England cast loose from Rome at a time when the conservative influence of Luther was predominant; Scotland was swept into the current of revolution under the fiercer star of Calvin.

The English reformation was started by the crown and supported by the new noblesse of commerce.

The Scotch revolution was markedly baronial in tone.

It began with the humanists, continued and flourished in the junior branches of great families, among the burgesses of the towns and among the more vigorous of the clergy, both regular and secular.

The crown was consistently against the new movement, but the Scottish monarch was too weak to impose his will, or even to have a will of his own.