Covenanters

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Bothwell Bridge monument

As Covenanters (of English covenant - "covenant") applies to those Scottish groups, which on 28 February 1638 an oath of allegiance to the National Covenant committed for their church on Presbyterianism hold. The oath is considered to be a direct response to the attempt by Archbishop William Laud , the Anglican embossed Book of Common Prayer introduce in the Church of Scotland. The aim of the Covenanters was to uphold Reformed theology and the Presbyterian Constitution of the Church. To this end, they placed the existing episcopate under the EnglishStuart kings resisted. The Covenanters were not only shaped by the rise of federal theology , but also inspired by a democratic impulse for religious freedom, which was expressed in a nationalistic longing for freedom from England.

The first covenant was closed in December 1557. The union of 1581, which was formed on the initiative of John Craig for the Church of Scotland in the fight against the recatholization of Scotland , gained great importance .

The "Covenanters Memorial", erected on the Orkney Island Mainland in 1888, marks the point where around 250 Covenanters, prisoners of the Battle of Bothwell Bridge , drowned in 1679 when the ship "Crown" sank. They were to be transported from Edinburgh to America to work as slaves in the plantations. The Crown was driven ashore and the crew climbed the cliffs over the mainmast. The captain had ordered the hatches to be kept closed, but a seaman had managed to free 50 prisoners. These survivors managed to escape to Holland on board a Dutch ship that was moored in Stromness . A second Covenanters Memorial stands on the battlefield.

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Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Philip Graham Ryken: Covenant (Covenant explanation) . In: Hans Dieter Betz u. a. (Ed.): Religion in the past and present . Concise dictionary for theology and religious studies. 4th edition. tape 8 , no. 2 . UTB, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-8252-8401-5 , Sp. 477 .
  2. ↑ Philip Graham Ryken: Covenanters . In: Hans Dieter Betz u. a. (Ed.): Religion in the past and present . Concise dictionary for theology and religious studies. 4th edition. tape 8 , no. 2 . UTB, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-8252-8401-5 , Sp. 477 .