A rose by any other name

1880--The Friary, Nottingham, England (T.W. Hammond)

What's in a name?  A rose is a rose, or so Shakespeare is said to have put it.   

Among other endeavors, I intend to embark on a family history.  It's time.  My ambition is to write down as much family history, including anecdotal evidence, and avoid a reinvention the wheel by those who may follow at whatever distant point in the future they may.  Roses notwithstanding, time rolls on.

As it happens, I stumbled upon a snippet of documentary material regarding the Whitley surname.  It is found in the Burgess Pleas documents (Nottingham, England) dating to the years 1392 - 1393.  More about that in a second.  But first, the University of Nottingham should be recognized as having done yeoman's work (in 2008) on translating (from Latin and Old English) these documents.  They have now been digitized, permitting public access to what can only be considered fairly obscure historical material.  Such is the haunt of historians.  Lonely work, but somebody's got to do it. 

Second, existing pleas records (dating 1378 - 1393) are not complete.  Or rather, some simply no longer existent.  Further, of what still exists, a significant portion is illegible having sustained decay and rodent as well as moisture damage (I know--England--go figure).  Thus, the digitized rolls contain many repetitive caveats--"Heavily stained and damaged roll throughout."  Or, "[Roll 2] Heavily stained on lh side and elsewhere. Most of roll missing."  "[Roll 5] Severely damaged roll. Most of it missing and most of it illegible through damp stains."  And so forth.

But all in all, given these rolls are nearly 650 years old, their condition should be expected.  Not too bad considering.  Which leads me to a certain Henry de Whitley, alive during King Richard II's reign.  [The ambitious Richard II was King of England from 1377 until being deposed in 1399 by his cousin Henry Bolingbroke (Henry IV) due to Richard II's increasingly arbitrary and factional rule.  (Sounds familiar).

At any rate, Henry de Whitley apparently was originally a tailor.  Back in the day, the bar at law was definitely loosely defined.  For the most part, it hinged on one's ability to read.  At least it assumed literacy.  On November 6, 1392, Whitley prepared to argue a debt before the court that he claimed was owed to him by Stephen de la Hide, another tailor.  Both tailors represented themselves.  But the jury was in default as it did not show up for court for whatever reason--likely prevailing winter conditions.  

So the case was pushed to the following court date.  At the next court, Henry de Whitley was successful.  "Jury comes and says that Stephen [owes Henry] 3s.8d. Damages: 4d. Adjudged that Henry should recover 3s.8d. [from Stephen] and 4d. damages. Stephen in mercy."  From humble beginnings a career--albeit a brief career--as an attorney opened.  

Of the cases de Whitley argued, the outcome was not always evident.  First of all, the pleas court language is arcane.  That and court cases were often pushed to the next subsequent date which, given the condition of the pleas rolls (with parts missing), it is often not possible to determine a particular case's outcome.

Henry de Whitley served as attorney mostly in money matters, or in civil court--before "civil" became a four letter word.  By way of example, de Whitley was attorney to Joan Peyntour versus John Fysshe regarding Fysshe's unlawful retention of her rosary and various silver rings.  Unfortunately, the translators note:  "MS [manuscript] preceded by an indeterminate number of illegible entries."

In other cases the outcome was known.  de Whitley represented a losing case in Richard Shadwell versus John Shepard.  Here, "losing" might should be in quotes.  Apparently Shadwell was a doctor.  Sort of.  (And medical practitioners, like attorneys in the day, were also fairly loosely defined).  Anyhow, in the plea, "Richard comes in his own person and says that John [owes him] 2s. for the curing of John’s body."  For his part, Shepard (represented by de Whitley) came before the court and "acknowledges the debt. Damages assessed at 4d. Adjudged that Richard should recover 2s. from him and 4d. damages. John in mercy."

