Saints Protus and Hyacinthus, martyrs. St Paphnutius, bishop and confessor, 4th century. St Patiens, archbishop of Lyon, confessor, about 480.
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Born. – Ulysses Aldrovandus, distinguished natualist, 1522, Bologna; Henri, Vicomte de Turenne, great French commander, 1611, Sedan Castle on the Meuse; James Thomson, poet, 1700, Ednam, Roxburghshire.
Died. – John Augustus Ernesti, classical editor, 1781, Leipsic; Captain Basil Hall, author of books of voyages and travels, 1844, Portsmouth.
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On this Day in Other Sources.
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The Scotish Queen began to think of making a progress through some of the principal towns of her kingdom. As the Queen’s horses, and mules, had been detained, in England, she was obliged to purchase ten horses, at Stirling, for the use of her household, preparatory to her progress. She was accompanied in her progress, by her uncles, the Marquis d’Elbeuf, and the grand prior, with Mons. d’Amville: and there were a number of ladies in her train.
The Queen set out on her progress, a horseback, as she had no wheeled carriage, on the 11th of September, 1561.
– Life of Mary, pp.42-61.
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[The Governor] immediately thereafter raises an army and marches towards Carlisle, and entreats the nobility to invade England; they answer him, that they only came to defend their own borders from the English, not to invade theirs. After much debate, they concluded to pitch their tents there, and see if the English would invade them. The Queen was thought to be the author of this backwardness of the nobility; and, about the 11th of September [1522], they send 3 ambassadors to England to conclude a peace, but finding King Henry so rigid in his demands, they return without any conclusion at all; so that the borders break out anew.
– Historical Works, pp.238-275.
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The English take 28 Scottish ships: the Scots demand restitution; but instead of that, Sir Robert Bowes is sent to invade Scotland with an army, and with fire and sword acts all the points of hostility. To oppose whose fury, [George Gordon] the Earl of Huntly, Warden of the Scottish Marches, the 11th of September this year [1541], on St. Bartholomews day, [engages] him at [Haddon Rig], where he overthrows the English army, takes their two leaders, Sir Robert and Sir Richard Bowes, with 200 more, prisoners, and kills a great many more.
– Historical Works, pp.238-275.
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The Abbey buildings of Kelso must have suffered severely at several periods of its history. We have seen the melancholy state to which the convent was reduced during the War of Independence; and subsequent wars with England, which always fell heavy on the Borders, must have rendered necessary more than one refitting of its buildings. But hose church walls of massy stone were not easily obliterated. The solidity of their structure was proved when the English forces under the Earl of Hertford made that ferocious foray, in which the Church was no more sacred than the corn and cottage of the unarmed peasant. The leaders of the expedition describe it themselves, in a letter addressed to the King of England:- “From the Campe at Kelso, the 11th of September 1545, at night.”1
“Please it youre Royall Majestie to understand that uppon Wensdaye at two of the clock at after none, I thErll of Hertford, with youre Highnes armye, did arryve here afore Kelso; and ymediatly uppon our arryvall a certen nombre of Spanyardes, without myn appoyntment, gave of their owne courage an assault with their harquebuces to the Abbey; but when I perceyved the same to be to lytell purpose for the wynning of yt, I caused them to retyere, and thought best to somon the hous, whiche I did furthwithe; and such as were within the same, being in nombre about an hundred perosons, Scottishemen (whereof twelve of them were monkes), perswaded with their own follye and wilfulnes to kepe yt, whiche no man of any consideration of the daungier they were yn, the thing not being tenable, wolde have don, did refuse to rendre and delyver it. Wheruppon I caused the same to be approched out of hande with ordnaunce, and within an hower or lytell more made a grett breche; and the Spanyardes, whiche had byn at yt before, desyryng the assaulte, which I graunted theym, did enter the churche at the breche, and haundeled yt so sharpely, that the Scottes were by and by dryven into the steple, whiche was of good strenght, and the waye to theym so narrowe and dangerous, that the night being at hand, althoughe they had wonne the churche, and all the house in effect saving that steple, yet they were forced, by reason of the night, to leave the assaulte till the next morning, setting a goode watche all nighte aboute the house; whiche was not so well kept but that a dosen of the Scottes, in the darke of the night, escaped out of the house by ropes, out at back wyndowes and corners, with no lytell daungier of their lyves. When the daye came, and the steple eftsones assaulted, yt was ymediatly wonne, and as many Scottes slayne as were within; and som also that fledde in the night were taken abrode. Of the Spanyardes were loste not past three or 4, whiche were kylled with the Scottes hacbutiers, at the first assaulte given afore the breche was made, and one or two Englishe men hurte, whereof Henry Isam, servaunt to me Sir Henry Knyuet, was one.
“Yesterdaye all daye, intending to procede to the makyng of a fortresse of the said Abbey (as I the saide Erle have before advertysed that I wolde, yf uppon the viewe of the place the same were fesible), we devised theruppon with the Italion fortifier that ys here, Archam, and the master mason of Berwik; and when we had spente all the day theraboutes, we found the thing so difficulte, that, in our pore opynyons, yt seemeth impossible to be done within the tyme that we can tarrye about ytt, for the causes folowyng;”
– Sketches, pp.172-203.
