The Cathedrals of Great Britain: Their History and ArchitectureDitchfield, P. H. (Peter Hampson)
History
The Cathedrals of Great Britain: Their History and Architecture
Ditchfield, P. H. (Peter Hampson)
Cathedrals -- Great Britain; Church architecture -- Great Britain
Edinburgh was not raised to episcopal rank until the time of Charles
I. The church has a great history, though it is popularly remembered
as the place where Jenny Geddes threw her stool at the dean, when the
English service book was introduced in the time of Charles I. The
first Church of St. Giles was consecrated in 1243, but it was burnt
down during the English wars, when most of the city shared the same
fate. Indeed, signs of fire may still be detected on the piers of the
choir and elsewhere. The church is remarkable for its numerous
chapels. On the south of the nave two were built in 1387, but these
have been destroyed by drastic "restoration." There are the Chambers's
Memorial Chapel, the Preston Aisle, named after one William Preston,
who brought from France a relic of the Patron Saint; the Chapman
Aisle, named after Chapman, the "Scottish Caxton," who introduced
printing into Scotland, and the Moray Aisle. During the fifteenth
century much building was in progress. The choir was lengthened, a
clerestory added and the roof raised, and ere the century had elapsed
it was raised to the dignity of a collegiate church. The choir is a
fine example of fifteenth-century work, and the Gothic crown which
surmounts the central tower forms a very distinguishing feature. It is
unlike anything else we know. Few scenes and events in Scottish
history have not in some way been connected with this church. We see
John Knox preaching violently here against the iniquities of the
court, and especially of the unfortunate Queen Mary. Knox was
appointed minister of the church. It was divided into three
portions--the Great and Little Kirk and the Tolbooth. Then in the time
of James I. Episcopacy was restored, and in 1633 Charles I. made St.
Giles into a Cathedral. Here Jenny Geddes, as we have said, expressed
her displeasure at the new English liturgy by throwing her stool at
the clergyman, and commenced the famous riot which had lamentable
results. Later on we see the struggle between the Covenanters and the
Royal Party, and the head of the Duke of Argyll stuck on a spike on a
gable of the Cathedral, the advent of "Bonny Prince Charlie," and all
the events of Scottish history seem to be associated in some way with
St. Giles'. Its war-worn banners, its monuments of national heroes,
all combine to add a peculiar interest to the building. The church
owes much of its present beauty to the munificence of Dr. William
Chambers, who rescued the building from neglect, and renewed and
beautified it. He was one of the firm of the great Edinburgh
publishers. Amongst other memorials of recent worthies we find a
window to R.L. Stevenson, and in the Moray Chapel a monument to
General Wauchope, who was killed gallantly leading his troops in the
recent war in South Africa. Although the choir is fifteenth-century
work, it differs much from that of the same period in England. In
Scotland French influence was much felt in the development of
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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