23
July 1637 A.D. Wildcat
Emotionalist Woman, Jenny Geddes, Acts with Indecency, Disorder, &
Attempted Assault and Battery. The Scots
then honor her, an out-of-control woman. OTOH, the Goon-Loon from Canterbury and
the Hapless English King Charles 1 were worse in many respects. In light of the stupidity of Charles 1 and
Goon-Laud, we cut some slack for the out-of-order wildcatish woman. We treat that Goon of Canterbury
elsewhere—that half-whacked Armininian, Ubiquitarian, Supersitious, and Abusive
Billygoat Laud, perhaps the worst Canterbury occupant out of 105, although he
has da few competitors for the claim of “loser,” e.g. the reprobatish Arundel.
Mr. Graves gives the standard angle.
Graves, Dan. “Jenny Geddes Hurled a Stool in Church.” Christianity.com. Apr 2007.
http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1601-1700/jenny-geddes-hurled-a-stool-in-church-11630095.html. Accessed 13 May 2007.
Charles I, King of Great Britain, wished to enforce
his will upon the Churches of England and Scotland. For this and other
mistakes, a largely Puritan and Presbyterian parliament eventually lifted his
head from his shoulders. Long before that fateful day, however, Charles made
one of his most grievous mistakes. He made a tyrant Archbishop of Canterbury,
the highest position in the Church of England.
This was none other than William Laud, a stickler
for minute forms and details in worship. Like Charles, he wanted to worship as
similarly to Catholic forms as the break with Rome would permit. In fact, many
English thought that Charles I wanted to return England under the pope. Laud's
various changes and tightening of rules seemed a prelude to this. Things got
very ugly.
Laud persecuted Puritans fiercely. The Puritans
were those who wished to purify the English church of elements carried over
from Catholicism--elements which they considered superstitious or erroneous.
The revolt against Charles would be largely a Puritan affair, for Puritans had
suffered grievously at his hands. Some, like Alexander Leighton and William
Prynne were mutilated and jailed.
One of Laud's "innovations," bent on
restoring the church to its former practice and power, was the introduction of
a new service book. Laud was big on having people bow at the name of Christ and
follow all the forms of the service exactly.
The effort to enforce the new service was met with
outrage. Some congregations caused such a stir that their bishops wisely did
not even try to implement Laud's orders. In Edinburgh, Scotland, however, at a
church attended largely by the king's local agents, the clergy determined to
follow the archbishop's order. They proceeded to make the attempt on this day, July 23, 1637.
Unfortunately for the dean who performed the
revised ritual, the common folk who attended the church went into an immediate
uproar, calling him a devil spawn. At that time the women had no pews but sat
on stools they themselves brought to church. One, identified as Jenny Geddes,
picked up her stool and hurled it at the dean. The outraged populace also threw
dozens of other objects at the clergy and, when the bishop remonstrated, a
stool was hurled at him, too, but missed its mark.
The crowd had to be cleared by force. Laud's
experiment in restoring the high church services had gone badly awry in
Edingburgh. Laud himself was imprisoned in 1640 and brought to trial a few
years later on charges of high treason. William Prynne, whom he had mutilated,
was set as judge over him and gladly returned a guilty verdict. Laud was
beheaded.
Bibliography:
1. "Laud, William."
Dictionary of National Biography. Edited by Leslie Stephen and Sidney Lee.
London: Oxford University Press, 1921-1996.
2. Maxwell, David. Bygone Scotland;
historical and social. Edinburgh: William Bryce, 1894.
3. Uden, Grant. Anecdotes from
History. New York: Barnes & Noble, 1968.
4. Various encyclopedia and internet
articles.
Last updated April, 2007.
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