1 State Papers, V.
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On the morrow, the 11th of September [1562], the Queen, with her suite, set out, from Ternway, for Inverness, where she arrived in the evening. The great object, which Murray had, in bringing the Queen to Inverness, seems to have been, to wrest the castle, from Lord Gordon, Huntley’s heir, to whom the keeping of it belonged, hereditarily, as well as the sheriffship of Inverness-shire. The castle was demanded of Lord Gordon’s deputy: And without allowing him time, for consideration, or for consulting his superior, the castellan: his trust was promptly taken from him, by force; and the captain was, as promptly hanged, under disputable authority. If Lord Gordon had a legal right; if his grant of 1556, being made like many others, during the Queen’s minority, was liable to be recalled; yet, this must have been done, by some legal proceeding: But, the demanding of the possession, by an armed force, in time of peace, was illegal, and unwarrantable, even in the Queen herself, who could not act, but by some legitimate proceeding: And the Earl of Murray, her minion, who commanded that force, and directed that execution, was guilty of an aggravated murder. As soon as Huntley learned, that the castle was summoned, he sent with all diligence to the governor, Alexander Gordon, desiring him to surrender it; but, he had been put to death, before the direction arrived, from Huntley, on his son’s behalf.
– Life of Mary, pp.62-77.
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In pursuance of those intrigues, and Cecil’s hate, Elizabeth, on the 11th of September [1565], directed Bedford, her lieutenant on the borders ‘to send 300 soldiers to Carlisle, to be near, to aid the lords, at Dumfries.’ In this manner, then, did Elizabeth attempt to unsheath her sword against the Queen, but wanted either strength, or resolution, to effect her half formed purpose.
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On the morrow, [Mary & Darnley] slept, at St. Andrews, where they spent the whole day, on the 11th [September].
– Life of Mary, pp.98-126.
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On the 11th or 12th of September [1566], the Queen went to Edinburgh, for the dispatch of public business; but, Darnley declined to go with her; as he could not face Murray, and the other ministers.
– Life of Mary, pp.136-151.
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Sep. 11 [1578]. – An attempt was made by proclamation to raise the value of the coin, thirty-shilling pieces being ordained to pass for 32s. 8d., and twenty, ten, and five shilling pieces in proportion, refusal of the coin at the exalted rates being threatened with capital punishment. ‘This was altogether mislikit by the common people, and specially by the inhabitants of Edinburgh.’ – Moy.
– Domestic Annals, pp.56-80.
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On the 11th of September [1601], the burghs had done nothing to ‘effectuat the claith working,’ and the Council declared that unless they should have made a beginning by Michaelmas, the royal privilege would be withdrawn.
– Domestic Annals, pp.124-176.
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Alexander Grant afterwards annoyed Balindalloch and killed several of his men, and assisted James Grant to lay waste Balindalloch’s lands. “Give me leave heir (says Sir R. Gordon), to remark the providence and secrait judgement of the Almightie God, who now hath mett Carron with the same measure that his fore father, John Roy Grant of Carron, did serve the ancestour of Ballendallogh; for upon the same day of the moneth that John Roy Grant did kill the great grandfather of Ballendalloch (being the eleventh day of September [1628]), the verie same day of this month wes Carron slain by this John Grant of Ballendallogh many yeirs thereafter. And, besides, as that John Roy Grant of Carron was left-handed, so is this John Grant of Ballendallogh left-handed also; and moreover, it is to be observed that Ballendallogh, at the killing of this Carron, had upon him the same coat-of-armour, or maillie-coat, which John Roy Grant had upon him at the slaughter of the great-grandfather of this Ballendallogh, which maillie-coat Ballendallogh had, a little befor this tyme, taken from James Grant, in a skirmish that passed betwixt them. Thus wee doe sie that the judgements of God are inscrutable, and that, in his own tyme, he punisheth blood by blood.”1
– History of the Highlands, pp.287-313.
1 Hist. p. 416.
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When Montrose heard of these preparations, he resolved, notwithstanding the disparity of force, his own army now amounting only to fifteen hundred foot and forty-four horse, to hasten his march and attack them before Argyle should come up. On arriving near the bridge of Dee, he found it strongly fortified and guarded by a considerable force. He did not attempt to force a passage, but, directing his course to the west, along the river, crossed it at a ford at the Mills of Drum, and encamped at Crathas that night. This took place on Wednesday the eleventh day of September [1644]. The covenanters, the same day, drew up their army at the Two Mile Cross, a short distance from Aberdeen, where they remained till Thursday night, when they retired into the town. On the same night, Montrose marched down Dee side and took possession of the ground which the covenanters had just left.1
– History of the Highlands, pp.342-364.
