ABSTRACT
This chapter offers an overview of Protestant domestic devotion within Scotland between the Reformation and the Covenanting Revolution. The Scottish government and the new Reformed Kirk strove to ensure there was no rival public worship available; in their devotions Scots were not to be permitted a choice. It proved relatively easy to destroy the public performances, settings and equipment of Catholic worship and in most Scottish regions the practice of Catholic devotion was driven underground. To modern eyes, the strong strand of continuity within devotional practice helped the transition from late medieval Catholicism to Reformation Protestantism. Personal devotion was usually called private exercises' while the family exercise' covering the entire family or household was also known as common prayers' to underline their communal nature. Scotland remained an oral and aural culture and heard, spoken and sung words were the dominant channel of communication for the majority of Scots.
