ABSTRACT
On the following day, his magnanimity was shown to be boundless when he received Robert Bruce, the one minister who remained obstinate about the 'Cowrie Conspiracy'. Bruce was reported to have been impressed with how friendly the king was and James felt that they were reconciled.2 On 5 April, James VI left for London. Passing Haddington, the ministers of the synod of Lothian and Tweeddale rushed out to bid him farewell and to seek reassurance that Catholicism would be repressed, that stipends would be augmented and that, with James entering a country with an improperly reformed Kirk, there would be no further ecclesiastical innovations. He was happy to reassure them on all three matters. All the signs were good. The polity of the Kirk as it stood was acceptable to the majority of the ministry and, reassured that this state of affairs was to continue, they could be content that, even with their king absent, the Kirk would remain at peace with itself and with the crown. Even the presbytery of Edinburgh made a special effort to congratulate James on his English coronation.3 Things would change profoundly in 1604.