1 Spalding, vol. ii. p. 263.
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On 11th September the tacksmen of the customs of the bridge and the grass of the Green for the year to Whitsunday, 1657, represented that in consequence of the English troops1 having come to Glasgow at the fair of that year, and of their having consumed the whole grass of the Green, and of little custom having been collected at the bridge for a long time afterwards, he was unable to pay his bond to the town. Under the circumstances the Council allowed him a deduction of 200 marks…2
– Scots Lore, pp.15-29.
1 These were the troops of the Commonwealth of England. After the defeat of the Scotch army at Worcester on 3rd September, 1651, the management of Scotland practically fell under the main direction of Cromwell, and it was united to the Commonwealth by act of parliament. A small army distributed in garrisons preserved the peace of the country, and the troops referred to in the text were those of the garrison of Glasgow. The courts of the country were re-organised and administered strict justice, the affairs of the church were entrusted to a commission, and during the whole period of Cromwell’s protectorate Scotland prospered under a strict but beneficent rule.
2 Council Records, ii. 243.
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The other troops in Scotland at this time consisted only of the 13th and 14th Light Dragoons at Edinburgh, the company of the Royals captured at Spean Bridge, the 6th Foot at Aberdeen, two companies of the 21st Scots Fusiliers at Glasgow, the 25th Edinburgh regiment in Fifeshire, two companies of the 42nd at Crieff, five of the 44th in the West, and another five at Berwick, the 46th (known as “Murray’s Bucks”) scattered over the Highlands, Loudon’s Highlanders (disbanded in 1749) stationed in the north; in all not quite 4,000 men; but, collecting these, Sir John Cope prepared to bar the prince’s way into the Lowlands.
Quitting Perth at the head of little more than 2,000 men,1 only the half of whom had arms, the latter, on the 11th September [1745], resumed his adventurous march southward, and crossing the Forth by the perilous fords of Frew, to avoid the guns of Stirling, he held on his way by the Scottish Marathon, by the Torwood and Linlithgow, traversing scenes that he, the heir of the ancient regal line, could not have beheld without emotion, engaged, as he was, on an enterprise more daring and more desperate than had ever been undertaken by any of his ancestors since Bruce fought the battle of Dalry.
– Old and New Edinburgh, pp.322-329.
1 A true account of the strength of the Highland army, 27th August, 1745
(“Culloden Papers.”)
“The Highlanders were not more than 1,800, and the half of them only were armed.” (“Autobiography of Dr. Carlyle of Inveresk.”)
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Another flood fell under the personal observation of Mr. George Brown on the 11th of September, 1746. On this occasion, he tells us, “the river rose to such a height as to cover all the Laigh Green, to over flow the Bridgegate till near Allan Stevenson’s house, the Stockwell till near James Corbet’s house, and the Saltmarket till it stopped the entry into the Bridgegate.”1
– Old Glasgow, pp.248-266.
1 Diary of George Brown: privately printed, 1856.
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The following extract is from Ruddiman’s Weekly Mercury, September 16, 1778:-
“Last week the colliers under the Earl of Abercorn wrote a letter to his lordship, thanking him for the active part he had taken in Parliament to relieve them and their brethren in Scotland from perpetual slavery, under the oppressive power of which they had long groaned,.. and entreated his lordship to allow them to come up in a body, before the house, to testify their gratitude for so humane and so noble an action. Accordingly, on the 11th September, about fifty colliers, accompanied by about 2000 spectators, marched to Lord Abercorn’s house, at Duddingstone, with colours flying. There they were hospitably entertained, and, after spending the day in innocent amusement, they departed, saying that the 11th September would be a day held in remembrance by them and their posterity.”
– Sketches, Appendix IV.
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A Mediaeval Architect.
“THE article on “A Mediaeval Architect”* throws a flood of light upon that – especially from a Melrosian point of view – eminent mason, John Morow. I happened to visit Melrose in 1869, and in the Freemason‘s Magazine and Masonic Mirror (London) for 11th September of that year there is an account of my examination of the old Abbey ruins, including John Morow’s autobiography, and also of some of the documents belonging to the old Melrose masonic lodge. When I visited the Abbey ruins my guide would have it that the ruins seen were the ruins of the structure founded in 1136, and at the building of which John Morow acted as the grand master of the Melrose lodge of masons, who it was asserted built the Abbey. As said John, according to his own account related on the stone tablet, was living in the fifteenth century, his age must have rivalled that of some of the antediluvian [pre-biblical flood] patriarchs, when he was a grand master mason1 in the first half of the twelfth century. We are much indebted to Mr. Chalmers for his careful reproductions of John Morow’s inscriptions. I think, in reference to the phrase, “Ye Hye Kirk,” that Mr. Chalmers is wrong when he thinks that in this case it does not specially apply to St. Andrews Cathedral. I think it does; St. Andrews being then the metropolitan See. Mr. J. T. T. Brown’s article on “The Inquest of David” is valuable; this Inquest helps to prove the absurdity of the pretensions of the lodge of Glasgow St. John to have been engaged in the building of the Cathedral of Glasgow in 1057, more than sixty years before the building of said Cathedral was begun.
P. BUCHAN.”
CAMBUSLANG.
– Scots Lore, pp.167-171.
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