The Kirk Party

The Kirk Party was a faction of Scottish Covenanters who emerged during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. They were a group of radical Presbyterians who came to the fore after the defeat of the Engagers faction at the hands of Oliver Cromwell and the English Parliament in 1648. This group was known for their strong religious beliefs and zeal, which played a major role in their rise to power.

The Kirk Party purged the Covenanter’s General Assembly and army of “ungodly elements” and crowned Charles II as King of Scotland in 1651. In return, Charles II endorsed their religious and political agenda in the Treaty of Breda. However, their religious zeal did not help their cause militarily. In the month before the Battle of Dunbar, they conducted a three-day examination of the political and religious sentiments of the Scottish army, which resulted in the purging of “Malignants,” including 80 officers and 3000 experienced soldiers.

Their zealotry proved to be a liability when their army was defeated by Cromwell’s New Model Army at the Battle of Dunbar in 1650. This defeat led to a more representative faction coming to the fore in Scottish politics, which tried to reconcile the different factions of the Covenanters and Scottish Royalists to resist the English Parliamentarian invasion of Scotland. However, they too were defeated at the Battle of Worcester in 1651, leading to Scotland’s annexation into the English Commonwealth.

The Kirk Party was disparagingly nicknamed “whiggamores” or “whigs” by their Scottish opponents. The nickname was later applied to those calling for the exclusion of James, Duke of York from the English throne on the grounds of his Catholicism.

The Kirk Party was a group of religious zealots who played a major role in Scottish politics during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Their strong beliefs and zeal led to their rise to power, but ultimately proved to be a liability in the face of military defeat.