The Covenanters were those in Scotland who signed the National Covenant in 1638. They signed this Covenant to confirm their opposition to the interference by the Stuart kings in the affairs of the Presbyterian Church of Scotland. The Stuart kings harbored the belief of the Divine Right of the Monarch. Not only did they believe that God wished them to be the infallible rulers of their kingdom - they also believed that they were the spiritual heads of the Church of Scotland. This latter belief could not be accepted by the Scots. No man, not even a king, could be spiritual head of their church. Only Jesus Christ could be spiritual head of a Christian church. This was the nub of the entire Covenanting struggle. The Scots were, and would have been, loyal to the Stuart dynasty but for that one sticking point. King Charles I had introduced the Book of Common Prayer to Scotland in 1637. The Presbyterians thought it too "popish." When James II, a Roman Catholic, succeeded Charles II in 1685, Covenanting was declared to be treason and punishable by death. Excerpted from: _http://home.comcast.net/~rkemps/Mixdocs/Covenanters.html_ (http://home.comcast.net/~rkemps/Mixdocs/Covenanters.html)