Charles I assembled forces near Berwick-upon-Tweed to suppress the Scottish Covenanters, but neither side fought a major battle. The campaign ended with the inconclusive Pacification of Berwick in June 1639. Its expense exposed the weakness of royal government without parliamentary taxation.

Newsbooks, sermons and poems interpreted the near-bloodless confrontation as either providential deliverance or humiliating royal failure. The war made religious uniformity and resistance to authority unavoidable literary subjects.