Of course, the reverse might also be true.  de Whitley successfully represented one John Strelley versus Thomas Shether regarding calf skins (calfskynnes).  Strelley alleged 14s in damages.  Shether came before the court and admitted the debt.  "Thomas in his own person comes and acknowledges the debt.  Damages assessed at 6d.  Adjudged that John should recover 14s from Thomas."

Anyhow, I mentioned a brief career.  So it was.  On to the salubrious details.  Mid-October 1393, the Burgess pleas court noted an "Appraisal of the goods and chattels of Henry de Whitley well and faithfully appraised on Mon after the feast of St. Luke 17 Richard II [20 Oct 1393]."  The appraisal was made under oath by six of Nottingham's citizens.  

 

Now normally, one should expect an appraisal of an individual's estate to be associated with a will, a divvying up of property.  Who gets what.  But not so with Henry de Whitley. "The goods and chattels were taken on Sun after the feast of St Luke [19 Oct 1393] by the bailiffs for a death on the body of Alice, Henry’s wife, by Henry’s manslaughter (per occisione predicti Henrici) on Sun at night."  

 Manslaughter is only a small step away from murder...a half step or less.  The motive or circumstance of the killing is unknown.  But "Henry, after the felony, fled to the church of the Carmelite Friars and could not be taken."  

The church was a friary belonging to the "Whitefriars".  A History of the County of Nottingham, Volume Two notes:  "Henry de Whitley of Nottingham in October 1393 killed his wife Alice in the night-time and fled to the church of the Friars Carmelite for sanctuary, and could not be taken as he kept to the church. Whereupon the town authorities seized his goods as those of a felon; they were valued at 11s. 2½d." 

No other record exists concerning Henry de Whitley--beyond that he "kept to the church".  Evidently, Henry grew devout, as they say.  It is unknown whether he faced justice, though it is hard to imagine that he stayed forever after in the friary's church building.  And, as no children were mentioned between him and his wife Alice, there's no way to know nearly 650 years later whether he was an ancestor...or not.  Probably not, since Henry de Whitley of Nottingham isn't from the Cumbria-Northumberland-Borders heartland from which our Whitley line is said to have originated.  But you never know.  

Incidentally, Nottingham's Whitefriars was founded at some point before 1271.  Nothing remains of their friary today, unfortunately.  It long ago was removed and the site developed.  It should also be noted that regulations on sanctuary varied in different places, even though the privilege was granted from the very earliest of times.  It continued, with certain modifications made during the reign of Henry VIII.  In 1623, sanctuary was finally abolished by King James VI/I.  

White Friar's plan, Nottingham, England

 

2026--new excursion in the planning stage

This post pertains to genealogy, a somewhat out-of-the-ordinary subject for this blog.  Genealogy is prickly; mostly of interest to a limited few close (more or less) relatives.  What brings me to broach the subject is that we are again considering a trip this Easter.  This time to Ireland and an overnight or two to Scotland...if only as a matter of principle.

Kilwaughter Castle, Antrim, Ireland

While in Ireland, among other things, we'd like to take in the ruins of Kilwaughter Castle.  Located in County Antrim, North Ireland about three miles from the end of the rail line in Larne, Kilwaughter is allegedly the starting place (prior to immigration to America) of some of Darla's line.  Specifically, the Gingles family (under various spellings) who are said to have worked there.  It's a matter of family stories being chipped away by realities, in a sense.  It's made its way from the halcyon days of "Our family had a castle." to "Well, they worked at one."  Is what it is.

Kilwaughter Castle, Antrim, Ireland

The castle, incidentally, is not quite so old as it seems.  Kilwaughter's ruin (okay, almost the whole of it) was built by architect John Nash for the Agnew family from 1803 to 1807.  So, not so old.  It was, however, constructed on the site of an older 17th century tower, said to date to 1622 and which was partially incorporated into the new design.  So, it's age is perhaps a matter of how one looks at it.  

