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Cromwellian Scotland
In the wake of the crushing defeat at Dunbar on 3 September 1650, Scotland south of the Forth stood on the brink of anarchy. On the following day, both the town council and Kirk sessions of Edinburgh fled the capital, many sailing across to Fife or northwards to Dundee; the ministers retreated into the Castle, their churches being taken over as ammunition stores and stables by the Cromwellian army. By December, when the Castle was surrendered almost without a fight, the national disgrace seemed complete: the Maiden Castle, as it had long been called, was dubbed the ‘Prostitute Whore’; some royalists urged the King to abandon Scotland south of the Forth (as well as England and Ireland) to the English and retreat, like Robert Bruce, into the northern heartland. When he was crowned at Scone on 1 January 1651, on a makeshift wooden platform inside the church, Charles II had to subscribe the Covenants again and endure a sermon telling him that he ‘hath not absolute power to do what he pleaseth’. His inheritance was a kingdom truncated as it had not been for three and a half centuries.’ for more click here
