The rise and fall of the Ryal Kirk

IRL, the medieval Church in Scotland was corrupt. And by corrupt I mean "corrupt by the standards of medieval Catholicism." Come the 16th century Scotland swept away almost every trace of it converting to Presbyterianism, and there were compelling reasons why.

This poses a problem for me, because in Andalusada England doesn't break with Rome. And before the Great Realignment gets underway, before the Imperial Union of England-Scotland, there is Scotland-Norway - and Norway, in Andalusada as per IRL, does break with Rome and become Güntherite.

I know enough about Stuart England to know that the marriage of Reformed Scotland and Anglican England was volatile already, and they were both Protestant. A marriage of Catholic Scotland and Güntherite Norway during the *Reformation period itself is unimaginable - but the Imperial Union is foreordained. And given how recent and contingent ecumenism has been IRL, would the union of *Protestant Scotland and Catholic England really be any more plausible, or functional, than that of Catholic Scotland and Güntherite Norway? I don't think so.

Last night, I found a solution, which I'm going to derp out here. You heard it first, Engel.

A Scottish New World glossary

Andalusada loves dynastic unions, so you heard it here first: before there was England-Scotland, there was... well... medieval England-Scotland. (I'm not sure how it starts or ends - although I'm thinking that Scottish Semi-Salic inheritance leads to a split in the dynasty - just that it's there.)

But after it ends, at around the dawn of the age of exploration, there's another dynastic union: Scotland-Norway. By the time it breaks up (after yet another instance of Scotland's Semi-Salic inheritance passing the throne to somebody the Norwegians wouldn't get), both of them have some holdings in the New World, with Scotland having more and better of them.