Nash, an English architect of the Georgian and Regency eras, had a rather significant role in changing Britain's landscape.  He also had some curious domestic troubles...inexplicable.  First of all, his wife Jane was living beyond their means.  Not the first time in mankind's history.  The Garden of Eden comes to mind.  And ultimately Nash would be driven into bankruptcy; again not the first time that's happened either.  But Jane had certain issues worth mentioning, if only because they seem so fantastical.  Apparently, she faked two pregnancies with Mr. Nash and imposed two "spurious" children upon him as being their own.  Assuming they were doing so, how you could cohabitate and not know is a valid question.  We'll just say it was a different age. 

Kilwaughter Castle room, Antrim, Ireland

Nash sent wife Jane away for reformation, first to Aberavon, Wales to stay with a cousin, Ann Morgan.  Jane then came back to London, continued to live luxuriously and...her affairs led to an illegitimate child with a Mr. Charles Charles.  In a subsequent lawsuit, Charles admitted the child, but alas.  He died in prison unable to pay the damages.  A divorce from Jane upon adultery was finalized in January 1787, after some 12-years of fooling with her.  After that, Nash came into his own as an British architect.         

Kilwaughter Castle room, Antrim, Ireland

Anyhow, Kilwaughter now stands in ruin (since 1951).  It's ignominious fate resulted from the passage of time and various inheritances and marriages to ever more distant relatives.  By the time World War Two broke out, the property was in the hands of an Italian noble family.  Since Italians were (temporarily) enemies, the UK government requisitioned (seized) the property as enemy assets.  Eventually Kilwaughter castle saw the stationing of the US 644th Tank Destroyer Battalion in the build up prior to D-Day.  After the war, Kilwaughter was put at auction.  A scrap dealer won the bid, and set about stripping the property bare--staircases, chandeliers, furniture, windows, paneling...but he did leave the husk which remains in precarious condition. 

Kilwaughter Castle staircase, Antrim, Ireland

Today, the Kilwaughter ruin is privately owned, only recently changing hands.  Unfortunately unlike Scotland's right-to-roam, one cannot simply traipse over fences in Ireland.  Wish it were otherwise, but landowners frown on that we are told.  So, we'll see if we can brush up permission to visit Kilwaughter.  I took some liberty in snipping a few photos from Archiseek.com.  Archiseek, by the by, is dedicated to chronicling "lost" buildings in Antrim.  Here's their site:  https://www.archiseek.com/kilwaughter-castle-co-antrim

Kilwaughter Castle, Antrim, Ireland

 

 

  

 

There's no place like home

2015--Upper Payette Lake

A trip to Scotland is not in the cards this Easter, sadly.  We console ourselves with the classic phrase from The Wizard of Oz. "There's no place like home."  

Our trip to visit our youngest in Arizona over the holidays more or less cemented the deal.  Out of fairness, we are balancing Arizona over the holidays with flying to Dayton next week to visit our oldest.  Or so we say.  Really, it's an excuse to see our nearly six month old granddaughter.    

A last hurrah, because afterwards there's more than enough work left undone around the homestead...what with adding rock (clearing the pasture) into the gabion stone wall, discing up a vegetable garden (which hasn't been used in nearly twenty years), replacing pine seedlings that succumbed to ground squirrels, finishing the greenhouse.  So it goes.  There's no place like home.

Even so, in its own right, we live in an interesting region here.  West of the Clearwater and east of the Snake.  Perhaps we take much for granted, giving short shrift locally.  The grass is always greener so to speak.

Historically, or archeologically, the area of Cottonwood, where we live, is a rather long-inhabited place.  Truth be told, as habitations go, it is easily on the scale of the Mesolithic sites in Scotland (e.g. the Oronsay shell & hazelnut middens which we have yet to visit).  Actually, it is older still--one of the oldest archeological sites in the whole of North America.  It dates to 16,000 years before present...to the Late Upper Paleolithic.  It is the oldest radio-carbon dated record of the human presence in North America. Indeed, the first samples tested were assumed to be in error.  Subsequent radio-carbon dates were coming back consistently as 16,000 years BP.

