ABSTRACT
When the Scottish Reformed Church was officially established in 1560, it was declared, unusually, that the third sign by which the true Christian Church could be identified was 'Ecclesiastical Discipline uprightlie ministred. As the minutes indicate, St Andrews Kirk Session was in existence by 1559. But it was not a vigorous kirk session pursuing a variety of offences from the outset, and it is important to put its early workings in context rather than conflating the early years with the discipline of the 1580s and 1590s. The 1580s were a period of heightened radicalism in the Scottish Church, and saw the production of the second 'Book of Discipline' and the erection of presbyteries. Punishments were severe, including several weeks of repentance for sexual offences. But in much of rural Fife, the period after, rather than before 1600 was the critical one for the establishment of parish discipline, and the situation varied greatly from parish to parish.
