A Scottish House of Commons is born. The short lived supremacy of the Covenanter hard liners and their clerical rule from 1638-1641, tends to be skipped over as a short lived phase in the story of the religious fanatics. It was, however, a time of great importance to the future Scotland because the opportunity was […]
An opinion about the Origin of the Campbell Name. An extract from the Montgomery Manuscripts (Rev. Geo Hill 1869). p443 ” Some have been surnamed from a remarkable part of their face which has stuck to ye Posterity of ye Eminent Person who was first designed soe, as ye Campbells from one who had a […]
Seventeenth century burials. In the sixteenth century the common man and woman was usually buried in an unmarked grave and without a coffin, the body perhaps wrapped in a shroud if one could be afforded. In some, but not all, areas, the shroud for the poor was provided by the Kirk Session , or by […]
Chronology of the Reformation in Europe. 1175 Peter Waldo of Lyons, and his `Poor Men`. 1180 First translation of New Testament into Romault, made available by Waldo. 1184 Pope Lucius III decreed bishops to hold inquisition and heretics handed to secular power for punishment. Pattern for the future. 1275 Inquisitor Reynerius […]
Thomas Garret or Garrard Thomas Garret ( or Garrard) was a curate to Roger Forman, rector of All Hallows church in Cheapside, London. Described as a plain man of lively imagination he was possessed of a `delicate conscience` and of a timid disposition. But as with so many of the unsung workers of the Reformation […]
The Scottish Covenanter Memorials Association. The Association was founded in 1966 by three men, William Stirling, Walter Storrar and William Miller, who saw that the memorials to the Covenanters were in poor condition. They made the first efforts to go round the countryside cleaning graves, painting railings and bringing the memorials to the notice of […]
James Graham: The Marquis of Montrose (1612 – 1650) James Graham, Marquis of Montrose was born in 1612 and succeeded his father in 1627. He was among the first to sign the National Covenant in Greyfriars Kirk in 1638 and was, for a while, a most diligent servant of the Covenanters. He was ignored […]
The Protestant Reformation in England and Scotland compared. England became a melting pot for new ideas and the Protestant faith driven along by the likes of John Wyckcliffe (1329-1384) who was in the vanguard of the assault on the Church of Rome. He came to notice as a teacher of philosophy at Oxford and wielded […]
The Revenge of Charles II – the Restoration 1660-1688. The return of Charles II from exile in 1660 began a period that Macaulay termed “the reign of saints to be succeeded by the reign of strumpets.” What in fact it became was a reign of revenge as Charles persecuted those who had so badly treated […]
James Renwick – Wanted, Dead or Alive. At the close of the year, on December 9th 1686, a proclamation was issued against Renwick, offering a reward of a hundred pounds sterling to any who should bring him in dead or alive. The following were the terms of this Proclamation : —“ Forasmuch as one Mr […]
The Bond – to refrain from attending conventicles etc. There were several Bonds used during the twenty eight years of persecution but this Bond in particular caused the most suffering when it was introduced in early 1678. Because of its Draconian terms very many refused to sign, and this was the cause for the Highland […]
Follow instructions upon the foresaid cornmission. “Charles R. 1. You shall disarm all heritors who have not taken the test, and all the commons, excepting the militia; and if any shall conceal arms, or refuse to de-pone thereupon, when by you required, you shall fine the heritors in one year’s rent, the tenants in one […]
Scottish Kings 330 BC-1567 AD, and Pictish Kings 451 – 843 AD [For large images click on thumbnail .]
The Plantation in Ireland and Scottish migration There had long been movement of Scots across the Irish Sea to the shores of Ireland by way of trade and as galloglass (mercenary soldiers). But there were also small settlements on the Antrim coast which increased in number when the authority of the Lords of the Isles […]