<P> During the 16th century, Scotland underwent a Protestant Reformation that created a Calvinist national Kirk, which became Presbyterian in outlook and severely reduced the powers of bishops . Remnants of Catholic and Episcopal religion remained, however . In the earlier part of the century, the teachings of first Martin Luther and then John Calvin began to influence Scotland, particularly through Scottish scholars, often training for the priesthood, who had visited Continental universities . The Lutheran preacher Patrick Hamilton was executed for heresy in St. Andrews in 1528 . The execution of others, especially the Zwingli - influenced George Wishart, who was burnt at the stake on the orders of Cardinal Beaton in 1546, angered Protestants . Wishart's supporters assassinated Beaton soon after and seized St. Andrews Castle, which they held for a year before they were defeated with the help of French forces . The survivors, including chaplain John Knox, were condemned to be galley slaves in France, stoking resentment of the French and creating martyrs for the Protestant cause . Limited toleration and the influence of exiled Scots and Protestants in other countries, led to the expansion of Protestantism, with a group of lairds declaring themselves Lords of the Congregation in 1557 and representing their interests politically . The collapse of the French alliance and English intervention in 1560 meant that a relatively small, but highly influential, group of Protestants were in a position to impose reform on the Scottish church . A confession of faith, rejecting papal jurisdiction and the mass, was adopted by Parliament in 1560, while the young Mary, Queen of Scots, was still in France . </P> <P> Knox, having escaped the galleys and spent time in Geneva as a follower of Calvin, emerged as the most significant figure of the period . The Calvinism of the reformers led by Knox resulted in a settlement that adopted a Presbyterian system and rejected most of the elaborate trappings of the medieval church . The reformed Kirk gave considerable power to local lairds, who often had control over the appointment of the clergy . There were widespread, but generally orderly outbreaks of iconoclasm . At this point the majority of the population was probably still Catholic in persuasion and the Kirk found it difficult to penetrate the Highlands and Islands, but began a gradual process of conversion and consolidation that, compared with reformations elsewhere, was conducted with relatively little persecution . </P> <P> In the 1690s the Presbyterian establishment purged the land of Episcopalians and heretics, and made blasphemy a capital crime . Thomas Aitkenhead, the son of an Edinburgh surgeon, aged 18, was indicted for blasphemy by order of the Privy Council for calling the New Testament "The History of the Imposter Christ"; he was hung in 1696 . Their extremism led to a reaction known as the "Moderate" cause that ultimately prevailed and opened the way for liberal thinking in the cities . </P> <P> The early 18th century saw the beginnings of a fragmentation of the Church of Scotland . These fractures were prompted by issues of government and patronage, but reflected a wider division between the hard - line Evangelicals and the theologically more tolerant Moderate Party . The battle was over fears of fanaticism by the former and the promotion of Enlightenment ideas by the latter . The Patronage Act of 1712 was a major blow to the evangelicals, for it meant that local landlords could choose the minister, not the members of the congregation . Schisms erupted as the evangelicals left the main body, starting in 1733 with the First Secession headed by figures including Ebenezer Erskine . The second schism in 1761 lead to the foundation of the independent Relief Church . These churches gained strength in the Evangelical Revival of the later 18th century . a key result was the main Presbyterian church was in the hands of the Moderate faction, which provided critical support for the Enlightenment in the cities . </P>

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