Charred hazelnuts in Mesolithic midden on Colonsay; source digiscotland

Located within a terrace at the confluence of Rock Creek and the Lower Salmon (only 11 miles south of Cottonwood), the Cooper's Ferry site was found to contain 189 stone artifacts (projectile points, blades, flake tools and bi-faced fragments); plus charcoal and many bone fragments of medium to large-bodied animals.  There was also evidence of a hearth, dug pits and a food processing station, suggesting domestic occupation...some 16,000 years ago.

Thus, Cooper's Ferry contradicts the "Clovis first" occupation theory which had assumed that the Clovis people were the first to migrate into North America.  It turns out they weren't...not by a couple thousand years.  Cooper's Ferry also challenges the theory that an ice-free corridor opened up to North America which then permitted migration.  True, since Cooper's Ferry finds in fact predate the ice-free corridor by two thousand years.

The Cooper's Ferry stone implements (specifically stemmed projectile points) are very similar, if not identical, to those that have been found in northern Japan dating ~21,400 to 16,200 BP (Late Upper Paleolithic).

2015--west view on The W

Following the Cooper's Ferry dig, a fledgling consensus is forming suggesting humans may have arrived in North America by sea, quite possibly from northern Japan, and then breached the continent's interior by traveling up inland rivers.  The first major northwest river on the continent that would be encountered from northern Japan happens to be the Columbia, of which the Snake and Salmon are major tributaries.  It is the "first off ramp" to get south of the ice.

The Cooper's Ferry site has been a decade in the digging by Oregon State University.  It has now wrapped up, with another decade or more in analyzing what has been uncovered thus far.  Traditionally, Cooper's Ferry is an ancient village known to the Nez Perce as Nipéhe.  On former Nez Perce land, now under federal management by BLM, oral tradition has it that Nipéhe was established by a couple after a flood destroyed their previous home.  Or rather, an avalanche did.  A young boy and girl survived to establish Nipéhe, the ancient settlement.  

2012--west view on The W

The tale alludes to the importance (or treacherousness) of snow and ice 16,000 years ago.  With a grain of salt (because a great deal of time separates the people originally involved from the present day), according to Nakia Williamson-Cloud, Nez Perce director of cultural resources, “Our stories already tell us how long we’ve been here.  This only reaffirms that. This is not just something that happened 16,000 years ago. It’s something that is still important to us today.”

As for pining after Scotland and its ancient standing stones and circles, that must wait another year. That said, this proves one need not travel quite so far to see history.  Sometimes it's in our own back yard.  

2019--east view from The W

  

 

Grand Canyon

With a finger or two of single malt (as I am wont to do at this time of year), I often ruminate about time... upon eternity and man's place in it.  For example, Christmastide is, of course, a mixture of pagan winter solstice rituals (dating from time immemorial) jumbled up with the Nativity's Christmas star.  Mortality meets the infinite, as it were.

December 24, 2024--Grand Canyon South Rim

But there is a certain longing, for lack of a better.  "For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it."  Matthew 13:17  Many prophets and righteous people--generations upon generations before the advent of the Christ child--all longing for a heavenly future foretold.  

Or, generations who long to go back, to go back and modify what has passed, to correct sins perhaps.  Discounting the possibility of time travel, the problem is we can't go back.  Time is a river.  Rivers flow downstream.  We are in the moment.  We fish in the stream of time, to borrow from Henry David Thoreau..."It's thin current slides away, but eternity remains."

Speaking of Christmas, it was a slightly different affair this year.  Our youngest daughter and her husband have made their home in Arizona.  Time we visited.  So we did.  Weather was exquisite by north central Idaho's standards (until the day after Christmas at least).  On Christmas Eve day, we were treated to a "bucket list" item.  Our gracious hosts drove us out to see the Grand Canyon.  It was that which prompts my pensive reflection upon time.

