The General Assembly of the Kirk as a rival of the Scottish Parliament

[摘要] The accompanying thesis forms a study of the General Assembly as an influence not only upon ScottishPolitics but upon Scottish Representative Institutions.The majority of writers upon the history of the ScottishChurch stress the private influence of individuals, which while interesting in itself was in many cases extraneous to the general movements both in the Kirk and in the development of the representative principle both as appliedto Kirk institutions and to Parliament and Conventions.Several writers have seen in the General Assemblya thoroughly democratic institution, which represented allclasses of social life and which prepared the way for theideal of a universal franchise. I have endeavoured to showthat the General Assembly for the greater part of itsdevelopment had little of this universal character andwas rather the expression of an "Opposition" which wasno more democratic in actual composition than the Parliamentitself.The period 1560-1618 represents only part of theperiod upon which I originally began investigation. To copewith the century 1560-1660 I found that it would have beennecessary to omit much manuscript material which wasvaluable for purposes of detail. I therefore limited thepresent thesis to the 58 years after the Reformationwhich saw the rise of the Assembly to full power 1592-96and its subsequent decline, both as a political force and as a representative institution.

[发布机构] University:University of St Andrews;Department:Divinity (School of)

[效力级别] Scotland--Church history--16th century.

[关键词] Church of Scotland. General Assembly.;Scotland--Church history--16th century.;Scotland--Church history--17th century.