The Chidleys' anonymity was decisively ended with the collapse of Thorough and the king's reluctant decision to call Parliaments. The Scottish Covenanters had defeated the king in the Bishops' Wars and when Parliament entered into negotiations for an alliance, pressed for a Presbyterian reformation of the Church of England. At this juncture, Thomas Edwards, an irascible English Presbyterian controversialist, published "Reasons Against the Independent Government of Particular Congregations", an attack on the Congregational polity. In October 1641, Katherine Chidley issued a counterblast: "The Justification of the Independant Churches of Christ. Being an Answer to Mr. Edwards his Booke". The Biblical texts she placed on the title page both attested her preference for thinking through the experience of the Judges and the early Israelite monarchy, tending to confirm the significance of Samuel's name. , allowed her to take on the role of David, while allowed her to be Jael.