Category: Tudor/Stuart

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St Etheldreda October 17th 679

St Etheldreda or St Audrey By monk – [1], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32907989

I’m republishing this post as I dated it to February 17th rather than October 17th and a few other egregious typos.

Etheldreda, also known as Audrey or Æthelthryth or Æðelþryð or Æþelðryþe is celebrated on October 17th, (the date her remains were ‘translated’ from her burial place to the Church at Ely) and on 23 June the date she died,

She lived from March 4th 636 to June 23rd 679. She is one of the well-born Saxon Virgin Saints of the 7th Century. This is when many royal Abbeys were founded by female members of the Anglo-Saxon Royal families, in the years following the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity. She is the daughter of King Anna of East Anglia, and the sister of Saint Sexburga (widow of King Erconbert of Kent).

Etheldreda is said to be a Virgin despite being married twice. Etheldreda was widowed after three years of her first marriage. Then she married Egfrid, son of King Oswy of Northumbria. Egfrid got fed up with her virgin state. With the support of St Wilfrid, St Etheldreda was released to a Nunnery run by Wilfred’s aunt. In 672 she founded the famous double monastery at Ely, which is where the wondrous Cathedral of Ely still stands.

Here she died, and the many miracles that followed, led to Ely being one of the main destinations for Pilgrimages. St Sesxburga took over as Abbess after her death. By the number of Churches and holy days remembering Etheldreda show she was perhaps the most famous female saint of the era.

Tawrdy Audrey

Etheldreda died of a neck tumour, which she blamed on the heavy jewellery she wore around her neck before she became a nun. So she is a patron of those with neck or throat ailments. Accordingly, on February 3rd St Etheldreda’s Church in London holds the Blessing of the Throats ceremony. St Blaise is also a saint protecting the throat and you might like to read my post about him and throats here.

Pilgrims used to buy cheap, old-fashioned linen from the market at Ely, which they would wear around their neck to protect or cure them of throat illnesses. Puritans satirised the practice by coining the word Tawdry, from St Audrey, which came to represent cheap goods sold to gullible pilgrims.

Mopsa the shepherdess in Shakespeare’s Twelfth night says to her sweetheart:

“Come, you promised me a tawdry-lace and a pair of sweet gloves.

Have a look at this excellent article to read more about Tawdry and St Etheldreda.

However, I thought something was amiss and searched for Tawdry in the excellent website SHAKESPEARE’S WORDS by DAVID CRYSTAL & BEN CRYSTAL (which I use all the time). And indeed Mopsa is not in Twelfth Night but in the Winter’s Tale which I saw recently at the RSC. Mopsa’s man can’t buy it for her as he has been cheated out of his money by the fey Autolycus.

St Etheldreda’s Church in Ely Place London

Church of St Etheldreda., Ely Place London
Church of St Etheldreda., Ely Place London

St Etheldreda’s in London is in Ely Place, near Hatton Garden. There is a lovely old pub there called the ‘Ye Olde Mitre’ (which is a reference to a Bishop’s Mitre). The Church was founded (1250 and 1290) as the London residence of the Bishops of Ely. Inside are memorials to Catholic martyrs executed during the Reformation. (see my post on the Douai Martyrs here).

Ely place was lived in by John of Gaunt following the destruction of his Savoy Palace in the Peasants Revolt. Christopher Hatton rented parts of it in the reign of Queen Elizabeth II. During the Civil War it was used to hold Royalist Prisoners of War. Agnes Wicks fictionally lives at Ely Place. (Agnes is the woman David Copperfield should have married, rather than the ridiculous Dora).

In the 19th Century, the former Chapel was bought by the Catholic Church and restored by George Gilbert Scott.

Etheldreda is remembered in the Church of England with a Lesser Festival on 17 October according to Book of Common Prayer tradition, and alternatively 23 June in the Common Worship calendar of Saints. (Wikipedia.

First Published on October 17th 2025

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I went to the Stratford-upon-Avon Mop on October 12th

2024 Statford-upon-Avon Mop. Photo Kevin Flude

This year the Stratford Mop fair was on the 11th and 12th October, and I was there to see it!As I reposted a long post about the Mop a couple of days ago, I thought I should report back. To recap, the Mop began as a Michaelmas (Old Style) Hiring Fair, and has continued in Stratford ever since. But the modern incarnation is no longer a Hiring Fair and no shepherds were to be seen.

