Everything about Solemn League And Covenant totally explained
» For the 1912 document, see Ulster Covenant.
The
Solemn League and Covenant was an agreement between the
Scottish Covenanters and the leaders of the
English Parliamentarians. It was agreed to in
1643, during the
First English Civil War.
The
Protestant leaders of the embattled English parliament, faced with the threat of
Irish Catholic troops joining with the
Royalist army, requested the aid of the Scots. The
Presbyterian Covenanters promised their aid against the 'papists', on condition that the Scottish system of church government was adopted in England. This was acceptable to the majority of the English
Long Parliament, as many of them were presbyterians, while others preferred allying with the Scots to losing the Civil War.
After some haggling a document called the "
Solemn League and Covenant" was drawn up. This was practically a treaty between England and Scotland 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 and
prelacy. It didn't explicitly mention presbyterianism, 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 Long Parliament, and, with some slight modifications, by the
Westminster Assembly of Divines. This agreement meant that the Covenanters sent another army south to England to fight on the Parliamentarian side in the First English Civil War. Not all those on the parliamentarian side were happy with this arrangement and some, like
John Lilburne, choose to leave the parliamentary armies rather than take the oath prescribed in the Act enforcing the
Solemn League and Covenant.
After the Royalists had lost the First Civil War,
Charles I was able to enter into an "
Engagement" with the majority of the Covenanters in which the Covenanters agreed to support Charles in the
Second English Civil War against their mutual enemy the English Independents, in return for him 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. The Scottish Covenants persuaded the exiled
Charles II of England to agree to the terms of the
Solemn League and Covenant in the
Treaty of Breda (1650). However the defeat of the Royalist and Scottish army at the
Battle of Worcester 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.
After the
Restoration the English Parliament passed the
Treason 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.
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