Keeping the Covenant in Cromwellian Scotland

Abstract

In 1652 Ayr became a garrison town for the Cromwellian army. The English occupation brought challenges for Ayr's kirk session, ranging from the misbehaviour of local residents to the presence of religiously heterodox soldiers. This article surveys social and spiritual responses to the Cromwellian invasion, asking what these responses reveal about the on-going meanings of and commitments to the covenants. It is argued that the occupation brought to the fore both the fragility and flexibility of the community's covenanter identity, which endured long after the covenanting revolution had ostensibly failed.