2024 Stratford on Avon Mop. Photo Kevin Flude

The centre of the Town was crowded with a cacophony of shooting galleries, games to win soft toys, stalls selling toffee apples, candy floss, burgers, and all things bad for you. And interspersed with the stalls were all sorts of rides, carousels and all the raucous fun of the fair.

Stratford-upon-Avon Mop Festival (2023 sign)

You might have noticed I have labelled the photographs differently, one Stratford-upon-Avon, the other Stratford-on-Avon. Most prefer the ‘upon’ but I thought this wrong as the Council building in Church Street uses the simpler ‘on’. Having looked it up, I see that the answer is both are correct. Stratford-upon-Avon is used for the Town, and Stratford-on-Avon for the Town and area around the town. Now you know!

Now, I cannot find any reference in Shakespeare to a funfair, and all references to a Mop, are to the thing you mop the floor with. But he does mention St Bartholemew’s Fair obliquely, and certainly knew his friend, Ben Jonson’s Play ‘St Bartholemew’s Fair’. It is a great play based in London, at the annual fair in Smithfield. It was one of the great Wool fairs of England. It was held every year on St Bartholemew’s Day August 24th, and lasting sometimes weeks long. Please read my post on Bartlemas here.

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Going to the Mop in Stratford-upon-Avon & Henley-in-Arden 11th & 12th October

The Mop Festival in Stratford-upon-Avon

This year the Stratford mop festival was on the 11th and 12th October. I am in Stratford. The the centre of town is a cacophany of shooting galleries, stalls selling toffee apples, candy floss, burgers and all things bad for you. And a fun fair.Nothing at all sophisticated, or literary or dramatic, or folkloric. Just a good old-fashioned fun fair in the middle of the town. Quite raucous, but they leave Henley Street, and Shakespeare’s’ Birthplace, free of it. Below I tell the story of my discovery of the Mop.

2024 Statford-upon-Avon Mop. Photo Kevin Flude
2024 Stratford on Avon Mop. Photo Kevin Flude

In 2023, I was on my way to Stratford-upon-Avon Railway station, I saw the sign at the top of this page, but had no idea what on earth a Mop was. I put it to the back of my mind as I took the train to Henley-in-Arden. My interest in the town was that Shakespeare was born in Henley St. And his mother was called Mary of Arden. So, naturally, I wanted to find out about Henley-in-Arden. To turn curiosity to action, it took our Tour Coach Driver telling me he lived there and that it was a pretty but small town.

Mary Arden doesn’t live here any more!

I had a free afternoon from my duties as Course Director on the ‘Best of England’ Road Scholar trip. I got on the very slow train to Henley-in-Arden. One of the first stops was Wilmcote, where Mary Arden’s House is. I visited two years ago, when I was astonished to find it was a different building to the one I had visited in the 1990s! In 2000, they discovered they had been showing the wrong building to visitors for years! Mary Arden’s House was, in fact, her neighbour Adam Palmer’s. And her house was Glebe Farm.

On that visit, I walked from Stratford-upon-Avon to Anne Hathaway’s Cottage. Then to Mary Arden’s House and back to Stratford along the Stratford Canal. It is a lovely country walk if you are ever in the area.

The Forest of Arden

The train route to Henley is through what remains of the ancient forest of Arden. The forest features in, or inspired, the woody Arcadian idylls which feature in several of Shakespeare’s plays, particularly the Comedies. ‘As You Like It’, for example, is explicitly set in the Forest of Arden, as this quotation from AYL I.i.107 makes clear:

Oliver:  Where will the old Duke live?

Charles. They say he is already in the Forest of Arden, and a many merry men with him; and there they live like the old Robin Hood of England: they say many young gentlemen flock to him every day, and fleet the time carelessly as they did in the golden world.

Guildhall, Henley-in-Arden

Henley-in-Arden

Not much remains of the old Forest. It was cut down to make timber-framed buildings and ships for the British Navy – the so-called Wooden Walls. Henley has a beautiful high street. Further down the road is a lovely Heritage Centre full of old-fashioned and DIY Information panels. And that is not a criticism, it provided a very enjoyable visit full of interesting stuff. And gave me a couple of snippets of information I have not seen anywhere else.

