On the Royal Mile, at the heart of Edinburgh, St Giles' raises its famous crown steeple. This great church was the very epicentre of the Scottish Reformation: it was from its pulpit that John Knox, the greatest of the Scottish reformers, tipped Scotland into Protestantism.
John Knox's pulpit
St Giles', raised to collegiate status in 1467, was Edinburgh's main church when the Reformation turned it into its home. John Knox preached here for the first time on 29 June 1559 and, the following week, became its minister. From this pulpit, he wielded a dominant spiritual and political influence over Scotland until his death in 1572: his fiery sermons, his denunciation of the 'idolatrous Mass' and of the Catholic queen Mary Stuart made St Giles' the beating heart of Scottish Protestantism. The purging of Catholic furnishings and the installation of the pulpit materialised the new faith there.
The home of Scottish Protestantism
St Giles' had known the other Scotland: in 1513, after the catastrophe of Flodden where James IV and the flower of the nobility perished, a requiem Mass was celebrated there. But the Reformation cut sharply with this past. In 1557, reformers had seized the statue of St Giles, drowned it in the Nor Loch then burned it — a forewarning of the storm. After 1560, the church became the great temple of the Reformation, before Charles I raised it (briefly) to cathedral status in 1633, an act that helped trigger the revolt of the Covenanters. To see: the crown steeple (1460-1467), a signature silhouette of Edinburgh, the Gothic architecture, the Thistle Chapel (later).
Did you know?
The spire of St Giles' is not a point but a crown: eight flying buttresses meeting in an imperial crown of wrought stone, completed around 1467. This 'crown steeple' is one of the few survivors in Scotland (Aberdeen has another) and a signature silhouette of Edinburgh. A symbol of Scottish royalty before the Reformation, it survived all the religious upheavals that, beneath it, transformed the Catholic church into a Protestant temple.
Notes
St Giles' Cathedral lies on High Street (Royal Mile), Edinburgh; a working church (High Kirk), open to visits. Hours to check.
Quiz
- Who made St Giles' the home of the Scottish Reformation?
- John Knox (minister from 1559)
- Mary Stuart
- Cardinal Beaton
- What is unique about St Giles's spire?
- It is a crown of stone (crown steeple)
- It is of gold
- It leans
- What was celebrated at St Giles' in 1513?
- A requiem after the defeat of Flodden
- A coronation
- A royal wedding