He made himself all but absolute, and this, demonstrably, as head of the kirk.
In 1584 Parliament passed a series of statutes known as the Black Acts, putting the bodies and souls of the Scotch under the yoke of the king, who was now pope as well.

In 1587 the whole property of the pre-Reformation church, with some trifling exceptions, was confiscated and put at the king's disposition.

As in England, so here, the lands of abbeys and of prelates was thrown to new men of the pushing, commercial type.

Thus was founded a landed aristocracy with interests distinct from the old barons and strong in supporting both king and Reformation.
[Sidenote: Reaction in the kirk, 1592] It is true that this condition was but temporary.

Just as in England later the Parliament and the Puritans called the crown to account, so in Scotland the kirk continued to administer drastic advice to the monarch and finally to put direct legal pressure upon him.