Editing Solemn League and Covenant (section)

==English Parliament (First Civil War)==
At the time, the [[Protestant]] leaders of the [[Parliament of England|English Parliament]] were in conflict with [[Charles I of England|King Charles I]]. Fearing [[Irish Catholic]] troops could join the [[Cavalier|Royalist]] army, Parliament requested the aid of the Scots. The [[Presbyterian church governance|Presbyterian]] Covenanters promised their aid, on condition that the Scottish system of church government was adopted in England. This was acceptable to the majority of the English [[Long Parliament]], as many [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|MP]]s were Presbyterians, while others preferred allying with the Scots rather than losing the Civil War.

[[File:English Puritans Taking the Covenant.jpg|thumb|180px|A 17th-century playing card shows English [[Puritans]] taking the Covenant]]
After some haggling a document called "''[[s:Solemn League and Covenant|The Solemn League and Covenant]]''" was drawn up. This was in effect a treaty between the English parliament and its [[Parliament of Scotland|Scottish counterpart]] for the preservation of the [[reformed religion]] in Scotland, the reformation of religion in England and Ireland "according to the word of God and the example of the best reformed churches", and the "extirpation of [[Roman Catholicism|popery]] [and] [[Anglicanism|prelacy]]". It did not explicitly mention [[Presbyterianism]], and included some ambiguous formulations which left the door open to the [[English Independents]], another strong faction on the English Parliamentary side, particularly in the parliamentary armies. It was subscribed to by many in England, Scotland, and Ireland, approved by the English [[Long Parliament]], and, with some slight modifications, by the Westminster [[Assembly of Divines]].

However, not all those on the English Parliamentarian side were happy with this arrangement and some, like [[John Lilburne]], chose to leave the parliamentary armies rather than take the oath prescribed in the Act enforcing the ''Solemn League and Covenant''.{{sfn|Firth|1893|p=244}}

The agreement meant that the Covenanters sent another army south to England to fight on the Parliamentarian side in the First English Civil War. When the Scots army entered England by invitation of the English Parliament in January 1644 the Parliamentary [[Committee of Safety (England)|Committee of Safety]] was replaced by an ad hoc committee representative of both kingdoms which, by parliamentary ordinance of 16 February, was formally constituted the [[Committee of Both Kingdoms]]. Its object was the management of peace overtures to, or making war on, King [[Charles I of England|Charles I]]. The Scots withdrew from the committee after the end of the First Civil War, although it continued to sit and from then on was known as the Derby House Committee (as it sat in Derby House in London).<ref>{{OGL-attribution|{{cite web |publisher=National Archives |date=12 August 2009 |title=Committee of Both Kingdoms ("Derby House Committee"): Books |url=http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/details?Uri=C13563}}
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