The return of the Catholic earls to Scotland in 1596 provoked violent anti-Catholic demonstrations in Edinburgh. Mobs attacked the houses of known Catholics and threatened the French ambassador. James VI's attempt to receive the earls at court triggered the December 1596 riot that temporarily trapped the king in the Tolbooth. The Edinburgh mob in this period had significant political weight — it could not be easily suppressed by the small royal guard — and its Protestant militancy set limits on James VI's ability to act as a tolerant king toward his Catholic subjects.
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