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The ‘Privy Kirks’ and their Antecedents: The Hidden Face of Scottish Protestantism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2016

James Kirk
James Kirk*
Affiliation:
University of Glasgow
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Extract

The history of Scottish protestantism as a clandestine, underground movement can be traced, albeit unevenly, over three decades from parliament’s early ban on Lutheran literature in 1525 to the protestant victory of 1560 when, in disregard of the wishes of its absent queen then resident in France, parliament finally proscribed the Latin mass and the whole apparatus of papal jurisdiction in Scotland and adopted instead a protestant Confession of Faith. Out of a loosely-defined body of beliefs in the 1530s, ranging from a profound dissatisfaction at ecclesiastical abuse (shared by those who remained Catholic), to a recognition of the need for a reformation in doctrine (less readily conceded by orthodox Catholics), Scottish protestantism by the 15 50s had developed a cellular organisation, enabling it to survive periodic persecution. Early protestants, themselves brought up within the Catholic church as baptised and communicating members, by the 1550s had taken the agonising and momentous step of separating themselves from the fellowship of the established church by forming their own separate communities of believers, worshipping in secret and centred on the privy kirks which arose in the years immediately preceding the Reformation.

Type
Research Article
Information
Studies in Church History , Volume 23: Voluntary Religion , 1986 , pp. 155 - 170
Copyright
Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 1986

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References

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14 TA 6 p. 313; Liber Officialis Sancte Andrée ed C. Innes (Edinburgh 1845) p. 167.

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16 Calderwood I pp. 171-75; RSS 3 nos 609, 611-13.

17 APS 2 pp. 370-1, 415.

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22 Knox 1 pp. 58-60; Memoirs of Sir James Melville of Halhill ed A.F. Steuart (London 1929) p. 15; Foxe 2 pp. 695-706; Register of the Minister, Elders and Deacons of the Christian Congregation of St Andrews [henceforth RStAKS] ed D.H. Fleming (Edinburgh 1889-90) 2 pp. 89-104; Acts of the Lords of Council p. 504.

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30 Knox 6 p. 78; Hamilton Papers 2 p. 749; cf Wodrow Society Miscellany p. 54; R. Keith, History of the Affairs of Church and State in Scotland ed J.P. Lawson (Edinburgh 1835-50) 1 pp. 495-6.

31 Flett, I.E.F., ‘The Conflict of the Reformation and Democracy in the Geneva of Scotland, 1443-1610’ (St Andrews M.Phil, thesis 1981) p. 68.Google Scholar

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33 SRO, B59/1/1, Protocol Book of Henry Elder, fol 184.

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35 SRO, B6/12/3, Ayr Burgh Court Book, 22 May, 6 Nov., 20 Nov., 1559.

36 Ibid. 29 Nov. 1559.

37 SRO, Crail Town Clerk’s Scroll Book, 4 Dec. 1559.

38 RStAKS 1 p. 5.

39 SRO, CS7/20, Register of Acts and Decreets, 20 fols. 330v-331r.