I judge that you will do it to good effect. Make the most of college. And in time, as a lawyer, you could have great opportunities. This is a time of great change in our Scotland, the religious strife largely over, but much yet to be settled. The great Church lands are being divided up and fought over by the nobles, the new divines seeking to keep their parish bounds intact, King James requiring his share of it all, he a canny monarch, unlike his poor late mother.”

“Two years yet, Father, ere I can act the lawyer. And who knows what will have transpired by then?”

“I will be watching you, from above. And, I judge, proud of my son. Our son, for Jaqueline will be with me again. Sons, as Harry will no doubt make his own way. But guide you him, lad. At but fourteen years he needs some directing. I trust you to see to it, but three years older as you are, an early age for the like.”

Thomas, tall, slender, already quite good-looking, nodded. “I will do what I can. And – this of Dieppe, Father? What would you have me to do there in this pass? I know that links there are of value. But …”

“Of major value, yes. Your mother, although from Paris, inherited much in Dieppe, in the province of Béthune – where the Beatons came from. Through her I became made a burgess of Dieppe, as well as of Edinburgh. It would be good if you could be so, also, for it is a rich, prosperous port and hinterland. Forbye, King James’s mother, the late unhappy Mary, Queen of Scots, had Guise blood; her mother Queen Marie of Guise, sister of the Duke Henry and the Cardinal of Lorraine, had an inheritance in Béthune, which King James ever complains should be his now. I have sought to discover the truth of this, but so far have not succeeded. Perhaps, lad, if you could speak with the king, you might learn of it, to his advantage, and therefore yours. French law may be not so very different from Scots.”

“Could I approach the king?”

“Oh, yes. James Stewart, whatever else, is approachable – aye, and likes other young men. So watch you, if you do see him! A strange man indeed, but clever.”

“He will be at Stirling?”

“No doubt. He bides in that castle most of the time, preferring it to that of Edinburgh. Go see him, and tell him that you go to Dieppe. He may have tasks for you. To serve him there …”

So Thomas rode the thirty-five miles west to Stirling, where he viewed the great citadel on its rock-top, so similar to Edinburgh’s, where James Stewart had been raised, and still looked upon as his home, its hereditary keeper his boyhood friend, the present Earl of Mar, as his father had been before him.

Thomas had no great difficulty in gaining admittance to the stronghold, young as he was, when he announced that he came to see King James on a matter concerning the Guise lands in France. He was told that His Grace was out hunting in the Flanders Moss, up-Forth, a favourite pastime. So he had to wait, admiring the prospects of the long line of Highland mountains to the north-west, and the Ochil summits to the north-east.

When the king eventually returned, flushed with his exertions and smelling strongly of a mixture of sweat and blood – not his own blood but that of the deer he and his party had managed to slay in the bogland of the Moss, for James believed that paddling his feet in the warm entrails of the deer was good for rheumatism – the odd monarch was in no state to discuss affairs in France with an unexpected young subject, even though he had heard of the Hopes, and said so. He was indeed an odd character, in looks as in all else, scarcely kingly. He was now aged twenty-five, of medium stature but gangly, slouching, knock-kneed, sallow of complexion and dribble-lipped, this because his tongue was too big for his mouth; a less likely son for the beautiful late Queen Mary would have been hard to imagine. And her husband, Darnley, had not been ill-favoured of feature. There were rumours that James’s true father had been Mary’s Italian secretary, David Rizzio; and the king’s somewhat swarthy countenance did not contradict that.

“So – you’re one o’ thae Hopes, are you?” he greeted Thomas. “I ken Edward Hope, the Guild-Maister.” James always spoke in braid Scots. “You’ll be his laddie, eh?”

“No, Sire. He is my uncle. My father is Henry, a merchant-trader, of Edinburgh.”

“Ooh, aye. And what want ye frae me, Hope man? Fowk aye want something, I’ve found.”

“Only to speak of some matters that may concern Your Grace, of which I have a small interest. Touching on France, and your royal mother’s links therewith. In especial with Béthune and Dieppe, where my mother hailed from, Jaqueline de Tott.”

“Hech – Dieppe, eh? Béthune. Aye, yon’s Guise country. A scoundrelly lot! I’m no’ proud o’ them!”

“My father is a burgess of Dieppe, Sire, as well as of Edinburgh. He trades there. How he met my mother. And he has learned that the present Duke Henry of Guise plans to sell the harbour-rights of Dieppe, which is the main port for Paris, a rich prize indeed, and to donate some of the proceeds to the Vatican, that prayers should be said for his immortal soul. But keeping most of them! Through his late uncle, the Cardinal of Lorraine, he has much influence in Rome.”

“The Popish scoundrel! He’ll no’ can dae that! No’ without the agreement o’ others o’ Guise blood, mine among them. My mother’s share. He must be stopped. That is, unless he gies me an honest whack o’ it. Thae harbour-dues will be worth plenties, aye, plenties. Ye ken the name Dieppe means just deep, the nearest deep-watter port to the capital o’ France, Paris.”

