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Between 1638 and 1688 Scotland was
in an almost constant state of civil unrest because many people
refused to accept the Royal decree that the king was head of the
church. When those who refused signed a Covenant, which stated that
only Jesus Christ could command such a position, they were effectively
signing their own death warrants. And so began one of the bloodiest
periods of Scottish history, the Killing Times.
These
were the most horrific and atrocious times ever inflicted on the
people of Scotland. The Covenanters were now flushed out and hunted
down as never before and the common soldier was empowered to take
life at will of any suspect without trial of law. Usually it was
done without any evidence and often as the result of the suspicions
of an over-zealous town official or Minister. Brutality in these
days defied the imagination and the persecution had no mercy on
man, woman or child, irrespective of circumstances. Any class of
Covenanter once caught by the King's troops was shot or murdered
on the spot.
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