ABSTRACT
Henry Guthry is not the most reliable of historians, but his comments on the part played by the burghs in the Scottish Revolution accord well with other evidence and neatly sum up some major aspects of the burghs’ behaviour. Self-conscious and well organised as the burghs were, however, it cannot be said that the estate played any dominant role in the leadership of the covenanting movement at a national level. Burntisland had instructed its commissioner 'na vayis to concent' but he had to report back that the burghs 'culd navayis' get the excise rejected. Burgess resistence continued, but it was crumbling; Hamilton had well over three-quarters of the nobles, more than half the lairds and nearly half the burghs behind him. Thus the Engagement controversy had temporarily destroyed the unanimity of the burghs.
