The Burning of Edinburgh in 1544 by an English sea-borne army was the first major action of the war of the Rough Wooing. A Scottish army observed the landing on 3 May 1544 but did not engage with the English force. The Provost of Edinburgh was compelled to allow the English to sack Leith and Edinburgh, and the city was burnt on 7 May. However, the Scottish artillery within Edinburgh Castle harassed the English forces, who had neither the time nor the resources to besiege the Castle. The English fleet sailed away loaded with captured goods, and with two ships that had belonged to James V of Scotland. The plan Henry VIII of England wished to unite the Kingdom of Scotland with the Kingdom of England, or at least bring the kingdom under his hegemony. He had contracted with the Regent Arran that Mary, Queen of Scots would marry his son, Prince Edward. But Arran allowed the Parliament of Scotland to revoke this agreement prompting Henry to declare war in December 1543, and now the Regent was making ground against his rebels who still supported the English marriage, such as the Earl of Lennox, Earl of Glencairn, the Earl of Cassillis, and the Earl of Angus. These nobles were in touch with Henry VIII via Lennox's secretary Thomas Bishop and Angus's chaplain, Master John Penven. Their letters to Henry VIII requested intervention, and in March he replied that a 'main army' was in preparation. Henry's Privy Council issued his instructions for the invasion force on 10 April 1544, and they were to:Put all to fire and sword, burn Edinburgh, so razed and defaced when you have sacked and gotten what ye can of it, as there may remain forever a perpetual memory of the vengeance of God lightened upon [them] for their falsehood and disloyalty. Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, at this time called Lord Hertford was the King's Lieutenant of this Army Royal. He had considered establishing an English garrison at Leith, within walls made of timber topped with turf, and fortifying Inchkeith but the Privy Council vetoed this plan. Henry VIII had also asked him to destroy St Andrews, but Hertford pointed out the extra distance would be troublesome. Hertford discussed with Privy Council the possibility of Scottish allies capturing Cardinal Beaton during his invasion. Henry believed that Beaton, a favourer of the Auld Alliance with France,