One, was a panel dedicated to the Henley Mop. A mop turns out to be a hiring fair. Think of Gabriel Oak in Hardy’s ‘Far from the Madding Crowd’. His attempt to become an independent farmer destroyed when his sheepdog runs amok. The dog sends his sheep over a cliff to their doom. So he takes his shepherd’s crock to the hiring fair or Mop as they are known in the Midlands. There, potential employers can size up possible employees and strike mutually agreeable terms and conditions. And Gabriel becomes the shepherd for the delightful and wilful Bathsheba Everdene.

So, a shepherd would take his staff, or a loop of wool. A cleaner her mop (hence the name of the fair). A waggoner a piece of whipcord. A shearer their shears etc. Similarly, in the Woodlanders (by Thomas Hardy) the cider-maker, Giles Winterborne, brings an apple tree in a tub to Sherborne, to advertise his wares.

The retainers thus employed would be given an advance and would be engaged, normally, for the year. So there was quite a widespread moving around of working people to new jobs and often new housing. Not quite how we imagine the past?

The perceptive among you will have noted the bottom of the sign in Stratford which advertised the ‘Runaway Mop’. This was held later in the year, so that employers could replace those who ran away from their contracts. And those who ran away could find a better, kinder or more generous boss. See also my post of Gabriel Oak and Pack Rag Day which is another hiring fair which was help on Martinmas Old Style.

Henley Mop – panel from the heritage centre

Court Leets and Barons

Also of interest to me was the panel about Court Leets and Barons. These were the ancient courts which dealt with, respectively, crime and disorder, and property and neighbourhood disputes. Henley still has its ancient manorial systems in use, at least ceremonially. The Centre shows a video of the installation of a new Lord of the Manor at the Guildhall. The title had been purchased by a cigar-smoking Stetson-wearing large rich American.

Johnson’s Coaches

Another panel was the story of a Coaching Company. When I lead the Best of England programme we are driven around by Johnson’s Coach Company. It was a delight to discover that it has a history that can be traced back to 1909 in Henley. I conveyed this information to our group on the next day as we toured the Cotswolds. Curtis, our driver, was able to update the panel. He told us that the family were still involved with the firm, which is still operating from the area. He said the two brothers who run the company come in every working day. They do everything they require of their drivers to do; i.e. they drive coaches, clean coaches, sweep the floors and generally treat their staff like part of a big family. I should have asked him whether he got his job at the Mop, while holding a steering wheel in his hands!

Johnson’s Coach Company -Panel from Henley Heritage Centre

Note: It seems that Johnson has now merged with another company. But it keeps its depot in Henley and maintains its connection with the town.

First published in 2023 updated 2024, 2025

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Michaelmas Old Style – October 11th

Michaelmas Old Style. St. Michael weighing souls during the Last Judgement, Antiphonale Cisterciense (15th century), Abbey Bibliotheca, Rein Abbey, Austria (Wikimedia by Dnalor_01 license (CC-BY-SA 3.0))

I am catching up as I have been away. So I’m a little behind in my days.

October 11th is the day that the Devil fell out of heaven and landed in a Blackberry Bush. So. you are, therefore, not wise to eat them after October 11th. St Michael’s Day is now celebrated on September 29th (see my post here). But before September 1752, it was celebrated on what is now October 11th, now styled ‘Michaelmas Old Style’. The change of date is due to the introduction in the UK of the Gregorian Calendar.

Saint Michael is the chief of the archangels. Saint Gabriel was celebrated on the eve of the Annunciation on 24 March (see my post here). St Raphael on the 24th October, But more recently the Churches celebrate all the Archangels at Michaelmas. It is now called the celebration of St Michael and All Angels.

Terms. Colleges, Lawyers and Quarterdays

Apart from its religious significance, St Michael’s Mass was an important date on the civic calendar. Terms began, rent fell due, and work contracts ran out. It was the end of the ploughman’s year, and the day when Hiring Festivals or Mop Festivals took place. Look at my post on the Stratford Mop festival

So in Oxford, the autumn term is called Michaelmas. The Spring Term Hilary on St Hilary’s Festival of January 14th. The third term is called Trinity, which takes place on Trinity Sunday the first Sunday after Pentecost. The law courts also have a Michaelmas term.

It is one of the Quarter Day’s of the year, close to the Solstices and the Equinox into which the medieval and early modern world was divided:

(The above list is copied from Wikipedia).

