National Covenant

The National Covenant (Scottish Gaelic: An Cùmhnant Nàiseanta) was an agreement signed by many people of Scotland during 1638, opposing the proposed Laudian reforms of the Church of Scotland (also known as the Kirk) by King Charles I. The king's efforts to impose changes on the church in the 1630s caused widespread protests across Scotland, leading to the organisation of committees to coordinate opposition to the king. Facing royal opposition, its leaders arranged the creation of the National Covenant to bolster the movement by tapping into patriotic fervour. It became widely adopted throughout most of Scotland with supporters henceforth known as Covenanters.

The Covenant opposed changes to the Church of Scotland, and committed its signatories to stand together in the defence of the nation's religion. Charles saw this as an act of rebellion against his rule, leading to the Bishops' Wars and beginning the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. The expenses of fighting the Bishops' Wars required the king to summon the Short Parliament and Long Parliament in England, his disputes with which led to the outbreak of the English Civil War.

The 16th century Reformation resulted in a Church of Scotland which was Presbyterian in structure and Calvinist in doctrine. In 1560, the Scottish Parliament designated the Kirk as the sole form of religion in Scotland, and adopted the Scots Confession which rejected many Catholic teachings and practices, including bishops.

The origins of the National Covenant arose from different perspectives on who held ultimate authority over the Kirk; James VI argued the king was also head of the church, governing through bishops appointed by himself. The alternative view held the Kirk was subject only to God, and its members, including James, were subject to the discipline of presbyteries, consisting of ministers and elders.

James successfully imposed bishops on the Kirk in 1596, but it remained Calvinist in doctrine; when he also became king of England in 1603, a unified Church of England and Scotland was the first step in building a centralised, Unionist state. The problem was that while both were nominally Episcopalian in structure, and Protestant in doctrine, the Church of England was very different from the Kirk in its forms of worship, and even Scottish bishops objected to many of these.

The outbreak of the Thirty Years' War in 1618 and the Counter Reformation led to a general perception that Protestant Europe was under attack, and increased sensitivity to changes in church practice. This was especially strong in Scotland, which had close economic and cultural links with the Dutch Republic, then fighting for independence from Catholic Spain. In addition, many Scots ministers were commonly educated in French Calvinist universities, which were suppressed in the Huguenot rebellions of the 1620s.

After James died in 1625, attempts to create one church were continued by his son Charles I, who was raised in England and lacked familiarity with Scottish institutions. First imposed on the Church of England, many of his reforms were rejected by English Puritans who wanted a church similar to the Kirk, creating opposition in both countries. In 1636, the Scottish Book of Discipline was replaced by a new Book of Canons, while anyone who denied the king's supremacy in church matters was subject to excommunication. When followed in 1637 by a new Book of Common Prayer, it resulted in a riot, supposedly started when a market-trader named Jenny Geddes threw a stool at the dean of St Giles' Cathedral. Protests quickly spread across Scotland, with hundreds of opponents gathering in Edinburgh.

Following the Prayer Book riots, protestors became more organized, and in November 1637 began claiming councillors had encouraged them to elect commissioners to represent their case to the government. This action was endorsed by Sir Thomas Hope, the king's advocate, and the protestors created a nationwide network of committees known as 'Tables', with committee in each shire sending representatives to four Tables in Edinburgh, one each for nobles, shire commissioners, burgh commissioners and ministers. A fifth Table was elected by these four which coordinated the movement as a whole.