widespread dissatisfaction with the policies advocated by a largely absentee monarch, and the loss of Scottish political influence to England. The Covenant was supported by most of the nobility, including the Marquess of Argyll and six other members of the Scottish Privy Council. Although Charles agreed to defer discussion of the new canons to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, he made it clear he had no intention of making any concessions. When the Assembly gathered in Glasgow in December it rejected the changes, expelled bishops from the kirk, and affirmed its right to meet annually, not just when the king agreed. The Marquis of Hamilton advised Charles there was now no alternative to war. With the Scottish Parliament recruiting soldiers and seeking support from foreign governments and English Puritans, Charles had to treat this as an act of rebellion and responded by gathering an army to march on Scotland. Bishops' Wars In March 1639 Covenanter forces seized Edinburgh and other Scottish towns, starting the First Bishops' War, which ended without a battle in June by the Treaty of Berwick. Following this, Charles called the Short Parliament in April 1640, seeking funds for a second campaign; when Parliament refused to approve taxes until he had agreed to address other issues, it was dissolved after only three weeks, ahead of a debate likely to result in a petition against the war in Scotland. Instead, Charles turned to the Parliament of Ireland for funds, and planned another invasion of Scotland supported by an army from Ireland, a naval blockade of the Forth, and an uprising in the Highlands. The success of the Covenanters in asserting the rights of Parliament in Scotland emboldened Charles' English opponents, led by John Pym, who began secret talks with the Scots. Seeking to limit royal authority in England, this group represented a much broader body of dissenters who had been alienated by Charles' policies during his over a decade-long period of Personal Rule. With this invitation, and warned about the king's plans by allies from within the English parliament, the Covenanters launched their attack on England, bypassing the heavily defended city of Berwick, starting the Second Bishops’ War. The Royal army was routed by Scottish forces at the Battle of Newburn who then occupied Newcastle which surrendered on 30 August 1640. Following this, the Scottish continued their advance south, occupying Durham and establishing an advanced