Bishops' Wars

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The Bishops' Wars were two wars fought in 1639 and 1640 between Charles I and his Covenanter opponents in Scotland. They were the first of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, which also include the First and Second English Civil Wars, the Irish Confederate Wars, and the 1650 to 1652 Anglo-Scottish War. In 1637, Charles I, then king of Scotland and England, imposed changes in religious practice on the Church of Scotland. These were resented by many Scots, leading to the signing of a National Covenant in 1638, pledging to prevent their implementation. The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland then expelled bishops, turning a religious dispute into a struggle for political supremacy. The new Covenanter government raised an army to prevent Charles using force to restore his authority. The First Bishops' War began in early 1639, when there was minor skirmishing between Covenanters and Royalists in north-east Scotland. In June, English and Scottish armies assembled near Berwick-upon-Tweed, but...

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