“That is why my father sent me to see Your Grace. Your royal interests are involved, he says, as well as ours, or my late mother’s. I was to learn how you see it, Sire.”

“I see it as gey important, boy! But you are gey young, are you no’? To be seeing to the like. How old?”

“I will be eighteen years in two months, Sire.”

“Just eighteen? Can the likes o’ you deal wi’ this?”

“I am trained in the law, Your Grace. I have not yet graduated, but I judge that I know enough to deal with this. I have studied French law also.”

“Are you no’ being ower brash? Judging that you ken it a’, at your age?”

“I hope not, Sire. My father, he has told me much. He judges me able for this task.”

“Ah, weel – you’ll likely can dae nae harm to my interest yonder. And I ken nae ither like to be going there. So, dae your best, laddie, for mysel’ also, and you’ll no’ suffer for it, I’ll see to that!”

“Yes, Sire.”

“Aye, and bring me back what you can learn o’ it a’, Hope man. I wish to ken.”

Thomas bowed out.

So it was back to Edinburgh and Leith, to discover when a ship could take him to France, to Dieppe. There proved to be no difficulty in that, for there was much trade with that nation, and Dieppe its principal destination. He had only three days to wait.

His father gave him fullest instructions, and an introductory letter to the mayor of that city, of which he was a burgess, recommending that his son might be made a burgess also, despite his young age, in view of his knowledge of French as well as Scots law.

Three days later, then, father and son parted, the former declaring that he hoped still to be in this life on Thomas’s return. But if not, he was sure, they would meet again, wife and mother with them.

The sail southward, in a vessel laden with wool and grain and whisky, took five days, calling in at Newcastle and Hull to pick up more trade goods and a trio of merchants. From these Thomas learned quite a lot that might be of use to him. Where the River Arques reached the English Channel was the city of Dieppe, behind chalk cliffs. Quickly thereafter the river shallowed, so that large ships could not sail further inland, this accounting for the importance of Dieppe. It was a large commercial city, but dominated by a castle and cathedral, with innumerable warehouses flanking the lengthy dockland, shipbuilding yards, cloth mills and granaries. Thomas reckoned that there was fully a mile and a half of docks. The harbourdues here would indeed command an enormous sum. His mother had been the daughter of a wealthy wool merchant here, who traded with Lammermuir sheep-rearers in Scotland.

Thomas’s father had judged his task best started by introducing himself to the mayor of this Dieppe, and thereafter to the Guild-Master, using his sire’s burgess-ship as commendation, and his mother’s links with the city. He might also find some Tott relatives who could be helpful. His first effort, then, was to find the mayoral premises.

This was not difficult, large and busy a city as Dieppe was. The mayor, named Ferdinand Dieufoy, when he heard that here was a Tott kinsman and son of a burgess, was amiable, especially when the King of Scots’ connection was mentioned, and James’s opposition to Duke Henry’s plans to sell off the harbour-dues. He and his magistrates and councillors objected strongly to these, indeed doubting whether the duke had the right to do so. Was it lawful? Thomas said that his father’s view was that it was not, that the rights were vested with the citizens’ representatives. He himself, although not a burgess, had studied French law, and believed that he could, if necessary, present that cause in a court of law. Mayor Ferdinand doubted his competence, so young a man; but when King James’s authority was asserted, with the royal objections, he agreed that Thomas should see the city’s legal representatives.

These, likewise, were sceptical over his youthful abilities; but this of representing the interests of the King of Scots was telling, and could just possibly give them the desired advantage against Duke Henry. But they were reluctant publicly to assert this, the Guises being so powerful. None of the legal fraternity was eager to appear in court pleading against that dominant family. Thomas offered, indeed all but demanded, to do so himself, in the name of his monarch; and this did impress them. They agreed to arrange a hearing before the province’s justices, so long as it was this young Scot who did the pleading.

It was, naturally, a very real challenge for Thomas. But he believed that he had the right and the law on his side, and the city authorities were backing him, however discreetly and anxious not to offend the duke and his brothers, but were concerned for Dieppe’s cause. If he failed, they could distance themselves from him, to be sure. Without King James’s declared backing, of course, they would not have urged him to go ahead.

It took a little time, and much behind-closed-doors arranging, for the desired hearing to take place, in the city’s justiciary court, Thomas meantime brushing up his French law most heedfully. Thanks to his upbringing by his French mother, he spoke that language almost as well as English.

It was a delicate situation, for and against. Thomas would have not only the citizenry of Dieppe but most of Béthune for him, however muted that support; and the so powerful Guises to oppose. And there was always the danger that the justices themselves would be prejudiced in favour of the latter through fear, even though nominally they should be on the side of the people.

The great day dawned. In the law court, three justiciars were seated at the dais table, and no fewer than four prominent lawyers representing Duke Henry. That man was not in court himself, possibly considering it below his dignity to seem to be countering some. . .