ABSTRACT
Following the signing of the Pacification of Berwick, the king’s prospects of successfully halting the covenanting revolution declined at a steady pace. In August 1639 the Edinburgh general assembly approved the acts of its predecessor of the previous year. In the Scottish Parliament which convened at the end of that month the new royal commissioner, Traquair, failed to put together a royal party strong enough to counter the Covenanters, and, at the king’s instruction, he was forced to prorogue the Parliament until June 1640. By then Charles hoped to have mounted another military campaign with a view to subduing the Covenanters by force. However, the Estates of parliament, now dominated by the Covenanters, objected to the prorogation and ensured that a committee was left in place, ostensibly to await the king’s answer to their demands. This left them with an administrative rump through which they could continue to advance their cause. Meanwhile, the king’s attempt to raise war subsidies in England failed when the Short Parliament of April and early May refused to grant him the supply he had requested.
