In December 1596 an Edinburgh riot — provoked by a Presbyterian preacher's denunciation of James VI's toleration of the returning Catholic earls — briefly threatened the king's control of the capital. Crowds surged through Edinburgh shouting for Protestant religion and against royal policy. James VI was caught in the Tolbooth and required armed escort to safety. He was furious — the riot was for him as traumatic as the Ruthven Raid — and immediately moved to break Presbyterian political power. He withdrew the Court from Edinburgh, depriving the burgh of business, until the town submitted. The episode accelerated James VI's campaign against the Kirk's political independence.
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