It was on this date in 1637 that an incident occurred in St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh which has become one of the best-known stories in Scottish folklore But did it happen the way people say and was the woman at the centre of the tale a real person?
IT was on this date in the year 1637 that an incident occurred in St Giles’ Cathedral in Edinburgh which has become one of the best-known stories in Scottish folklore. But did it happen the way people say and was the woman at the centre of the tale a real person?
I have no doubt that the stool-throwing happened and that it started a rebellion that spread, suspiciously quickly, to other congregations across the country and in turn helped to cause the National Covenant of 1638 that was a casus belli of the Bishops Wars waged by Charles I and in turn caused the Wars of Three Kingdoms.
We also know for definite that there was a riot in Edinburgh on that day. Numerous accounts, some contemporaneous, tell of a disturbance starting St Giles with the throwing of a stool at the Dean, which then spread to many in the congregation who not only protested loudly but also threw items at the clergy. They were ejected out on to the High Street where a riot ensued.
Scott wrote: “The rash and fatal experiment was made, 23rd of July, 1637, in the High Church of Saint Giles Edinburgh, where the dean of the city prepared to read the new service before a numerous concourse of persons none of whom seem to have been favourably disposed to its reception.” The trouble with that legend is that no one can prove that there ever was a Jenny Geddes or that she was present in St Giles that day. But I have always accepted that in Scotland where written history has not always been available, the oral memories passed down the generations are acceptable evidence of actual events.
Dean Hannay seems to have been a good minister to his people but he was expelled from his position when the Covenanters seized control of the Kirk.
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