Solemn League and Covenant
The Solemn League and Covenant was an agreement made between the Scottish Covenanters and leaders of the English Parliament in 1643 during the English Civil War .
history
The success of the royalist army and its possible reinforcement by Irish Catholic troops prompted the Protestant leaders of the English parliament to ask the Scottish Covenanters for support. The Presbyterian Covenanters promised to support Parliament's struggle against the " Papists " but made it a condition that the Scottish system of church administration be adopted in England. This condition was acceptable to the majority in the so-called " Long Parliament . Many of them were Presbyterians themselves, while others simply saw no other option if they did not want to lose the civil war.
After some negotiation, a document was drawn up called the Solemn League and Covenant (meaning "solemn alliance and agreement"). It was practically a treaty between England and Scotland that guaranteed the security of the Reformed religion in Scotland and the Reformation of religion in England and Ireland "according to the Word of God and the example of the Most Reformed Church" and the abolition of "Papism" and of the prelate in England. It made no explicit mention of Presbyterianism and contained some ambiguous language intended to make it acceptable to the Independents , another strong parliamentary faction that was particularly strong in the parliamentary army. It was approved by the long English parliament and, with slight amendments, by the Westminster Synod and, according to the will of Parliament, should be signed by every Englishman who has reached the age of 18. The agreement resulted in the Covenanters sending an army to England to fight on the side of Parliament in the first English Civil War, including the Battle of Marston Moor in 1644. Not everyone in Parliament was happy with this agreement, and some of them, like John Lilburne , chose to leave the parliamentary army rather than take the mandatory oath that was intended to affirm the Solemn League and Covenant agreement.
After the royalists had lost the first civil war, Charles I was able to reach a secret agreement with the majority of the covenanters, the so-called engagers , in December 1647, in which they consented to the king in a second civil war against their common enemy, the independents, if the latter would in return declare Presbyterianism in England to be binding for three years. The Royalists and the Covenanters were defeated at the Battle of Preston in 1648 , and Charles I was executed in January 1649.
The Covenanters now urged Charles II, who was living in exile, to renew the provisions of the Solemn League and Covenant in the Treaty of Breda in 1650. With the defeat of the Royalist and Scottish armies at the Battle of Worcester in 1651, the Solemn League and Covenant lost its importance as the power of the Presbyterians in England and Scotland was broken.
After the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, the English parliament passed a law that declared the Solemn League and Covenant null and void and obliged all persons in public office to swear it off. The contract was publicly burned by an executioner.