The Solemn League and Covenant and the Making of a People in Ulster

Abstract

This article frames the reception of the Solemn League and Covenant within the context of seventeenth-century plantation culture in Ulster. While generally accepted as important in the politics of Ireland, the significance of the Solemn League and Covenant and its meaning to subscribers has been under-appreciated. Moving beyond the broader three-kingdoms meta-narrative, it is argued that the inclusion of Ireland in the Solemn League and Covenant had local roots: a growing network of protestant planters in the north of Ireland who invoked a Scottish-inspired biblical typology as a means of securing their own identity and permanence.