The Solemn League and Covenant was an agreement between the Scottish

Covenanters Covenanters ( gd, Cùmhnantaich) were members of a 17th-century Scottish religious and political movement, who supported a Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and the primacy of its leaders in religious affairs. The name is derived from '' Covena ...

and the leaders of the English Parliamentarians in 1643 during the

First English Civil War The First English Civil War took place in England and Wales from 1642 to 1646, and forms part of the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. They include the Bishops' Wars, the Irish Confederate Wars, the Second English Civil War, the Angl ...

, a theatre of conflict in the

Wars of the Three Kingdoms The Wars of the Three Kingdoms were a series of related conflicts fought between 1639 and 1653 in the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland, then separate entities united in a personal union under Charles I. They include the 1639 to 1640 Bi ...

. On 17 August 1643, the Church of Scotland (the Kirk) accepted it and on 25 September 1643 so did the English Parliament and the Westminster Assembly.

English Parliament (First Civil War)

At the time, the

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

leaders of the English Parliament were in conflict with King Charles I. Fearing Irish Catholic troops could join the

Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of gov ...

army, Parliament requested the aid of the Scots. The

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their n ...

Covenanters promised their aid, on condition that the Scottish system of church government was adopted in England. This was acceptable to the majority of the English

Long Parliament The Long Parliament was an English Parliament which lasted from 1640 until 1660. It followed the fiasco of the Short Parliament, which had convened for only three weeks during the spring of 1640 after an 11-year parliamentary absence. In Septe ...

, as many MPs were Presbyterians, while others preferred allying with the Scots to losing the Civil War. English Puritans Taking the Covenant

After some haggling a document called "'' The Solemn League and Covenant''" was drawn up. This was in effect a treaty between the English Parliament and its Scottish counterpart for the preservation of the reformed religion in Scotland, the reformation of religion in England and Ireland "according to the word of God and the example of the best reformed churches", and the "extirpation of popery nd prelacy". It did not explicitly mention

Presbyterianism Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their n ...

, and included some ambiguous formulations which left the door open to the English Independents, another strong faction on the English Parliamentary side, particularly in the parliamentary armies. It was subscribed to by many in England, Scotland, and Ireland, approved by the English

, and, with some slight modifications, by the Westminster Assembly of Divines. However, not all those on the English Parliamentarian side were happy with this arrangement and some, like John Lilburne, chose to leave the parliamentary armies rather than take the oath prescribed in the Act enforcing the ''Solemn League and Covenant''. The agreement meant that the Covenanters sent another army south to England to fight on the Parliamentarian side in the First English Civil War. When the Scots army entered England by invitation of the English Parliament in January 1644 the Parliamentary Committee of Safety was replaced by an ad hoc committee representative of both kingdoms which, by parliamentary ordinance of 16 February, was formally constituted the Committee of Both Kingdoms. Its object was the management of peace overtures to, or making war on, King

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

. The Scots withdrew from the committee after the end of the First Civil War, although it continued to sit and from then on was known as the Derby House Committee (as it sat in Derby House in London).

Engagement and Charles I (Second Civil War)

After the Royalists had lost the First Civil War,

was able to enter into an " Engagement" with the majority of the Covenanters in which they agreed to support him in the

Second English Civil War The Second English Civil War took place between February to August 1648 in England and Wales. It forms part of the series of conflicts known collectively as the 1639-1651 Wars of the Three Kingdoms, which include the 1641–1653 Irish Confed ...

against their mutual enemy the English Independents, in return for Charles imposing Presbyterianism for three years on England. In 1648 the Royalists and the Covenanters were defeated at the Battle of Preston, and Charles was executed in January 1649.

Charles II (Third Civil War)

After the Kirk Party seized power from the unsuccessful and therefore discredited

Engagers The Engagers were a faction of the Scottish Covenanters, who made "The Engagement" with King Charles I in December 1647 while he was imprisoned in Carisbrooke Castle by the English Parliamentarians after his defeat in the First Civil War. Bac ...

, the new Scottish Covenanter government persuaded the exiled Charles II to agree to the terms of the ''Solemn League and Covenant'' in the

Treaty of Breda (1650) The Treaty of Breda (1650) was signed on 1 May 1650 between Charles II (King in exile of England, Scotland and Ireland) and the Scottish Covenanters during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Background The Scots Covenanters had taken the side of ...

. However, the defeat of the Royalist and Scottish army at the

Battle of Worcester The Battle of Worcester took place on 3 September 1651 in and around the city of Worcester, England and was the last major battle of the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. A Parliamentarian army of around 28,000 under Oliver Cromwell d ...

in 1651 ended the relevance of the ''Solemn League and Covenant'' as the power of the Presbyterians was broken on both sides of the border.

Restoration and the Sedition Act

After the Restoration the English Parliament passed the Sedition Act 1661, which declared that the ''Solemn League and Covenant'' was unlawful, was to be abjured by all persons holding public offices, and was to be burnt by the common hangman.

Notes

References

External links

Dunbar Martyrs 1650
British Civil Wars website {{Scottish religion 1643 in England 1643 in Scotland English Civil War Presbyterianism in Scotland Puritanism in England Treaties of England Treaties of Scotland 1643 treaties England–Scotland relations 17th-century documents Church of Scotland