Jenny Geddy
Jenny Geddy is one of the most colorful Scots associated with the Reformation. Each movement has it's "movers". Great men such as George Wishart and John Knox marked the Scottish Reformation. As well, each movement has its "triggers", and Jenny Geddy was certainly that. Though little is actually known of her birth or life, what is known is that she was a resident of Edinburgh at the beginning of the 17th century.Scotland was under the rule of Charles I, who sought to bring all Presbyterian worship into conformity with the Church of England. On July 23rd, 1600, the Dean of Edinburgh climbed the pulpit in the great St. Giles cathedral, with the full intent of using the English book of prayer. No sooner had the first words of the book come from the dean's lips, when Jenny grab her three-legged stool she was sitting on and hurled it at the man saying, "Villain! Doest thou say mass in my lug (ear)?" Though the dean dodged the stool, he could not dodge the consequences of such a foolish move.
There was a sudden rush on the pulpit, and they were not penitents seeking a place of prayer! Total riot broke out in the place and the people were forcibly ejected from the cathedral. Jenny Geddes' party at St. Giles signed the death warrant of civil and ecclesiastical tyranny in both Scotland and England! The storm, which had been gathering for 40 years, burst into a national revolution that led to the Scottish National Covenant. Jenny Geddes' stool was the first shot fired in the forging of Scottish religious freedom!
This bit of grit and independence is another snapshot of the Scottish people. The Scots I have come across are truly wonderful people. Unique in their humor and wit, cutting and brutal in opinion.
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