December 24, 2024  Grand Canyon South Rim

It is not possible to view the Grand Canyon without at least a bit of awe and wonder at its vastness.  More, the chasm that opens before you exposes an inexpressible age.  The oldest rock at the basement of the Grand Canyon is said to be the Elves Chasm, over 1.84 billion years old (Ga), only a small part of which is exposed.  Being intrusive igneous rock, the Elves Chasm is plutonic; meaning, its shape, extent and in some cases composition are in doubt.  Further, "intrusive" is the operable word.  For it stands to reason the Elves Chasm intruded into even older rock which has yet to be identified. 

Elves Chasm aside, the canyon's basement of crystalline rocks is comprised of what are informally called the Vishnu Basement Rocks.  Nominally, these rocks span some 1.8 to 1.75 Ga.  The Colorado River's Grand Canyon exposure profile slices through it all, all the way down to this Precambrian rock.  It has exposed the earliest geological period in Earth's history.

December 24, 2024  Elves Chasm Gneiss example

The Precambrian spans the formation of the planet (about 4.5 billion years ago, give or take) to the beginning of the Cambrian Period (about 542 million years ago (Ma)).  During the Precambrian the continents formed and, more importantly, the atmosphere developed into an oxygen-based one.  (Prior to the Precambrian, the atmosphere was one of methane, and quite toxic to most life as we know it.) 

Early life did begin to evolve.  While the earliest bacteria micro-fossils are found to occur at 3.5 Ga (Archaean Eon) about a billion years after the planet formed, it was during the late Precambrian (Paleoproterozoic Eon) that eukaryotes (animals, plants, fungi, seaweed, and unicellular organisms) began to develop as methane gave way to oxygen.  The earliest animal fossils are found at the Precambrian/Cambrian interface, roughly around 542 Ma, when the various species of life began to explode in complexity.  

December 24, 2024 Grand Canyon

Again, the Grand Canyon is indescribable in age.  But I should say the rock strata in it are of indescribable age.  As opposed to the upper layers of rocks (the youngest being about 300 million years old), the age of the Grand Canyon itself is much more recent--dating to about six million years ago.  Under continuous hydraulic force to this day, the Colorado River has cut its course ever downward.  Given time (which humanity likely does not have), it may yet expose even more. 

Looking into the chasm of the Grand Canyon was quite a treat.  It has given me something to think about...the ultimate insignificance of mankind.  Transient and temporary.  Hubris saturated.  Chauvinistic both in time and self-assumed importance.

As for creationism, the origin of life is debatable.  ^"And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas”. And God saw that it was good," according to Genesis 1:9-13. 

"Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.  And it was so.  The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.  And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day."   

The crux of the matter turns on the length of a day in God time, I suppose.  What is beyond debate is that the Colorado and its tributaries have exposed nearly two billion years of strata, layer upon layer.  A truly remarkable view. 

December 24, 2024  Grand Canyon pinyon

December 24, 2024

I should interject that recently, based on South Australia finds, the earliest animal fossil to date (~555 Ma) is Quaestio simpsonorum, possibly one of the earliest animals known that was capable of movement.  Not that it matters whether we push the Precambrian/Cambrian interface 13 million years one way or the other.  Even showing up in the fossil record as early as 555 Ma, animal life is still a relative newcomer.  Further, research into the last universal common ancestor (LUCA) is emerging to suggest that life can be dated (in models) to about 4.2 Ga--a relatively young age when Earth was still in the process of forming. 

I leave the "Why here of all places?  Why now?" to others to solve.  I am satisfied to call it "the intricate and intelligent design" of life, and leave it at that.  Though doubtless, with a good single malt and a little time on my hands, I am certain the mysteries of the universe will unfold, if not page by page then layer by layer perhaps.