Eat a Goose for Good luck at Michaelmas

It is probably too late to tell you this year. But “if you eat goose on Michaelmas Day you will never lack money all year“. Or as they said in Yorkshire: ‘He’at eateth goose on Michaelmas won’t find his pockets short of brass.’ Jane Austen wrote to Cassandra on Michaelmas 1813 ‘I dined upon goose today, which I hope with secure a good sale of my second edition.’ Pride and Prejudice was published in 1813.

St Michael is one of several archangels. He was protector of the Israel. He has four main roles in heaven. He is the leader of the heavenly host in its defeat of Satan. He is the Angel of Death, the Weigher of Souls, and the Guardian of the Church. For more on archangels, see the second half of my post on Michaelmas here.

On this day

The Romans celebrated ‘meditrinalia’ where they celebrated the new wine and the Gods that made it possible. They toasted the wine chanting:

‘I drink old and new wine to cure old and new disease.’

First Published in 2024, revised in 2025

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The Archaeology of London Walk

Roman layer opus signinum,
Roman layer opus signinum,

This is Kevin Flude’s Walk for London Walks. It normally starts in the early evening and from Exit 3 Bank Underground Station To See if the walk is running soon follow this link.

Legend says that London was founded as New Troy. Historians believed it was founded as Londinium after the Bridge was built by the legionaries of the Emperor Claudius in AD 43.   Archaeologists in the 1970s and 1980s discovered that London was refounded as Lundenwic in the 7th Century and again in the 9th Century when it was called Lundeburg.

This walk tells the epic tale of the uncovering of London’s past by Archaeologists. And provides an insight into the dramatic history of the Capital of Britannia, and how it survived revolts, fires, plagues, and reacted to the decline and fall of the Roman Empire.  It became the foremost English City but with periods under Viking and Norman control.

We tell the story in the streets of the City of London, beginning in the valley of the River Walbrook by the Temple of Mithras, and visit many sites where important archaeological discoveries were made.

See my Roman London

Updated 7th October

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‘Crack Me This Nut’ Play performed at the Rose in Southwark September 25th 1595

List of plays performed in February 1596 by the Admiral’s Men

‘Crack me this Nut’ was performed by the Admiral’s Men at the Rose Theatre in Southwark, London. One of the dates it was performed was on September 25th 1595. As you can see, above, it was also performed on February 7th 1596. You can find the other dates it was performed, and the income generated in this blog from Henslowe’s papers. In fact, the play was performed 16 times in all, then sold by Edward Alleyn. Sadly, no one knows what it was about. It might relate to the sense of our phrase ‘a tough nut to crack.’

The list of February dates for the Admiral’s Men is from my dossier for my Shakespeare’s London walks. I’m not entirely sure of the book I photocopied it from, but it derives from the wonderful archive of Philip Henslowe and his leading actor, Edward Alleyn. Henslowe’s records were stored in a locked trunk for 260 years.

2023 marked the completion of the project to bring this archive to the public. And here is the Henslowe-Alleyn Digitisation project. As well as digitising the Archive, elements that had been separated from the original archive have been brought back, so the greatest archive of information on the Shakespearean theatre is now unified and available. It is an immense benefit for the Shakespeare industry.

I searched the archive for ‘Crack me this nut’ but their search engine searches for anything that mentions ANY of the words, and as the word ‘this’ is in virtually everything in the archive, the search is effectively useless. Putting ‘Crack me this nut’ in quotes does not help. I have emailed them!

A subscriber sent me another link which has various speculations, and the following entry. 

Master Ponsonby. Entred for his copie vnder the hands of the Wardens A booke
Intitled The Paragon of pleasaunt histories . . . vjd
Or this Nutt was neuer Cracked Contayninge a Discourse of a
nobl[e] kinge and his Three sonnes
(S.R.1, 3.57 / Fol. 7)

For more read https://lostplays.folger.edu/Crack_Me_This_Nut. The above raises a possibility that it was not a comedy but a history or tragedy.

I often use this list of plays performed in February 1596 in the walks and lectures I give on Shakespeare. It shows you how hard-working Shakespeare’s contemporaries were. The actors’ companies were essentially small repertory companies. This list shows that the Admiral’s Men performed 14 different plays, on 23 days, if I count correctly, in the short month of February. This is in a winter month. Now, the guides at the rebuilt Globe tell you the Shakespearian Playhouses were used in the Summer. No! This was deep winter and 23 performances in an outdoor theatre in February! Imagine what a modern actor would think of that work load.

A badly photocopied page of the archive.

