King James had declared the Aberdeen Assembly seditious, so it did little more than convene then disperse, though the fact it had met at all was in defiance of the King. The 19 ministers who had attended the Assembly were summoned before the Scottish Privy Council. Ten of these submitted to the King, while the other seven, John Munro among them, maintained that the Assembly had been a lawful one. These seven dissenting ministers who appeared were banished throughout Scotland, each as far as possible from their own parish. One of them, John Welsh of Ayr, the son-in-law of John Knox, was banished to France. John Munro was to be sent to Kintyre, but in the meantime was imprisoned in Doune Castle, Perthshire, with another of the ministers. With the aid of the Constable of the castle, who was subsequently imprisoned for his actions, John escaped.