Author’s Note

While the characters in the Highland Pride series are fictional, the conflict of the times is rooted in facts. Here is a brief history of the actual events surrounding the tumultuous relationship between England and Scotland and peoples of different faiths.

The reign of King Charles I lasted from 1625 to 1649. The grandson of the famed Mary, Queen of Scots, he was only the second monarch to rule over Scotland, Ireland, and England. Although raised Protestant, he believed in the divine right of kings, which did not sit well with the English Parliament who vied for more control. He further enraged Parliament by marrying Henrietta Maria of France, a Roman Catholic.

Thinking to bring Scotland and England closer together in their customs, in 1637, Charles attempted to impose an Anglican-style common book of prayer in Scotland. This angered the Protestants in Scotland, because the Scottish church had different practices and doctrines from the English church.

This led to an incident where, it is said, Jenny Geddes, a merchant or tradesperson from Edinburgh, threw a stool at the minister in St. Giles Cathedral during the first use of the Booke Of Prayer. This was the start of chaos that broke out within the congregation. There is some debate as to whether she was one of a number of women who had been paid to arrive early and disrupt the service.

Officers were summoned and unruly churchgoers were escorted from the building. Jenny Geddes’s actions are believed to have spurred rioting in the streets, where the ejected parishioners beat on the doors and threw rocks at the windows. This riot is believed to be what led to the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, which is sometimes referred to as the British Civil Wars, including the English Civil War.

In February of 1638, the first National Covenant objecting to Charles’s prayer book was circulated and signed by many nobles in Scotland. In November of that year, the Scottish Parliament became Presbyterian and expelled all the bishops and archbishops from the Church of Scotland. Charles reacted to the insult by launching the Bishops War.

Flames were added to the mix when the Cambridge Press was established by Puritans in 1638. There, they were able to print Puritan propaganda against the king and further deepen the divide in England.

On August 7, 1643, an additional covenant was agreed upon by the Scottish Covenanters then sent to the Church of Scotland, which accepted it on the twenty-fifth of the same month. This was during the first English Civil War, when England was trying to garner support from Scotland in their bid to oust King Charles. The Solemn League and Covenant was accepted by the Westminster Assembly and English Parliament on September 25, 1643.

Charles I was executed after the second English Civil War and his son, Charles the II, was persuaded to sign the agreement. In 1661, the Solemn League and Covenant was declared unlawful by the English Parliament.