First published on February 7th 2023, and revised and republished on September 25th 2024, and 2025

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Beware the Surfeits of Autumn September 23rd

Apples. Unsplash photo by Sydney Rae
A Surfeit of Apples. Unsplash photo by Sydney Rae

So, it may be a surprise that the Autumn is the time of plenty. I think, townies like me, would assume spring or summer. But in Autumn, not only is the Harvest in, but nuts and fruits are ripening and ready to pick. As we go deeper into Autumn, the livestock is culled to a level that can be sustained through the harsh winter. And so a lot of meat is also available. Truly a time of ‘mellow fruitfulness’.

A Surfeit of Autumn Peaches or Lamphreys

Anything with the word ‘surfeit’ in it must begin with the wonderful comic history of Britain called:1066 and All That: A Memorable History of England, Comprising All the Parts You Can Remember, Including 103 Good Things, 5 Bad Kings and 2 Genuine Dates

Here we find that King Henry I died of a ‘surfeit’ of lamphreys’, which he indulged in against his Doctors’ advice. This was in November,. While his Great Grandson, King John:

‘finally demonstrated his utter incompetence by losing the Crown and all his clothes in the wash and then dying of a surfeit of peaches and no cider; thus his awful reign came to an end.’

He is a fine example of a ‘Bad King’. He died on the night of October 18th — 19th. So another King to leave this mortal coil by the means of an autumnal surfeit. Other accounts say his ale was poisoned or the surfeit was of plums. But he did have dysentery shortly before he died.

If you haven’t already it got it you probably, at this point, need to buy my book ‘Divorced, Beheaded, Died’. This is the best selling book about the Kings and Queens of England, told in bite sized chunks. It is always on sale at the British Museum.

‘No surfeit so evil as the surfeit of eating naughty bread’

Andrew Boorde in ‘Dietary of Health’ 1547 says that Wheat Bread makes you fat, particularly when made from new wheat. He says’Evil Bakers’ will add half of Barley. This is no good, nor is bread made from beans or peas. He continues:

‘hot bread is unwholesome to any man, for it doth lie in the stomach like a sponge: yet the smell of new bread is comfortable to the head and the heart. Old or stale bread doth dry up the blood or natural moisture in man, and doth engender ill humours; and is evil and tardy of digestion: wherefore is no surfeit so evil as a surfeit of eating naughty bread.‘

Lavendar Caps

Now is the time to protect your head with Lavendar as winter approaches, or so says William Turner’s Herbal of 1568:

‘I judge that the flowers of lavender, quilted into a cap and daily worn, are good for all diseases of the head, that come of a cold cause, and that they comfort the brain very well, namely if it have any distemperature that cometh of moistness.‘

If you remember, I wrote about Turner’s medical education in Ferrara in Italy in June. You can read it here.

Apples and Pears & No Cider

The fate of King John (above) shows the danger of running out of cider. But the apple trees are now groaning with Apples and Pears. So production can begin. I have been at my Father’s House picking up all the pears that drop every night. We have been cutting them up and putting them in the freezer, making purée and crumbles. Also, giving them to anyone who enters the house. But still not able to keep up with the Pears! Lots of Apples too, infact a bumper crop, many more than in any previous year. Earlier there was a host of plums from which I made my very first plum jam. I am looking forward to making a batch of Quince Jam, for the third year running.

Storing a Surfeit of Apples

Picking up windfall is problematic, as it was thought they would soften and bruise much easier than those picked from the trees. They would also contaminate other apples if laid with them. So it is best to pick apples before they are completely ripe. Then you can use Gervase Markham’s apple storage advice, which I wrote about in January and you can see here:

But:

A Surfeit of unripe fruit is a danger:

Green fruits make sickness to abound
Use good advice to keep thee sound
Give not thy lusts what they do crave
Lest thou unawares step in to thy grave.

Ranger’s Almanack 1627

If you do succumb, you need a medicine of nettle-seeds and honey.

A Surfeit of Filberts

As a caution to persons at this season, when nuts are so very abundant, we state that the sudden death of Mr Nunn of Cley, Norfolk is generally attributed to eating a great quantity of filberts and drinking pork wine therewith.’

York Current, September 1794

I do hope you have found this post fruitful and not too nutty. Please consult a doctor if you are having head or brain issues. The Lavender in your Peaky Blinders Cap may not do the trick

Acknowledgement

Again, I am very dependent on fruity tales from Charles Kightly’s A Perpetual Almanac of Folklore. It is worth buying as it also has many pretty pictures.

