Kirk Party | |
|---|---|
| Leader | The Marquess of Argyll |
| Founded | 1647 |
| Dissolved | 1651 |
| Split from | Covenanters |
| Religion | Presbyterianism (Church of Scotland) |
TheKirk Party were a radicalPresbyterian faction of theScottishCovenanters during theWars of the Three Kingdoms. They came to the fore after the defeat of theEngagers faction in 1648 at the hands ofOliver Cromwell and theEnglish Parliament.[1] They purged the Covenanters' General Assembly and army of "ungodly elements"[2] and crownedCharles II as King of Scotland in 1651, in return for his explicit endorsement of their religious and political agenda in theTreaty of Breda (1650).
Kirk is a Scottish word meaning a church, or more specifically, theChurch of Scotland.
The Kirk party's religious zeal did not help their cause militarily. In the month before theBattle of Dunbar they chose to institute a searching three-day examination of the political and religious sentiments of the Scottish army. The result was that the army was purged of "Malignants", 80 officers and 3000 experienced soldiers, while it lay within musket shot of the enemy.[2] Their ranks were to some extent made up with replacements with strong spiritual beliefs but little military experience. The Kirk party were therefore discredited when their army was routed by Cromwell'sNew Model Army at the Battle of Dunbar, in September 1650.[1]
Thereafter, a more representative faction came to the fore in Scottish politics, which tried to reconcile (at least temporarily) the different factions of the Covenanters and Scottish Royalists to resist Cromwell's invasion of Scotland. However, they in turn were defeated at theBattle of Worcester in 1651,[2] leading eventually to Scotland's incorporation into theCommonwealth of England.
The Kirk party were disparagingly called "whiggamores" or "whigs" by their Scottish opponents (See theWhiggamore Raid). The nickname was later applied (equally offensively) to those, headed by Anthony Ashley Cooper,Earl of Shaftesbury, calling for the exclusion ofJames, Duke of York from the English throne on the grounds of his Catholicism.
