The Treaty of Berwick (also known as the Peace of Berwick or the Pacification of Berwick) was an agreement between the

Kingdom of England The Kingdom of England was a sovereign state on the island of Great Britain from the late 9th century, when it was unified from various Heptarchy, Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, until 1 May 1707, when it united with Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland to f ...

and the

Kingdom of Scotland The Kingdom of Scotland was a sovereign state in northwest Europe, traditionally said to have been founded in 843. Its territories expanded and shrank, but it came to occupy the northern third of the island of Great Britain, sharing a Anglo-Sc ...

, signed on 18 June 1639, which ended the First Bishops' War. Peace lasted less than a year before the outbreak of the Second Bishops' War in 1640.

War

During the 1630s, King Charles I, who was king of both Scotland and England, had attempted religious reforms to the

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland (CoS; ; ) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While mem ...

. In 1638, to express their strong political opposition to these reforms, many people throughout Scotland signed the

National Covenant The National Covenant () was an agreement signed by many people of Scotland during 1638, opposing the proposed Laudian reforms of the Church of Scotland (also known as '' the Kirk'') by King Charles I. The king's efforts to impose changes on th ...

. Supporters of this movement, known as

Covenanters Covenanters were members of a 17th-century Scottish religious and political movement, who supported a Presbyterian Church of Scotland and the primacy of its leaders in religious affairs. It originated in disputes with James VI and his son ...

, gained political supremacy in Scotland and mobilised forces to oppose any attempt by the King, or any of his

Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of gove ...

supporters in Scotland, to restore his authority. By June 1638, inconclusive skirmishing had taken place in the north-east of Scotland between Covenanters and Royalists. At the same time, Scottish and English armies had mustered on either side of their mutual border, near the town of Berwick.

Negotiations and Terms

Both sides had reasons to fear a battle and on 6 June, the King sent a page to the Scots army camp near Duns to propose talks. Negotiations formally began when a delegation of Scottish noblemen arrived at the King's camp near Berwick on 11 June. After a week of discussions, where Charles was an active participant, a treaty was concluded on 18 June. The Scots agreed to demobilise, free Royalist prisoners and restore royal property. Charles agreed, in turn, to withdraw English forces and, in order to resolve all disputed matters, he would call a

General Assembly of the Church of Scotland The General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is the sovereign and highest court of the Church of Scotland, and is thus the Church's governing body.''An Introduction to Practice and Procedure in the Church of Scotland'' by A. Gordon McGillivray, ...

in August, followed by a

Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( ; ) is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. It is located in the Holyrood, Edinburgh, Holyrood area of Edinburgh, and is frequently referred to by the metonym 'Holyrood'. ...

to ratify its decisions.

Aftermath

Though both armies withdrew without a battle, the treaty had avoided any mention of the disputed issue of episcopacy, that is, whether the King could accept the Covenanters prior expulsion of

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

s from the Church of Scotland and who had ultimate authority. The General Assembly which followed in August reaffirmed Covenanter policies and the Covenanter-dominated parliament which assembled afterwards passed acts ratifying these. Furthermore, the Parliament also refused to be dissolved by the King's representative. On hearing reports from Scotland, Charles was determined to continue the political struggle by force if necessary: The treaty was rendered moot when conflict again broke out in the Second Bishops' War the following summer.

References

Sources

* * * - see 'His Majesty's Declaration' and 'Articles agreed upon'

War

Negotiations and Terms

Aftermath

References

Sources

See also