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St Matthews Day & Christ’s Hosptial September 21st

Christ’s Hospital from Wikipedia

In the City of London, St Matthew’s Day was the day that they elected Governors to Christ’s Hospital, it was followed by a service at Christchurch attended by Aldermen, Sheriffs, the Lord Mayor and a procession of the children attending the school. 

Dissolution of the Monasteries

Christ’s Hospital was founded in 1552 by a settlement arranged by Edward VI after the Reformation.  The abolition of the Monasteries by Henry VIII caused a huge problem for the City of London, with the destruction of education and social services managed by monks and nuns.  Henry VIII had already re-established St Bartholomew’s to look after the Poor Sick in the City.  To complete the post dissolution, Edward IV established three Royal Hospitals to sort out additional problems.  Bridewell Hospital became an orphanage and place of correction for wayward women.  St Thomas Hospital for the homeless and poor sick of South London. Christ’s Hospital was to provide schooling.  The school was originally near Newgate and Christchurch Church, which was originally the Choir of the Greyfriars Church.

The school was set up in 1552 and was for boys and girls.   The Mathematical School was added in the late 17th Century to provide navigation skills for sailors.

Flogging the boys

In 1815, a shocking event took place. An MP named Sir Eyre Coote entered the Mathematical school.  He shooed  the younger boys away but paid the older ones to participate in mutual flogging. He was discovered by the school nurse doing up his breeches.  George Cruikshank, a vaunted caricaturist, created a cartoon of the occasion, and it is extraordinary how it was treated far from seriously. 

Cruikshank Cartoon

The blue-coated boys of Christ’s Hospital, eventually moved to Hertford but are now in Horsham.  They maintain their City affiliation and still come to the City on or around St Matthews Day and take part in the Lord Mayor’s Show.  The school is a public school, but has a large percentage of its students funded by bursaries.  In 2016 former pupils opened up about historic sexual abuse leading to the prosecution of 6 teachers of Christchurch.

For more information look here: https://blogs.bl.uk/untoldlives/2015/09/st-matthews-day.html

Also on St Matthews Day, the historic Bush Hotel in Farnham distributed bread to the poor.  This began in 1660 a local benefactor bequeathed one pound annually to pay for the bread.

First Published in 2024, and revised 2025

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The Queensberry House Cannibal, Inspector Rebus and the Scottish Referendum September 11th 1997

Queensberry House to the right, home of the The Queensberry House Cannibal. The Scottish Parliament in the background. Royal Mile, Cannongate in the foreground. (Photo: K. Flude)

Ian Rankin’s Edinburgh

One of my favourite books on Edinburgh is by Ian Rankin.  It is one of the Inspector Rebus series. What makes Rankin a great crime writer is how the author makes Edinburgh central to the story. It adds realism to his stories.  As you read the stories you enjoy learning about Edinburgh, its culture, history, people, streets and topography. And get insights into Edinburgh’s moods.

Model of the Scottish Parliament, with Queensberry House in the bottom right hand corner.

I haven’t read all the Rebus books but the one I want to feature is ‘Set in Darkness’ published in 2000.  It is set in the period immediately after the success of the Scottish Referendum to set up a Scottish Parliament. The story also takes us back to 1979 when the first Scottish Referendum ‘failed’.

The Queensberry House Cannibal

The book begins with a body found in Queensbury House, which is being preserved and incorporated into the new Scottish Parliament buildings.

Scottish Parliament Building (photo by the author)

This setting was suggested by the well-known tale of the Queensberry House Cannibal; James Douglas the 3rd Marquess of Queensberry and, for a time, the Earl of Drumlanrig. The tale begins on the day, in 1707, that the Scottish Parliament agreed to disband itself. The Parliamentarians voted for an Act of Union with the United Kingdom.

On that day, the young Lord was left alone in Queensbury House with no one to look after him, except a kitchen boy. James had mental issues, and when the adults came home, they discovered that he had eaten the kitchen boy by spit-roasting him. The ghost of the boy is said to haunt the house. Or so the story goes.  It’s always treated as a true story, but there is a suspicion it was a black calumny on those who agreed to the end of the Scottish Parliament.

For more on the event, look here.

