Restoring the Nation? Hamilton and the Politics of the National Covenant

• Main Author: Kirsteen Marie MacKenzie
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Scottish Studies Foundation 2011-09-01
• Series: International Review of Scottish Studies
• Online Access: https://www.irss.uoguelph.ca/index.php/irss/article/view/1445

Although seen as a ‘Nobles’ Covenant’, the National Covenant was always overshadowed by issues surrounding the participation of the vulgar, or the common people, in the process. It was a situation in which social disorder was never far away, both for the Royalists and for the Covenanters. This issue and the wider concerns over law and order help us to understand more clearly the origins of the King’s Covenant and confirms that the King’s Covenant was not inspired by the Aberdeen Doctors but by the continuation of concerns over law and order. From the Covenanting perspective it is interesting to see how, at first, in order to legitimise their cause, they stepped away from the violence committed by their supporters and how, in the end, after being put in a legal corner by the Doctors, violence was justified on religious grounds. It is clear that the strength of the legal attack by the Doctors left the Covenanting leadership reeling and fearful of the King’s Covenant. Perhaps this allows us to see that the success of the Covenanting movement was due in part to Hamilton’s mistake over the Confession and the King’s Covenant was essentially a wasted opportunity to strike at the movement when it was on the defensive. Along with Sir Thomas Hope’s earlier statements, and the Covenanters success in dominating the General Assembly a few months later, the Covenanters were on an assured legal footing.