National Covenant

In 1560, the Scottish Parliament designated the Kirk as the sole form of religion in Scotland, and adopted the Scots Confession which rejected many Catholic teachings and practices, including bishops.

[3] The origins of the National Covenant arose from different perspectives on who held ultimate authority over the Kirk; James VI argued the king was also head of the church, governing through bishops appointed by himself.

[6] The problem was that while both were nominally Episcopalian in structure, and Protestant in doctrine, the Church of England was very different from the Kirk in its forms of worship, and even Scottish bishops objected to many of these.

[7] The outbreak of the Thirty Years' War in 1618 and the Counter Reformation led to a general perception that Protestant Europe was under attack, and increased sensitivity to changes in church practice.

[10] When followed in 1637 by a new Book of Common Prayer, it resulted in a riot, supposedly started when a market-trader named Jenny Geddes threw a stool at the dean of St Giles' Cathedral.

[12] Following the Prayer Book riots, protestors became more organized, and in November 1637 began claiming councillors had encouraged them to elect commissioners to represent their case to the government.

[13] The Covenant had the appearance of working within constitutional precedent, contributing to its success in appealing to all areas of Scottish society by drawing on a sense of patriotic outrage at the rule and policies of Charles as an absentee monarch, as well as the provincialization of Scotland within a system dominated by England.

By the end of May the western highlands, Aberdeenshire and Banff were the only places the Covenant had not been widely accepted, with resistance in these areas being led by George Gordon, the Marquess of Huntly.

[19] In November 1638 the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland met in Glasgow, where it approved the Covenant and passed resolutions abolishing bishops and the use of the new Prayer Book.