The Restoration of the Scottish Parliament 11th September 1997

So, as today is the anniversary of the day the Scots voted Yes to a restoration of its Parliament (11th September 1997), let’s have a look at the long history of devolution. We will take the story backwards.

The referendum asked the Scots two questions. The first was: did they support a separate Parliament for Scotland? The second. Should it have the power to vary levels of taxation? 74.3% voted yes to the Parliament, and 63.5% voted yes for powers of taxation. On the 1st July 1999 the Scottish Parliament was set up by the Blair Government. The new Parliament was elected by the Additional Member system of proportional representation. The country is split into regions, the regions into constituencies, and each constituency elects a member of the Scottish Parliament by first part the post system. Each region has a party list of additional potential members, and the seats are allocated between the parties to make the final result as proportion as possible. This is said to combine the advantages of constituency MPs, and PR.

The ‘Failed’ 1979 Referendum

But this wasn’t the first vote for a measure of independence.  In 1979, the Scottish Act set up a referendum for a Scottish assembly.  James Callaghan was the Prime Minister, and the act followed a Royal Commision on the Constitution. The Referendum was won with a majority of 52%, but an amendment to the Act had a stipulation that there had to be a vote of at least  40% of the registered electorate for the vote to succeed. It won only 32% of the 62% turnout so the Act failed. (if only Cameron had done something similar for the Brexit Referendum!).

So it would be another almost 20 years before the Scots got their own debating chamber.

1707 Act of Union

The Scots lost their Parliament on the 1st May 1707 when the Act of Union with England was enacted.  The Scottish Parliament had been in existence since the early 13th Century.  The Scots had no House of Commons, but its unicameral Parliament had representatives from the Three Estates: prelates representing the Church; Aristocrats representing the nobility, and Burgh Commissioners representing the Towns.  Later, Shire Commissioners were added to represent the countryside.

The decision to disband the Parliament of Scotland was very controversial, and blamed on the self-interest of the Nobility against the wishes of the people. Scotland had lost out on the huge profits being made by the Empire by England, excluded as the Scots were by the Navigation Acts from trading freely within the British Empire. So the Scots set up their own  Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies which invested in the disastrous  Darién scheme,

The idea was to build a colony on the Isthmus of Panama.  80% of the participants in the settlement died, and the 20% of Scottish wealth which was invested in the scheme was lost. Many of the Scottish members of Parliament lost money in the Scheme, and compensation and bribery offered by the English encouraged the Parliamentarians to accept the advantages of free trade within the British Empire and to join the Westminster Parliament.

Joint Monarchies

In 1603, the Scottish and English monarchies joined in the person of James VI of Scotland who became James 1st of England on the death of his childless aunt, Queen Elizabeth 1. But the Scots kept their own Parliament and legal system. There were attempts to bring a closer Union, but these all failed until 1707.

England Overlording it?

From the early beginnings of Scottish existence as an independent nation, the English Monarchy claimed to be the feudal overlord of Scotland. Scotland was normally able to deny this until the reign of Edward I. After the battle of Bannockburn the Scottish made a declaration of their complete independence from England at Arbroath. It was sent to the Pope who accepted it. This helped the Scots defy England until 1603 when the two monarchies joined.

To see the rest of my Edinburgh Booklist click here. or to see my post on poetry on the wall of the Scottish Parliament.

First Written in 2024, revised 2025

To follow up have a look at these websites:

The original Scottish Parliament

How the Scottish Parliament works

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Oliver Cromwell and his Lucky Day September 3rd

Frontispiece of ‘The Life of Oliver Cromwell’

September 3rd was Cromwell’s Lucky Day. This was because it was the date of two of his most famous victories. On September 3rd 1658 he refused to accept that he was dying because it was his lucky day.  Unluckily, he was wrong.

The Battle of Dunbar September 3rd 1650

Engraving of Charles I
Engraving of Charles I

After the execution of King Charles I, the Scots chose Charles II as their King. This changed the Scots from allies of the English Parliament to enemies. The Lord General of the New Model Army, Thomas Fairfax, refused to lead an attack on their erstwhile allies. So Oliver Cromwell was promoted to command. He launched a preemptive attack but the army was ill prepared, and the campaign seemed in danger of failing. They took Arthur’s seat and bombarded Edinburgh and Leith from its heights. But they could not take Edinburgh.

