In a historical context, a covenant applies to formal promises that were made under

oath Traditionally an oath (from Anglo-Saxon ', also called plight) is either a statement of fact or a promise taken by a sacrality as a sign of verity. A common legal substitute for those who conscientiously object to making sacred oaths is to ...

, or in less remote history, agreements in which the name actually uses the term 'covenant', implying that they were binding for all time. One of the earliest attested covenants between parties is the so-called Mitanni treaty, dating to the 14th or 15th century BC, between the

Hittites The Hittites () were an Anatolian people who played an important role in establishing first a kingdom in Kussara (before 1750 BC), then the Kanesh or Nesha kingdom (c. 1750–1650 BC), and next an empire centered on Hattusa in north-centra ...

and the

Mitanni Mitanni (; Hittite cuneiform ; ''Mittani'' '), c. 1550–1260 BC, earlier called Ḫabigalbat in old Babylonian texts, c. 1600 BC; Hanigalbat or Hani-Rabbat (''Hanikalbat'', ''Khanigalbat'', cuneiform ') in Assyrian records, or ''Naharin'' in ...

. Key elements of this type of Hittite international covenant treaty included a

preamble A preamble is an introductory and expressionary statement in a document that explains the document's purpose and underlying philosophy. When applied to the opening paragraphs of a statute, it may recite historical facts pertinent to the subj ...

identifying the king, a historical prologue that detail the monarch's deeds, the stipulated obligations of the vassal state, where the covenant would be stored, as well as an outline of the blessings if the document is obeyed and curses if the terms were broken. Historically, certain treaties and compacts have been given the name "covenant", notably the

Solemn League and Covenant The Solemn League and Covenant was an agreement between the Scottish Covenanters and the leaders of the English Parliamentarians in 1643 during the First English Civil War, a theatre of conflict in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. On 17 August 1 ...

that marked the

Covenanter 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 ''Covenan ...

s, a

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 ...

political organization important in the

history of Scotland The recorded begins with the arrival of the Roman Empire in the 1st century, when the province of Britannia reached as far north as the Antonine Wall. North of this was Caledonia, inhabited by the ''Picti'', whose uprisings forced Rom ...

. The term 'covenant' appears throughout Scottish, English and Irish history. The term covenant could be used in English to refer to either the

Bundesbrief The Federal Charter or Letter of Alliance (german: Bundesbrief) is one of the earliest constitutional documents of Switzerland. A treaty of alliance from 1291 between the cantons of Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden, the Charter is one of a series o ...

of 1291, which established the confederacy of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden. It is also used to refer to the

Pfaffenbrief The Pfaffenbrief is a contract dated to October 7, 1370, between six states of the Old Swiss Confederacy, Zürich, Lucerne, Zug, Uri, Schwyz and Unterwalden (with Bern and Glarus missing). In the Pfaffenbrief they for the first time expressed ...

of 1370. These documents led to the formation of the Swiss state or "

Eidgenossenschaft ''Eidgenossenschaft'' () is a German word specific to the political history of Switzerland. It means "oath commonwealth" or "oath alliance" in reference to the "eternal pacts" formed between the Eight Cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy of th ...

". In this usage the German "''Eid''" is being translated as "covenant" rather than "oath" in order to reflect its written status. In modern law, covenant is described as "a promise or agreement under consideration, or guarantee between two parties" and is distinguished from modern contract by the seal or symbol of guarantee.

References

Documents Oaths {{hist-stub