It set out a system of Presbyterian polity on the Geneva model, but the lack of funds meant its programme of clerical organisation and education was largely abandoned.
[5] While Knox, Spottiswood and Willock were long committed Protestants, Windram, Douglas and Row had until recently been pillars of the Catholic establishment and the composition of the committee may have been intended as a compromise.
[6] The result of the delay was that the document, known as the First Book of Discipline was not considered by the full parliament, but a thinly attended convention of nobles and about 30 lairds, in January 1561 and then only approved individually and not collectively.
[8] It also contained a programme of parish-based reformation that would use the resources of the old church to pay a network of ministers, a parish based school system, university education and arrangements for poor relief.
After her defeat at the Battle of Langside in May 1568, by forces loyal to the King's Party, led by Moray, she took refuge in England, leaving her son in their hands.