In need of supplies, Cromwell retreated to Dunbar, which is on the North Sea, close to the Firth of Forth. The Scots advanced on Dunbar, and Cromwell came out to meet them. After a hard battle, the English Calvary outflanked the Scots and the Battle was won. Pride, Monk, Lilburne and Lambert were all involved in the Battle. Cromwell claimed to have killed 4,000 Scots and captured 10,000. Scottish sources suggested over 1,000 Scottish casualties and 5,000 prisoners.

The Battle enabled Cromwell to seize control of Edinburgh, and Leith. So he could then cross the First of Forth and attack Fife, where he was also successful.

Cromwell interpreted the overwhelming victory as a

“A high act of the Lord’s Providence to us [and] one of the most signal mercies God hath done for England and His people”.[ (Wikipedia)

See my post on the execution of Charles 1st here:

March on England

engraving of Charles II
Engraving of Charles II

Meanwhile, the Scottish Army marched South in to England. in an attempt to raise the support of English Royalists. King Charles II was now with them, They hoped Cromwell would be held up in Fife, but he wasn’t. He secured Perth and put General Monck in charge in Scotland. Lambert was sent to harrass the Scottish Army as they marched south. Meanwhile, Cromwell forced marched his way to the Tyne. General Harrison had collected fresh troops from Newcastle and joined Cromwell. Thomas Fairfax came out of retirement and raised troops in Yorkshire. The Southern troops were collected at Banbury by General Fleetwood. 14,000 militia men from the trained bands of London joined the march to intercept the Scottish Invasion.

The Battle of Worcester September 3rd 1651

The decisive battle took place at Worcester, which the Royalist occupied. It was an unusual battle in that it took place on both sides of the River Severn. Cromwell delayed the start of the battle to build two pontoon bridges. This meant he could reinforce his troops on either side of the River. It also delayed the start of the battle to his lucky day.

The pontoon bridges proved decisive. The Parliamentary side had over 30,000 troops while the Royalists only 16,000. Cromwell could shore up besieged formation with troops from the other side of the River. The Royalists were pushed back to the High Street. Here, they rallied to allow King Charles II to escape. And that was the end of the Second English Civil War. (The first being the defeat of Charles I, the second the defeat of Charles II).

Charles II made a hair-raising escape from England, hiding in an Oak Tree. Eventually, finding a ship on the South Coast at Shoreham, in Dorset to take him into a long exile. (see my post on Charles’ escape here🙂

Of the Scottish army, perhaps 3,000 men were killed and 10,000 taken prisoners. Some prisoners were conscripted into the New Model Army and sent to fight in Ireland. Many of the rest (perhaps up to 8,000) were forced into indentured labour. They were sent to New England, Bermuda, the West Indies or the Fens. Others were taken to London and detained in prison camps. One of which was at Tothill Fields in Westminster. Conditions were often appalling, leading to death by disease and malnutrition.

American Presidents pay their respects to the ‘famous’ Battlefield.

John Adams and Thomas Jefferson visited the site of the Battle in 1786. Adams reported:

‘The people in the neighborhood appeared so ignorant and careless at Worcester that I was provoked and asked “And do Englishmen so soon forget the ground where liberty was fought for? Tell your neighbors and your children that this is holy ground, much holier than that on which your churches stand. All England should come in pilgrimage to this hill, once a year”‘

And indeed will now only see the battle as one of the many battles of the Civil War. Generally, we are not aware of its special significance.

Cromwell’s Death September 3rd 1658.

By now, the Monarch in all but name, Cromwell, the Lord Protector fell ill, probably of malaria. Then, when weakened, his kidney stone infection turned to septicemia. On August 30th, there was a mighty storm, the like Europe had not seen for hundreds of years. And there was talk of the Lord taking him away in the furious storm. As he weakened he was asked to name his successor. He appeared to affirm when the name of his son Richard was spoken to him. But, it wasn’t very clear. He rallied, perhaps hoping that if he could survive to September 3rd, he would overcome his illness.

On the day, he said to his doctors ‘I tell you I shall not die this hour; I am sure on’t …. I speak the Words of Truth upon surer grounds than Galen and Hippocrates furnish you with.’

But he died on his lucky day. He was given a splendid funeral and was buried in state among the Kings and Queens in Westminster Abbey. And then in 1660 dug up, executed posthumously at Tyburn and buried under the Gibbet.

See my post on the Puritans’ abolition of Christmas here:

See my post on John Evelyn’s diary entry on the Restoration of Charles II to the throne.

First written in September 2025