Pro me, si merear, in me: the Scottish bishoprics, 1560-1606: submitted for the Junior Hume Brown Prize in Scottish History

Abstract

A casual observer looking at the whole structure of the Catholic Church in Scotland in 1559 would have thought what a colossal and correct institution it was. Wielding great powers and having almost unlimited wealth, it studded the whole country with what seemed to be a watertight system, a system especially noted for its "skilful and elaborate gradation of offices". Yet this great giant was dying, (it had indeed been dying for some little time) and within the year the crash came. It is not our task here to give a mere chronological survey of these events leading up to the crash, but for a complete understanding of our subject it is essential to say what the Reformation in Scotland really was.