Transportations to America 1685 Extracts from The Book of Old Edinburgh Club Vol XII. 1685 saw an increase in transportations to America as the “Killing Time” had its impact in Scotland. There can be no doubt that many dissatisfied Presbyterians of all shades had by now had enough of the persecutions under both Charles II […]
The Fiery Cross in Moray and Ross, 1679. A curious event at the time of Bothwell Brig concerned the sworn appearance of the ancient call to arms – the Fiery Cross, or Crann Taire. This was a traditional demand by a clan chieftain for all his supporters to gather in full armour and accoutrements to […]
A day in the life of James Renwick. LETTER XXXII. July 9, 1684, to Robert Hamilton in Holland. Extract from The Life and Letters of James Renwick, Ed W H Carslaw (1893). Right honourable and dear Sir,—Your letter which I received was wonderfully sweet and refreshing to me, and was made a means (in some […]
THE BATTLE OF BOTHWELL BRIDGE, by a Covenanter, quoted in Scott`s Minstrelsy and Treasury of the Scottish Covenant by Rev J.C. Johnston (1887) “O billie, billie, bonny billie, Will ye go to the wood wi’ me? We’ll ca’ our horse hame masterless, An’ gar them trow slain men are we.” – “O no, O no!” […]
The Clarendon Code Edward Hyde, First Earl of Clarendon (1609-1674) was an ardent royalist when he entered Parliament in 1640 and later he chose to go into exile with Charles II. After the Restoration he was made Lord Chancellor and became chief adviser to the King . In this role he was responsible for four […]
Rev Robert Blair. The Rev Robert Blair is remembered for his work , and persecution , in both Ulster and Scotland being one of the first Scottish ministers to cross to Ulster in the time of the Plantation (1610-1630). The son of John Blair and Beatrix Muir, of Windyedge he was born in 1593, the […]
Banishment. Banishment either within Scotland or outside was a very common punishment inflicted on ministers who were dissenters or had been `outed` . Since it could be imposed by the prelates, virtually every minister who was summoned before the Court of High Commission was subjected to varying lengths of imprisonment sometimes in several different tolbooths […]
Rev. Andro Knox, the Papist catcher. It is very easy to be swept along by the story of the Reformation, by the hardships suffered and the persecution of the Covenanters in later years. We should, however, stop occasionally and observe the other side of the coin where the zealous Presbyterians themselves indulged in a form […]
Scottish Bishops from the Reformation, 1661 to ca 1863. Tables reproduced from The Scotichronicon, Rev J.F.S.Gordon DD (1867) Vol 1.[To see a large view click on the thumbnail]
Mary Tudor – “Bloody Mary” (1516, r 1553 -1558) Mary was the only surviving child of Henry VIII and Catharine of Arragon and came to the throne almost by accident; certainly not by design. The untimely death of Edward Vi thrust Mary into the limelight in a country where the people had had enough of […]
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 […]
Denmark In Denmark, Chrisdtopher II was exiled and succeeded by his uncle, Frederick Duke of Schleswig Holstein in 1523. Before then, in 1520 there was a flurry for the reformation stemming from a Carmelite monk, Paul Elia, who had heard Luther`s doctrines and attempted some reform . He was followed by Petrus Parvus who had […]
The Papal Bull 23 March 1534. The Effect in English of Pope Clement’s Sentence definitive, against the Divorce of Queen Katherine. Translation from Foxes Monuments, Ed Rev Geo. Townsend,(1846) vol 5 p 658. The effect of this sentence is as much as to mean in English, that ” pope Clement VII. with the consent of […]
Errors and Absurdities of the Papists, touching the Doctrine of the Law and of the Gospel Patrick Hamilton`s “Patrick`s Places, “ (1528) Cited in Townsend`s Foxes Martyrs,Vol iv, p 575-6. I.They erroneously conceive opinion of salvation in the law, which is only to be sought in the faith of Christ, and in no other. II. […]