The issue with cruise line tourism

April 13, 2022  Quiet before the arrival of the cruise tourist hoard

Recent headlines regarding the negative impact of the massive industrial-scale tourist cruise ships heaving up quayside in Scotland prompted a quick search back into the blog.  I knew I had addressed it.  See: https://whitleyworldtravel.blogspot.com/2022/04/orkney-demographics-change-is-coming.html 

The original article dealt with Orkney's demographics, not cruise ships per se.  But, after witnessing the first of the annual exodus of massive cruise ships to dock in Kirkwall in 2022, I could not help but interject a  dismissive observation...namely, "A growing local debate is taking place as to whether the highly touted benefit of cruise ship visits to the local economy even offsets the costs." 

April 13, 2022  Polar exploration ship Spitsbergen opens the season at Kirkwall

Recent headlines reviewed the impact of the evermore massive cruise ships.  Last year, the report cited Carnival's fleet of 63 ships (the heavy weight in industrial-sized cruise lines) as being responsible for more sulfur oxide pollution in 2022 than all of the cars in Europe combined.  A billion cars.  That's a lot.  Carnival, the world's largest cruise line, was also responsible for producing more carbon dioxide than the entire city of Glasgow.  Startling data by any comparison.

But Miami-based Carnival is not by itself, of course.  There's also MSC Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Lines.  And there's also slightly more responsible cruise line companies like Hurtigruten and Disney Cruise.  There's profit in it no doubt; but to what effect?

Cruising is one of tourism's fastest growing sectors.  From a mere 21 vessels in the 1970s, the sector has exploded to 515 today...a 24-fold increase.  Ships themselves have more than doubled in size, and they're still growing.  Worse, the issue is not just air pollution; it's also sewage treatment and water quality, to say nothing of solid waste disposal.

Transport & Environment, Europe's leading advocate of clean energy, issued a damning report on the industry.  The cruise tourist system is stretched.  And it may be breaking in the not too distant future.  Venice, for example, has banned large cruise ships.  Several other ports are considering following suit.  The result, at least in Venice, was an 80% reduction in air born pollutants.  So it is possible to address the problems...if there is a will to do so.     

Personally, the market has all the appearance of being saturated.  Mature, in a word, to the point of being a routine boom-bust cycle.  In any case, what with 5,600 to 7,000 fellow tourists in tow, it's not exactly like "getting away from it all".  You sort of bring 'em with you.  Citing the earlier blog post, "It is becoming clear that "industrial scale tourism" is not all it has been cracked up to be." 

April 13, 2022  square wake leaving Kirkwall and the Spitsbergen on Earl Thorfinn

Merry Christmas to all

I wish to extend the warmest of Christmas greetings to our readers, with hopes for a prosperous New Year.  

The old year 2024 is fast winding down.  (Some say fortunately.)  Beyond doubt, many changes have occurred over the past year, the outcomes of which will only be made known by living the consequences of our respective choices as the future inevitably unfolds.  I am no soothsayer, and make no revelations. Let it be, in other words.

Meanwhile, it is appropriate to attach a photograph along with these greetings.  I chose one of the Nativity, taken of a carved oak panel found in the at Traquair House Chapel, Innerleithen, Scotland.  Hidden stairways and priest holes notwithstanding, the chapel at Traquair only dates from the mid-19th century with the passage of the Roman Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829. 

April 3, 2023  Traquair Chapel panel

The panels (there are 12 of them), however, are of Flemish origin, dating to the early 1500s.  Brought back to Scotland by craftsmen touring the Low Countries, they are said to have first been installed in Bishop Lamb's chapel in Leith (i.e. "Queen Mary's Chapell in Leith"), Edinburgh, until they were supposedly acquired by the Charles Stewart, 5th Earl of Traquair (1697-1764) for 20 guineas.

The panels are said to have been whitewashed over, hidden during the Reformation period, though that seems unlikely given the late date.  In any case, the panels were not publicly displayed in Traquair Chapel until the late 1800s.  Scripture reminds us:  "Is a lamp brought in to be placed under a bushel basket or under a bed, and not to be placed on a lampstand? For there is nothing hidden except to be made visible; nothing is secret except to come to light."  Mark 4:21-23.

