National Covenant

Category

Museums & Galleries Item

Item no

30373

Title

National Covenant

Description

Copy of the National Covenant for the South Kirk of Edinburgh, 6th, 13th and 20th March 1638. This is one of the earliest surviving copies of the Covenant. It is made of a single piece of deer skin and has over 4150 signatures on it.

Date

1638

Size

110.8 x 119.1 cm

Type

Document

Location

Museum of Edinburgh

Accession number

HH131/01

Copyright

The City of Edinburgh Council Museums & Galleries

The National Covenant was a petition in response to a gradual re-introduction of elements in practice and doctrine to the Church of Scotland by King Charles I. James VI had brought back practices such as kneeling during Communion and private baptism in 1618, which were regarded by staunch Presbyterians as too Catholic in nature, but the last straw was the introduction of a new Prayer Book in Scotland in 1637. Riots ensued at St. Giles Cathedral when the book was first used, and took days to settle. A group of church elders and nobles gathered to prepare a petition, the National Covenant, which firmly but respectfully reaffirmed to Charles I his position with the Church of Scotland. The text of the Covenant was largely drawn up by lawyer Archibald Johnston, Lord Warriston and theologian Alexander Henderson. Essentially, it lists previous Acts of Parliament which defined the authority the King had over the Church. The Covenant was signed in Greyfriars Kirk by church elders, nobles and ordinary people on February 28th 1638, and a copy of the text sent to every parish in Scotland. This is from the South Kirk and dates from March 1638.

The momentum picked up by the Covenanter movement became unstoppable, and eventually, what had begun as a peaceful complaint but still in favour of Royalty turned into an extreme anti-Royalist and fervent Presbyterian revolution in Scotland. This eventually resulted in the outbreak of civil war throughout Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland and the abolition of the monarchy in 1649.

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