A People's History of Scotland by Chris Bambery Page B

theologians such as Henderson: ‘The king’s insistence on a state-dominated Church rather than a Church-dominated state as the Presbyterians would have desired, prompted the latter to band together locally in covenants.’ 9
    When James’s son took the throne, he showed none of his father’s tact. Father and son believed in the divine right of kings to rule as they pleased, but James had understood that in England he was beholden to Parliament for his budget, and that in Scotland he needed to keep the nobility on his side. Charles looked to the absolute monarchies of France, Spain and Austria with longing but lacked his father’s guile.
    Between 1629 and 1640, Charles attempted to rule England without Parliament, finding ways to raise money through extra taxes that created widespread opposition, and he also tried to move the Church of England towards more ornate forms of worship, which many believed heralded a return to Catholicism. His attempt in Scotland to recover royal lands lost to the Scots nobility made them hostile towards him. When he did finally retreat more than a decade later, it was only to introduce another, more provocative measure.
    When Charles visited Scotland in 1633, it became clear that he wanted to change the form of worship and introduce a book of prayer, regarded as ‘Papist’ by most Presbyterians. Three years later the Scottish Privy Council, a body appointed by Charles, announced the introduction of the new prayer book which emphasised that ministers were subordinate to bishops, who in turn were subordinate to the king. Charles insisted on his right to decide when the Kirk’s General Assembly would meet. The role of the Scottish bishops in drawing up that prayer book and the appointment of the Bishop of St Andrews as Charles’s Chancellor for Scotland meant their very existence now became a matter of controversy.
    A radical minority of Kirk ministers understood that this was their chance and began orchestrating opposition to Charles. They formed an alliance with discontented nobles who did not trust Charles because of his threat to their lands, and the burghers in the towns and cities who opposed changes to their religion. On 23 July 1637, the new prayer book was due to be read in the High Church of St Giles in Edinburgh, where Scotland’s great and good were in attendance. Jenny Geddes pushed her way to the front of the congregation and sat upon her three-legged stool, because she could not afford to pay to sit in a pew. We know little more about Jenny; she was clearly of a humble background, but she was about to enter history.
    As the Dean of Edinburgh mounted the pulpit in his new white surplice instead of the old black one and began to read, Jenny rose to her feet and shouted, ‘Villain, dost thou say mass in my lug!’ and launched her stool at the man’s ear. Bedlam broke out. The Bishop of Edinburgh took over at the pulpit, appealing for calm to no avail, so the congregation was cleared from the Kirk, but kept up such a noise that the service could not continue. As they left, the dean and bishop were greeted with cries of ‘Pull them down – pull them down! A Pope – a pope! Antichrist – Antichrist.’ 10
    Some have asserted that there is no mention of Jenny Geddes in contemporary accounts, but there is a plaque in her honour in the High Kirk of St Giles. 11 Jenny was celebrated in this nineteenth-century song:
’Twas the twenty-third of July, in the sixteen thirty-seven,
    On the Sabbath morn from high St. Giles the solemn peal was given;
    King Charles had sworn that Scottish men should pray by printed rule;
    He sent a book, but never dreamt of danger from a stool.
    â€¦
    And thus a mighty deed was done by Jenny’s valiant hand,
    Black Prelacy and Popery she drove from Scottish land;
    King Charles he was a shuffling knave, priest Laud a meddling fool,
    But Jenny was a woman wise, who beat them with a stool!