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As warfare raged throughout the three kingdoms of the British Isles in the bloody 1640s, the Scottish Parliament played a proactive role in the articulation of both policies and structures related to warfare during this period. As a single-chamber institution of an independent kingdom, its powers were significantly enhanced by the enactment of a constitutional settlement in 1640–41 which weakened the royal prerogative of Charles I as King of Scotland. From 1640, the Estates of the Scottish Parliament consisted of the nobility, the commissioners for the shires and commissioners for the burghs. Clerical representation was abolished in 1640, in line with the Presbyterian distinction between the Church and the State as separate spheres. Parliament was under the political control of the Covenanting movement which had emerged in the late 1630s as an organized movement of opposition against the administration and policies of Charles I in Scotland. Throughout these years, issues relating to warfare were of significant importance to the Covenanting movement and its military commitments on a British basis. The movement used the institution of the Scottish Parliament to secure enactment of its demands and reforms against Charles I's administration of Scotland. The demand for ‘free’ parliaments or parliaments held without royal interference, as had happened in the 1633 Parliament, was included in the 1638 National Covenant, incorporating many of the Covenanters' demands. Covenanting Members of Parliaments also dealt with a variety of issues related to warfare and new structures, innovations and policies were devised to deal with these issues.