That is a whole other story.  For now, though, may this be a joyous Christmas season filled with abundant blessings throughout the coming year.      

 

 

 

 

Reverse persecution--priest holes

April 23, 2019: Defaced cross, Lamlash Parish, Arran

Over the course of two millennia since its founding, the Church (or to be specific, the Roman Catholic Church) has had more than its ample share of initiating:  persecutions, inquisitions, excommunications, the rack...and burning at the stake.  So too, eventually, the Puritans with their iconoclasm...and witches.   

Considering damages done by the iconoclasts to precious religious artwork and sculpture, that is difficult to square by today's more enlightened standards.  It's a Taliban type of thing...iconoclasts, persecution and burkas.   

The first "official" inquisition (actually a synod condemning various heretics) was initiated in 1184 by Pope Lucius III.  As for inquisitions though, he did not live long enough to carry them out.  He only served about two years.  

April 16, 2019:  Defaced Kilmichael Cross, Kilmartin

The prize of instituting the first inquisition must go to one of his successors, Pope Innocent III, from 1209-1229.  The Papacy was beset by a constant flux at the end of the 12th century.  Destabilizing, in a word.  

Popes rolled over as quickly as the College of Cardinals could mint them--Pope Urban III (1185-1187); Pope Gregory VIII (1187, only two months); Clement III (late 1187-1191); Celestine III (1191- early 1198); and finally Innocent III, who served some 18 years (1198-1216) and is known, for better or worse, for expanding the scope of the Crusades...including the sack of Constantinople, a Christian albeit Eastern Orthodox empire.

Begun in Languedoc in present day southern France and known as the Albigensian Crusade, or Cathar Crusade, it quickly took on an air of mercenary adventurism.  Pope Innocent III declared a crusade against the Cathars, offering lands of Cathar "heretics" to any French nobleman willing to take up arms..."Thou shalt not covet" notwithstanding.  There were plenty of takers.   

The Cathar crusade expanded the French crown at the expense of neighboring Languedoc.  It was a power play of sorts--eliminate competitors.  Pope Innocent III claimed supremacy over Europe's Christian states, as the most powerful of all medieval Popes.  As a matter of routine, he used the interdict to ban or censure, to compel his decisions, get his way.  Yes, he solidified medieval canon law...but there is always a price. 

April 3, 2023 Queen Mary of Scots rosary; Traquair House

An inquisition was a systematic persecution of non-Catholic Christian religions in Europe.  Arguably, it might be said that the first true inquisition dates nearly a thousand years before Innocent III.  To the late 3rd century and Arianism (256-336 AD), which was declared a heresy.  (If truth be known, inquisitions probably date back to the Apostles themselves, ever bickering.)

April 3, 2023  The cradle that rocked future King James VI/I; Traquair House

But that a "reverse persecution" would eventually supervene in the form of Oliver Cromwell's iconoclastic Roundheads, during the English civil war (c. 1650s), almost makes one want to belt out a rousing stanza of "Don't Cry for Me Argentina" (Julie Covington, "Evita" concept album, 1976).  Almost.

Suffice it to say that there were persecutions aplenty.  More than enough blame to go round.

April 3, 2023  A hidden church; Traquair House

This brings us to a period in Scotland when religious strife was tearing the country apart--Protestant vs. Catholic.  Over several decades under the Scottish Reformation, the divide would finally come out in the open.  The early death of Frances II, the Dauphine of France and husband to Mary Queen of Scots (a devout Catholic), set the stage for fierce internecine battles.  

After Frances II's death, and having no place in France's succession, Mary sailed for Scotland in 1561 to take up its crown.  But having been away in France for 13 years (ever since the age of 5), Mary was not exactly Scottish anymore.  Much had changed.

