In a historical context, a covenant applies to formal promises that were made under

oath Traditionally, an oath (from Old English, Anglo-Saxon ', also a plight) is a utterance, statement of fact or a promise taken by a Sacred, sacrality as a sign of Truth, verity. A common legal substitute for those who object to making sacred oaths ...

, or in less remote history, agreements in which the name actually uses the term 'covenant', implying that they were binding for all time. One of the earliest attested covenants between parties is the so-called Mitanni treaty, dating to the 14th or 15th century BC, between the

Hittites The Hittites () were an Anatolian peoples, Anatolian Proto-Indo-Europeans, Indo-European people who formed one of the first major civilizations of the Bronze Age in West Asia. Possibly originating from beyond the Black Sea, they settled in mo ...

and the

Mitanni Mitanni (–1260 BC), earlier called Ḫabigalbat in old Babylonian texts, ; Hanigalbat or Hani-Rabbat in Assyrian records, or in Ancient Egypt, Egyptian texts, was a Hurrian language, Hurrian-speaking state in northern Syria (region), Syria an ...

. Key elements of this type of Hittite international covenant treaty included a

preamble A preamble () is an introductory and expressionary statement in a document that explains the document's purpose and underlying philosophy. When applied to the opening paragraphs of a statute, it may recite historical facts pertinent to the su ...

identifying the king, a historical prologue that detail the monarch's deeds, the stipulated obligations of the vassal state, where the covenant would be stored, as well as an outline of the blessings if the document is obeyed and curses if the terms were broken. Historically, certain treaties and compacts have been given the name "covenant", notably the

Solemn League and Covenant The Solemn League and Covenant was an agreement between the Scottish Covenanters and the leaders of the English Parliamentarians in 1643 during the First English Civil War, a theatre of conflict in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. On 17 August ...

that marked the

Covenanter Covenanters were members of a 17th-century Scottish religious and political movement, who supported a Presbyterian Church of Scotland and the primacy of its leaders in religious affairs. It originated in disputes with James VI and his son C ...

s, a

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...

political organization important in the

history of Scotland The recorded history of Scotland begins with the Scotland during the Roman Empire, arrival of the Roman Empire in the 1st century, when the Roman province, province of Roman Britain, Britannia reached as far north as the Antonine Wall. No ...

. The term 'covenant' appears throughout Scottish, English and Irish history. The term covenant could be used in English to refer to either the Bundesbrief of 1291, which established the confederacy of Uri, Schwyz, and Unterwalden. It is also used to refer to the Pfaffenbrief of 1370. These documents led to the formation of the Swiss state or " Eidgenossenschaft". In this usage the German "''Eid''" is being translated as "covenant" rather than "oath" in order to reflect its written status. In modern law, covenant is described as "a promise or agreement under consideration, or guarantee between two parties" and is distinguished from modern contract by the seal or symbol of guarantee.

References

Documents Oaths {{hist-stub