Jenny Geddes

1600 - 1660

Three-legged stool; sculpture in memory of Jenny Geddes, St. Giles Cathedral
©2011 Gazetteer for Scotland

An Edinburgh stall-holder, famous for a solitary act of defiance. Geddes kept a green-grocer's stall outside the Tron Kirk. In 1637, she threw a stool at the Dean of Edinburgh in St. Giles Kirk as a protest at the introduction of the much resented English prayer-book, which was regarded as verging on Roman Catholicism by post-Reformation Scottish Presbyterians. Her words on the occasion were "Villain! Dost thou say Mass at ma lug?" and her actions almost started a riot, with the Dean and Bishop having to quickly withdraw to the street followed by a volley of sticks and stones.

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