Edinburgh and the Reformation

Studies of the Scottish Reformation have tended to pay too little attention to the nature of Scottish society itself. In a society so conscious of rank, tradition and precedent the Reformation could only make progress where it did not disturb the existing order. In Edinburgh the new religion was obliged to work within the natural constraints of burgh life. This important and innovative study shows how the Protestant reformers' early promises to create a new and godly society provoked a backlash - extremism had to be abandoned and a more conciliatory approach adopted. The result was that power remained in much the same hands in the 1580s as it had in the 1540s, with one real difference - there was more of it.