THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN THE CHURCH AND THE CROWN Andrew Melville.—Mary's fall also meant the complete triumph of Protestantism, and the Protestant Church was legally established by parliament in 5567. Its early organization was the work of John Knox, and the presbyterian system which became its characteristic feature was introduced by Andrew Melville, under whose guidance the General Assembly (see SCOTLAND, CHURCH OF) insisted upon the essential parity or equality of all ministers and abolished a modified form of episcopal government which had originated in Knox's institution of superintendents charged with the oversight of districts corresponding to the old dioceses. The superintendents, who had come to be known as bishops, were purely administrative officers and did not claim to possess orders superior to those of the ordinary clergy. Their administrative powers were conferred in 158o-8i upon the courts of the Church known as Presbyteries. Under Melville, the Church developed a claim which had been less rigidly advanced by Knox— that the ecclesiastical authority, the Power of the Keys, is differ ent from, and independent of, the civil power. This theory was bound to produce a conflict between Church and State, and it was maintained so thoroughly that the ministers claimed to be responsible for their pulpit utterances to the Church courts and to them alone, and this at a time when ecclesiastical consider ations affected every question both of domestic and foreign policy. The claims of the Church caused friction with the earl of Morton, and, after his fall, the young James VI. (1567-1625) waged an incessant struggle against them, and, even before his accession to the English throne, had established a royal control over the Church.
version to Protestantism and James tried to suppress any alarm by initiating a new National Covenant 0580 which denounced "the usurped authority of that Roman Anti-Christ," but the ex treme Protestants kidnapped James in the raid of Ruthven (1582), and Lennox had to flee. In 1583 James escaped from his captors and fell under the influence of a new favourite, whom he created earl of Arran. A rebellion was nipped in the bud, and the earl of Gowrie, one of the leaders of the raid of Ruthven, was executed. During this time James was in friendly negotiations with his mother, and he intrigued with the duke of Guise, and ever. with the pope. Elizabeth, on her part, was encouraging the opposition to James, as she had encouraged the opposition to his mother and grandmother. But James was alarmed by the rise of the Catholic League in France, his success in dealing with Gowrie made him less desirous of possible aid from Roman Catholic powers, and Arran persuaded him that his best chance of the English succession, on which his heart was set, lay in friendly relations with Elizabeth. Arran fell a victim to his own advice, for Elizabeth distrusted him, and when James came to terms with her, he dismissed him. In the end of 1585, James made an offen sive and defensive league with England, and when, a year later, Mary's life was in danger, he refused to risk his chance of the suc cession by threatening to break the league if Elizabeth should put his mother to death. The approaching Spanish invasion made the friendship of Scotland more important to England than it had ever been before, but James made no real effort on Mary's behalf and apologized for such efforts as he did make. The exe cution (Feb. 1587) caused intense indignation in Scotland, but James succeeded in keeping the country quiet, and in the follow ing year he took steps to resist the Armada.