[Although the rebellion – and civil war – may be said to have begun in May 1559, neither side was in a position to force a decisive engagement that might resolve the issue. Instead, having fortified the port of Leith, the regent sought further military support from France, while the Congregation appealed for the intervention of England. The result was a temporary truce – the Appointment of Leith of 24 July 1559 – the terms of which became an immediate focus of dispute. The following extract from Knox's History (Laing MS, fos. 143r–149v; Laing, vol. I, pp. 397–412; Dickinson, vol. I, pp. 217–28) begins with a proclamation of the regent defending the arrival of French reinforcements and continues with the Congregation's response to the regent's arguments. Again, it is not clear that Knox himself was the author of the latter document, but the ‘supplement’ to the public letter, essentially a defence of the Protestant preachers’ attitude to the ‘authority’, bears distinctive Knoxian hallmarks.]

A proclamation set out by the queen regent to blind the vulgar people.