Bishops in the Church of Scotland in the context of Restoration in Scotland

The 1689 Convention of Estates sat between 16 March 1689 and 5 June 1689 to determine the settlement of the Scottish throne, following the deposition of James VII (II of England) following the Dutch invasion by "force of arms" by Prince William of Orange and his wife Mary (daughter of James II) in the "so called" English 1688 Glorious Revolution. The Convention of the Estates of Scotland a sister-institution to Parliament of Scotland, comprising the three estates of bishops, barons and representatives of the Scots burghs. Historically, it had been summoned by the king of Scots for the limited purpose of raising taxes, and could not pass other legislation. Unlike the English Convention Parliament of 1689, the 1689 Scottish Convention was also a contest for control of the Church of Scotland or Kirk.

Scotland played no part in the landing and Dutch invasion by "force of arms" by Prince William of Orange and his wife Mary (daughter of James II) in England and there was little enthusiasm for William and Mary, by November 1688 only a tiny minority actively supported James. Many of William of Orange's exile advisors were Scots, including Melville, Argyll, his personal chaplain, William Carstares, and Gilbert Burnet, his chief propagandist. News of James's flight led to celebrations and anti-Catholic riots in Edinburgh and Glasgow and on 7 January 1689, the Scottish Privy Council asked William to take over, pending a Constitutional Convention to agree a settlement.

The Restoration was the return of the monarchy to Scotland in 1660 after the period of the Commonwealth, and the subsequent three decades of Scottish history until the Revolution and Convention of Estates of 1689. It was part of a wider Restoration in the British Isles that included the return of the Stuart dynasty to the thrones of England and Ireland in the person of Charles II.

As military commander of the Commonwealth's largest armed force, George Monck, governor-general in Scotland, was instrumental in the restoration of Charles II, who was proclaimed king in Edinburgh on 14 May 1660. There was a general pardon for offences during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, but four individuals were excepted and executed. Under the eventual political settlement Scotland regained its independent system of law, parliament and kirk, but also regained the Lords of the Articles and bishops, and it now had a king who did not visit the country and ruled largely without reference to Parliament through a series of commissioners. These began with the Earl of Middleton and ended with the King's brother and heir, James, Duke of York. The restoration of the Scottish Episcopacy led to a series of conflicts between Presbyterians and the Bishops of the Episcopalian establishment, culminating in the persecution of The Killing Time.

James VI and I (James Stuart) (19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625), King of Scotland, King of England and King of Ireland, faced many complicated religious challenges during his reigns in Scotland and England.

In Scotland, he inherited a reformed church, the Kirk, which was attempting to rid the country of bishops, dioceses, and parishes and establish a fully Presbyterian system, run by ministers and elders. However, James saw the bishops as the natural allies of the monarchy and frequently came into conflict with the Kirk in his sustained effort to reintroduce an episcopal polity to Scotland.