When Charles I of England and Scotland, in association with his Archbishop William Laud, decided to bring the Church of Scotland more into line with its more high-church English counterpart, it met with outrage from Scots. A group of Presbyterian Scottish lords drew up a 'National Covenant' to voice their protest and demands. They called for a meeting of the General Assembly of the Kirk to settle the crisis, which convened in Glasgow Cathedral on 21st November 1638. When it proved uncooperative with the King's proposals, his representative, the Marquis of Hamilton, declared it dissolved. However, the assembly defied his orders, continuing to sit for a further month, during which they abolished episcopy in Scotland, deposing and excommunicating all its bishops. They declared the right of…
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