Early Christianity in Scotland Nothing was now too gross, too whimsical, or absurd, for the folly, ignorance or superstition of the age; but streaks of light were beginning to glimmer athwart this fearful condensity of circumvolving darkness. Select Memoirs, Thomas Smith (1828) The Presbyterians were not the first Protestant church in Scotland although they eventually […]
The Papal Bull sent to Oxford University directing action against Wyckcliffe. Gregory the Bishop, the Servant of God’s Servants, to his well-beloved Sons, the Chancellor and University of Oxford, in the Diocese of Lincoln, Greeting and Apostolical Benediction, We are constrained both to marvel and lament, that you, who, considering the favours and privileges granted […]
Execution Property, which was sometimes substantial, was usually forfeit to the Crown when a Covenanter was executed, and if they had a coat of arms it would be rent and thrown down by the Lyon King of Arms. A consequence was that families would be cast out of their home to spend their life in […]
The curious circumstances surrounding the birth of a son to James II. As told by Bishop Gilbert Burnett in “A History of My Own Times“. Burnett was born in Edinburgh in 1643 ( d 1715) and rose through the episcopal Church of England to become Bishop of Salisbury . A very learned and widely travelled […]
Peden at the Grave of Cameron by Mrs A Stuart Menteath (1843). from ” Lays of the Kirk and Covenant”, W S. Sime, Glasgow,1892. p 72 et seq. A sound of conflict in the moss ! but that hath passed away, And through a stormy noon and eve the dead unburied lay; But when the […]
The Covenanter Prison in Greyfriars Kirk Yard. Precis from The Flodden Wall, the Covenanter`s Prison in the Greyfriars Yard Edinburgh . by W Moir Bryce (1910), On the day of the battle of Bothwell Brig, 22 June 1679, the Edinburgh militia regiment, under the command of Sir John Nicolson, was quartered at Corstorphine, from where […]
John Spreul of Glasgow, Apothecary. Intercommuned fugitive, horned, tortured, improperly convicted, prisoner on the Bass Rock for over six years, who refused to be freed. The story of John Spreul (the younger) is remarkable. He was one of the better off Presbyterian tradesmen who was targeted by a greedy government and its officials, keen to […]
Proclamation of Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector, Edinburgh 4 May 1654. Extract: Diary of John Nicoll 1650-1667. Reproduced in The Book of Old Edinburgh Club Vol VI p 40. (For large image click on thumbnail. )
THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED IRISHMEN IN 1791. 1st. This society is constituted for the purpose of forwarding a brotherhood of affection, a communion of rights, and a union of power among Irishmen of every religious persuasion, and thereby to, obtain a complete reform in the legislature, founded on the principles of civil, political, and […]
A Proclamation for the abolishing of English Books, after the Death of Anne Askew, act forth by the King, AD. 1546, the eighth day of July. Extracted from Foxes Acts and Monuments, Ed. Rev Geo. Townsend (1846) vol 5 p 565-8. Anne Askew, daughter of Sir William Askew of Lincolnshire, was charged with heresy and […]
Mortmain, Praemunire, and Provisors Three practices or principals of the medieval church were seen to interfere in secular rule – Mortmain, Praemunire and Provisors. These three principals were eventually enshrined in English law and became the bain of the clerics` ambitions. It effectively stemmed the flow to Rome of ownership of land; civil complaints and […]
John Wyckcliffe and the English Reformation. The simpler beliefs in the Scriptures, Protestantism as it later became known, was making renewed progress in England from about the beginning of the 14th century and received an essential boost when a Bible in the vernacular was produced. There had been earlier translations including the Psalms, but the […]
The Society of Jesus – the Jesuits Don Inigo Lopez de Recalde, the Ignatius Loyola of history, was youngest son of a Spanish Grandee and born in the Castle of Loyola in 1491. Growing up in a relative luxury at the Spanish Court he sought adventure and glory as a soldier, and did so […]
HISTORICAL LANDMARKS A TIME LINE FOR THE ULSTER SCOTS AND A BACKCLOTH TO THE EMIGRATION FROM SCOTLAND AND IRELAND 1600 -1840 Year 1603 Irish revolt suppressed by Mountjoy. Accession of James VI of Scotland becomes James I of England and Ireland; pursues `Divine Right` policies aiming to be supreme in both State and Church throughout Britain. Fire and Sword […]
