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Letter of James Renwick to Henry Jenkinson and Society people in Newcastle of...
The following letter was sent by James Renwick, the clerk the United Societies, to Mr Henry Jenkinson and others in a prayer society in Newcastle, England. It threatened the Newcastle society with...
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Letter of James Renwick to Alexander Gordon of Earlstoun in Leeuwarden of 20...
The following letter is from James Renwick, the clerk the United Societies in 1682, to Alexander Gordon of Earlstoun, the Societies’ commissioner in the United Provinces, in Leeuwarden. Renwick wrote...
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Letter of James Renwick to Robert Hamilton in Leeuwarden of 6 December, 1682
The following letter was written by James Renwick, the clerk of the United Societies, then in Edinburgh, to Robert Hamilton in Leeuwarden on Wednesday, 6 December, 1682. Renwick had departed from...
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Letter of James Renwick in Groningen to Jean Hamilton in Leeuwarden of 13...
James Renwick had met Jean Hamilton during a brief visit to Leeuwarden in November 1682. She was the unmarried sister of Robert Hamilton and Lady Earlstoun. The following letter is the first surviving...
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Letter of James Renwick in Groningen to Jean Hamilton in Leeuwarden of 31...
As James Renwick made final preparations for his ordination by the Classis of Groningen in mid April, 1683, he took the time to write to a troubled Jean Hamilton. This letter is printed in Carslaw...
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‘Though the Kings of the Earth Be Against Them’: Renwick’s Letter to Jean...
On 25 April, 1683, James Renwick drafted the letter, below, to Jean Hamilton in Leeuwarden. The letter provides a rare glimpse into how the Dutch ministers at Groningen came to the extraordinary...
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Pirates, Covenanters and ‘Prophet’ Peden’s Return in 1685
Was Alexander ‘Prophet’ Peden, a pirate? Yes he was is the surprising answer, as he did commit an act of piracy in February, 1685. However, it was not for booty or profit that the preacher briefly...
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Tales of Drunkenness and Cruelty in 1685: Lag’s Shooting of the Kirkconnell...
Tales of Grierson of Lag’s role in the Killing Times abound in South West and influenced Sir Walter Scott to create his character Redgauntlet, a ruthless Jacobite. The following story is about Lag and...
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Wild Phanatiques, Dark Clouds of Mist and the Poor Straying Sheep in March 1685
Nothing is ever quite what it seems in the world of Alexander ‘Prophet’ Peden. After he hijacked a barque and landed in Galloway at the beginning of March, 1685, government forces descended on Peden...
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Prophet Peden’s Fear of the French in 1685
Fear of the domination of Louis XIV’s France was spread by Alexander Peden in the South West of Scotland in 1685. ‘32. At this Time [in 1685] it was seldom that Mr. Peden could be prevailed with to...
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The Devil in a Cave in Galloway in 1685
In 1685, Alexander ‘Prophet’ Peden was in a cave in Galloway. He was not alone… Illustration of Hogg’s Memoirs of a Justified Sinner. Artist John Bellany. Tate collection. ‘About this Time [in 1685],...
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Peden’s Cave, Damned Whigs and the Confounded Mist in 1685
Alexander Peden is associated with numerous caves and providential mists… ‘34. After this [i.e., Peden’s time on Galloway in early 1685, he was], in Auchengrooch Muirs in Nithsdale, Captain John...
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The Killing of John Brown of Preisthill on 1 May, 1685: Walker’s Version
In his life of Alexander Peden published in 1724, Patrick Walker recounts the killing of John Brown. Walker’s version of events appears to be based on the testimony of Brown’s second wife and widow,...
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The Cursed Intelligencers, the Musket Shot and the Knot of Hair in 1685
In late April, 1685, government troops nearly captured the outlawed minister ‘Prophet’ Peden when they raided a farmhouse in Ayrshire… On that day Alexander Peden was in the company of James Nisbet,...
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‘Stand Dog and be Shot’: The Dragoons Pursuit of James Nisbet in 1685
In late April, 1685, James Nisbet was in hiding at a gentleman’s house somewhere near hills, muirs and bogs in Ayrshire. Earlier in the year, Nisbet had evaded taking the Abjuration oath which...
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Bog Bodies in Scotland: Covenanter Archaeology
In 1826 or 1827, a new monument was raised at the grave of the Carsgailoch martyrs. A gruesome discovery awaited the workmen toiling in the bog… The Carsgailoch Monument © agentmancuso and licensed for...
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‘Bits of Papers and Drops of Blood’: Peden, the Killing Times and the...
Peden at Cameron’s Grave What did Alexander Peden think about the Society people’s cause and their struggle in the Killing Times? The following story related by Patrick Walker is alleged to have taken...
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When Argyll was Broken: Peden in Wigtownshire. June, 1685
The Argyll Stone © Thomas Nugent and licensed for reuse. In the summer of 1685 and just as the Argyll Rising was about to collpase, Alexander Peden was in Wigtownshire… ‘38. After this, two Days before...
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Betrayed: Prophet Peden at Pingerrach in 1685.
When the outlawed preacher Alexander Peden was in Carrick in the summer of 1685, his presence in a house was allegedly betrayed to government forces by an informer… Pingerroch ‘39. After this [Peden in...
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The World and the Covenanters: Calling the South Pole
Filling in the map of hits on your blog is a bit like stamp collecting, but it also shows patterns of interest, language use and censorship… This blog is dedicated to the history of the Scottish...
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