ABSTRACT
In Thomas M'Crie's version of events, Andrew Melville returned to Scotland from Geneva in 1574, keen to contribute to the security and advancement of Protestantism in his native country, primarily through the channel of education. Melville was provoked by the controversies over church government, the uneven system of superintendents, bishops, and the royal authority, which was embodied first by the Regent Morton and later by James VI himself as he reached his majority. The central thrust of M'Crie's narrative lies in the emphasis he placed on Melville as a genuine successor to Knox. M'Crie would have agreed with the latter statement, and exhibited concern for the contested reputation of Scottish presbyterianism in the eyes of English readers. For M'Crie, the accounts of Scotland's Reformation tradition put forward by moderate historians like Robertson and Cook were insufficiently robust in its defence.
