The Earls of Glencairn and Angus had plundered the abbey in 1513 and George Wishart's supporters did some damage in the 1540s. However still more determined action was in 1559, when the Earl of Glencairn led a raid on the abbey during which pictures, statues, books, vestments, and all other images were said to have been taken to the Abbey Green and burned. In 1562, Alexander, Earl of Glencairn is believed to have assaulted the abbey, supposedly at the instigation of John Knox and the Scottish Protestant Reformation; Knox's 'battle cry' being "Pull down the nests and the rooks will fly away." It is said that ornamental tombs were broken up and some graves dug up; stained glass windows were broken up, especially those bearing the images of the Virgin Mary or saints. In Kilwinning as elsewhere, the local aristocracy no doubt exploited the situation to grab as much of the church's property and land as possible, something that had in fact been happening before the Reformation, as indicated by the plundering of 1513.