The root of the conflict, of course, had its start with the English king Henry VIII, who set aside Catherine of Aragon to marry Anne Boleyn.  When the Pope (Clement VII) refused to grant an annulment, Henry split from the Catholic Church and founded the Church of England.  By the time Mary arrived from France in 1561,  Presbyterian lords held the reigns of power in Scotland. 

April 3, 2023  Priest's raiments; Traquair House

Despite apprehensions, Mary was actually fairly tolerant of the newly established Protestant ascendancy in Scotland.  It was one of self-interest perhaps, for it is said she had her eye on England's crown being the only surviving child of the Stuart King James V.  She did not wish to unnecessarily antagonize Protestant opinion south of Scotland's Borders.  But this put her at odds with Scottish Catholic parties, notably with George Gordon, 4th Earl of Huntly, who rose in rebellion in 1562 but was defeated at Corrichie, a one sided affair, on October 28, 1562...only a year after Mary had returned from France.

April 3, 2023  Inside family chapel; Traquair House

April 3, 2023  Priest Hole; Traquair House

Protestant Christianity, by the by, was not uniform (despite claims to the contrary) in its hostility toward the use of religious images and icons.  None other than Martin Luther taught of the "importance of images as tools for instruction and aids to devotion."  Luther was conservative.  His words, unfortunately, fell on the deaf ears of radicals.

Here perhaps a few words may clear up some confusion.  Though they were contemporaries, Mary Queen of Scots is not the same as Mary I, or "Bloody Mary" the eventual Queen of England. Born February 18, 1516 as the first born child and only survivor of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, Bloody Mary was legitimate by all accounts.  The first undisputed Queen Regent of England from July 6, 1553 to her death November 17, 1558.  

"Bloody Mary's" reign is marked with a "vigorous" determination to reverse the Reformation, to return England back to Catholicism.  Once out, though, the genie is difficult to put back, after 20 years instituted by her father who first put aside Catherine of Aragon in divorce.  

Her sobriquet was well-earned--she burned 300 or more at the stake.  Protestants in England and Wales were summarily executed under legislation that punished any and all judged guilty of heresy against Catholicism.  Legislation particularly adopted burning.  Torture de rigueur, or avant-garde at any rate.  

April 3, 2023  Traquair House

Goes around, comes around.  It would then be Catholicism's turn to be a hunted faith with the death of Bloody Mary.  Her half-sister, Protestant Queen Elizabeth, came to the throne.  Given Catholic resistance early in Elizabeth's reign, her legislation became increasingly draconian.  And it would be priests who were imprisoned, tortured and killed as "pursuivants," or priest-hunters, sought those inclined to Mass.  

April 3, 2023  Priest Hole stair; Traquair House

"Priest Holes" were made in response.  Priest Holes were hiding places, typically built in houses of the wealthy in fireplaces, attics, building alterations, under the floor boards, and especially staircases from about 1570 until roughly 1605 with the death of Elizabeth I.  Pursuivants would measure the "footprint" of the house and compare outside versus inside measurements to see if they tallied, tapping the walls and floors for any hollow sound.  All in all, Priest Holes were fairly effective, given declining numbers of priests who were executed over the next several decades under Queen Elizabeth.  That, or they just lost interest in the exercise altogether.

April 3, 2023  Traquair House grounds

With this, we share a few photos regarding "priest holes" and Traquair House, Scotland.  It is appropriate to include a line from Psalm 73 (and the 1571 medallion of the Spanish Inquisition).  The olive branch symbolizes mercy; the sword punishment.

April 3, 2023  Traquair House hidden stairwell

Again, there is more than enough blame to go around, Protestant versus Catholic; Catholic versus Orthodox (and thus Celtic).  I leave to Almighty God the determination of the rightness or wrongness.  We have certainly made many martyrs over time.  Whether through direct affirmation or indirect apathy.  All too many...on all sides.  Aye then.  "Arise, Lord, and judge your cause".