1680 SCOTTISH COVENANTER. Document Related to Presbyterian Assassination of the Archbishop of Saint Andrews.

A phenomenal piece of original correspondence related to the Scottish Covenanters’ murder of James Sharp [1618-1679], the anti-Presbyterian Archbishop of Saint Andrews. Having served as the Archbishop of Saint Andrews from 1661 until his death in 1679, Sharp was a staunch supporter of the Episcopalian Church, of the ecclesiastical rule of Bishops, and of the Monarchy. In the eyes of the Covenanters, Sharp was the epitome, the distillation of all that was wrong with Scottish Episcopacy. He was the first Archbishop to serve after the revocation of the Covenanters’ blood-won reforms instituted in 1633. And he did so with a vengeance, forcing all clergy to renounce the Covenant, leading to the dismissal of nearly 300 Scottish pastors. Those who continued to perform their ministries out in the fields and mountains of Scotland, he either sent to prison or executed as a warning to others. After 18 years of forced conformity and persecution, a small group of Presbyterian Covenanters decided th