Give Me Scotland or I'll Die

On the way to Edinburgh we saw the most picturesque scenery of the Highlands and Loch Lomond. Loch Lomond is a freshwater Loch, the biggest lake in Great Britain, and the Scottish paradise of the song "The Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond," whose chorus runs:

Oh, ye'll tak' the high road, and I'll tak' the low road,

And I'll be in Scotland afore ye;

But me and my true love will never meet again

On the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomond.

The next day in Edinburgh we toured the Edinburgh Castle, which was once destroyed under order from Robert the Bruce after he retook it from the English. He couldn't spare enough men to defend it, so he had it burned except for St. Margaret's Chapel. Now that's cutting your losses!

St. Margaret is the only Sottish royal to be sainted. Her chapel still stands and holds about twenty at maximum capacity. Donnie was married there, a privilege given to soldiers, and I'm sure this delighted his father-in-law for obvious reasons. The chapel has small but gorgeous stained glass of St. Margaret and William Wallace.

The Castle dominates the skyline from below and overlooks Edinburgh from above. Castle Rock, the volcanic foundation, was incorportated into the buildings and juts up into the stonework. It was the Queen Elizabeth II's birthday when we were there, so we witnessed a twenty-one gun salute and a bagpiper and the military band played in her honor. Quite regal!

Then it was off to St. Giles Cathedral, the high kirk of Edinburgh, which is known for its hollow crown tower. It also sports a great statue of John Knox, which is ironic, because Knox removed all statues from the churches of Scotland for fear of idolatry. I wonder if he has a sense of humor about now.

In the spirit of the Scottish Reformation we moved on to the oldest house on the royal mile, which is believed by some to be Knox's last home. We found there a great presentation of the Scottish Reformation, complete with honors for Luther and Calvin, and other Scottish reformers.

Knox studied under John Major, who belonged the medieval school of nominalism in which Luther was trained. Major was one of the best scholars of his day who famously said:

It is more moment to understand aright, and clearly to lay down the truth of any matter than to use eloquent language.

This attitude toward Renaissance eloquence did not recommend him to the humanist scholars of the times, but his view of truth certainly influenced reformers like Knox.

Another of Knox's influences, George Wishart was a priest who preached for reform of the Roman church and died a martyr's death for his convictions. According to one story, Wishart's executioner asked forgiveness before the act, and Wishart kissed him saying, "Do thy duty." It is also reported that Wishart's former body guard, watching at a distance, prayed, "Lord, make me like that man." The claymore wielding guard was none other than Knox, who was later captured by Mary de Guise and sentenced to row as a galley slave aboard a British ship. Knox rowed for nineteen months praying: "God give me Scotland or I'll die." Knox wrote that their captors mocked them by shoving a likeness of the Virgin Mary in their faces, commanding them to give devotion. One of the Protestants, perhaps Knox himself, grasped the picture and threw it into the sea saying, "Let our Lady now save herself: she is light enough: let her learn to swim." Knox said that the sailors never bullied them like that again.

After Know escaped, he made it to London where he served a congregation under the Protestant King Edward VI. After the ascension of Edward's Catholic sister Mary Tudor, nicknamed bloody Mary for her burning of Protestants, Knox fled to Geneva. In Geneva, Knox preached for an English speaking congregation and learned Reformed theology and church government under Calvin. Knox returned to Scotland in 1559, but the trip took him four months because of passport problems with Elizabeth, the new Queen of England, who did not care for his latest publication: The First Blast Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women. Knox's book had been aimed at the previous queen of England, the Catholic Mary Tudor and her Scottish counterpart Mary Stuart. Knox had written: "How abominable before God is the Empire or Rule of a wicked woman, yea, of a traiteresse and bastard." While Queen Elizabeth was Protestant and not a "wicked traiteresse," you can see why she didn't think much of Knox, being an illegitimate female heir herself. Knox did not even tell Calvin about the treatise and Calvin denied knowledge of it until a year after publication. Perhaps Knox was not the most tactful reformer.

When Knox finally arrived in Scotland, he spearheaded the Protestant movement that established the Presbyterian church as the Church of Scotland. His confrontations with the Catholic Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots (not Bloody Mary Tudor of England) supposedly reduced her to tears (probably another blast but in person this time). The Scottish Reformation was unique among reform movements, in that it was established from below by the people rather than from above by the ruler. Knox's views were put into practice by educators who passed them on to the next generation, who would be oppressed, I mean ruled, by Mary Stuart's Catholic son James I. Getting dizzy yet?

Once we were done with our tour of Scottish Reformation history, Andrew Waller and I took the 287 step journey to the top of the magnificent Sir Walter Scott Tower. It was at times so narrow that my muscular frame ;-) had to squeeze through; especially on the way down when I ran into a group going up. Can you say claustrophobia? We snapped some great pics of Castle Rock and the city, and I finished up with a great plate of Haddock fish and chips and wine that night.

When we first met Donnie he informed me that we had been greatly amiss for not having been to Scotland before. I hope we made up for it a little, and laid the foundation for future more extensive travels.