An assessment of Covenanter military capability c1638-1651

Canning, Simon James (2026) An assessment of Covenanter military capability c1638-1651. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

This thesis will demonstrate that the reputation of the Covenanter military machine as a highly efficient, qualitatively superior organisation is generally undeserved. It re-examines the importance of veterans returning from European service in the generation of the initial Covenanter military capability by noting that they were too few and arrived too late to have had the impact described in much of the historiography. A re-evaluation of the mobilisation and training systems highlights localised, improvised, and inefficient practices which were no better than the systems of its allies and enemies. The systems were based on well-established Scottish and English methodologies, which showed more continuity than change, although there were also clearly discernible influences from the European ‘military revolution’. The Covenanters’ record until 1644 is one of political successes based not on military victories, but on their enemies’ weakness or incompetence. From 1645, the tale became one of military defeats punctuated by infrequent victories, and between 1648 and 1651 those defeats became so calamitous that in the final act, the kingdom itself was lost. Covenanter armies, far from being qualitatively superior to their contemporaries, were every bit as flawed and fallible and became increasingly fragile as time passed.

There were two key elements in the methodology used in this thesis. The first was to seek evidence of how a thing was done not simply that it was done: not, for example, recording that shires raised levy quotas, but analysing how they did so. The second was to use timelines to analyse individual activities and to compare multiple activities. Thus, for example, a comparison of timelines demonstrates that military activity in Scotland in 1638/39 began well before the recall of veterans from Europe. The sources used include written records from national to individual levels, where possible tracking single events across all those levels. In particular, regardless of the type of source, identifying the difference between theories or proposed policies and their practical implementation was paramount.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Subjects: D History General and Old World > D History (General); D History General and Old World > DA Great Britain
• Colleges/Schools: College of Arts & Humanities > School of Humanities
• Supervisor's Name: Bowie, Professor Karin and Mackillop, Professor Andrew
• Date of Award: 2026
• Depositing User: Theses Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:2026-86150
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 27 Jul 2026 09:53
• Last Modified: 27 Jul 2026 09:55
• Thesis DOI: 10.5525/gla.thesis.86150
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/86150