THE Covenanters are regarded by some as freedom fighters who bravely opposed attempts by the English crown to destroy Scottish religion, culture and identity.
But the Scottish Government and heritage groups have been accused of sidelining the 17th-century Protestant rebels for the more romantic Jacobites.
Historian Dane Love has launched a withering attack on "the Scottish establishment" for neglecting
memorials devoted to the National Covenant, signed by 300,000 Scots in the 17th century to defend Scotland's Protestant faith.
He has also called for a national monument to be created to the historic movement, which plunged Scotland into a bloody civil war after the Stuart monarchs tried to impose English religious practices.
Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Jacobites – who tried to restore the Stuart monarchy a century later – are known worldwide, with their achievements and failures marked by national monuments at Culloden battlefield and Glenfinnan, where the Young Pretender raised his standard in 1745.
But no large-scale monuments exist for the Covenanters, despite their role in Scottish history being a major part of the nation's folklore, especially in the south-west of the country. Covenanter memorials and graves also receive no public money for their upkeep.
Love, who has just written the first encyclopaedia of the Covenanters , said: "The crucial role played by them in Scotland's past has not been recognised by the Scottish establishment. Their struggle to preserve religious freedom – often resulting in them being hunted down and killed by the King's soldiers – should be more widely known and commemorated by a national monument. The heroes of the Covenanting movement have not been given the recognition they deserve."
The job of preserving Covenanter graves, sites and monuments has been left to the Scottish Covenanter Memorials Association (SCMA), he added, which relies on private donations. In 2008, the SCMA spent more than £14,000 on restoring Covenanter graves and erecting new monuments, with nothing coming from government.
He said this stood in stark contrast to the public funds lavished on Jacobite monuments. He said: "Contrast this with Jacobite sites. Millions of pounds have been laid out for the new visitor centre at Culloden. The establishment in Scotland are reluctant to recognise the Covenanters. That is a disgrace and I think the SNP government of all people should recognise the Covenanters' role in keeping Scottish identity alive."
Love highlighted a number of key Covenanter sites that are either in disrepair or have been neglected by heritage groups.
One of the best-known Covenanter memorials is in Edinburgh's Grassmarket. Last year its decorative fencing was removed as part of a revamp. Recommendations by the SCMA to make it more prominent were largely ignored.
Love said: "We were consulted on the Grassmarket monument but none of our recommendations were taken on board." He claimed the organisation's efforts to rebuild the Covenanters monument in Edinburgh's Greyfriars Kirkyard, had been blocked.
"We have been trying to improve the monument, which is falling to bits in parts. We wanted to bring in a stonemason. But we have been blocked by red tape," he said.
Another key Covenanter site is the grave of the Wigtown Martyrs, executed in Dumfries and Galloway. Love said: "It is quite neglected. The 325th anniversary of the Wigtown Martyrs' deaths is approaching, but nothing is planned to mark it from any official source."
Other historians agree that modern Scotland has not been as keen to promote the Covenanters as it has the Jacobites.
Historian Professor Tom Devine said: "At the time of the last Jacobite rising, most people living in Scotland loathed them, fearing that if they won, we would return to a Catholic monarchy.
"The Glasgow Journal devoted a special edition to the defeat of the 'perfidious papists' after the battle of Culloden. However, within 150 years the myth of Bonnie Prince Charlie was created and we had a sentimental view of the Jacobites emerging. We then start to see the Jacobites inheriting an almost nationalist tradition."
The Covenanters did not have have that kind of appeal in modern Scottish thinking, Devine said. "In many ways, they are seen as a sort of Scottish Taleban, who would have turned Scotland into a theocracy not unlike modern Iran. In that respect, they do not receive the same 'good press' that the Jacobites do."
The SNP government denied Love's claim they were ignoring the Covenanters' contribution.
Culture minister Mike Russell, a descendant of Covenanters, said: "We value all of Scotland's rich and diverse history, including the important role of the Covenanting movement.The War Memorials Trust would consider any application that meets their criteria."
Persecuted for their beliefsThe Covenanters' name derives from the signing of the National Covenant in 1638, a petition to King Charles I arguing that the church in Scotland should be free from interference. Around 300,000 Scots signed up.
This led to many clashes between Covenanters and Crown forces, including the battles of Rullion Green (1666) and Drumclog (1679). From 1684-7 – the Killing Times – the persecution escalated. Ministers were driven from their parishes and Presbyterianism proscribed.
Wigton Martyr Margaret Wilson, 18, above, was arrested and tried when she refused to take an oath to the King. She was tied to a stake in the river Bladnoch in Galloway, where she drowned. Her death inspired a painting by Sir John Everett Millais.
