Scotland -- History -- Stuarts, to the Union, 1371-1707
It may be incidentally mentioned that another saint, Mungo, the patron
of Glasgow, is slightly and indirectly connected with the May. According
to legend, St. Thenaw's father ordered her to be stoned and cast in a
chariot from the top of Taprain Law, in punishment of her supposed sin.
Having been miraculously preserved from destruction, she was then
accused of witchcraft, and the father was urged by his heathen subjects
to expose her in a boat made of twigs and pitch and covered with
leather. In this coracle she was carried out to the Ile of May, whence,
attended by a company of fishes, she was wafted to Culross, where she
gave birth to St. Mungo.[208] There may not impossibly be some
connection between this legend and the efficacity subsequently
attributed to pilgrimages to the May when performed by women; and it is
said to be from St. Thenaw that various spots in the island--the Lady's
Well, the Lady's Bed, the Maiden Rocks, and the Maiden's Hair--are
called.
It is usually stated that the monastery to which the Breviary of
Aberdeen makes reference was founded by King David, and that he bestowed
it upon the monks of Reading, in England, as a "cell", or dependency of
their great abbey. But, as Dugdale points out, there is no actual proof
of this in that monarch's charters. By the first of them he merely gives
to the Church of May, and to the Prior and monks of the same place, a
certain toft in Berwick in perpetual alms for the sake of his soul and
the souls of his ancestors and successors; and by the second he enlarges
his donation by gifts in Balegallin and other places, to hold, indeed,
of him and of his heirs, but without any indication that he was the
founder. At the same time, it must be admitted that the silence of the
charters is no convincing proof of the contrary.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account