St. Michaels Church

"St Michael is kinde to strangers." So runs the motto of the Ancient and Royal Burgh of Linlithgow. Although it is undoubtedly of earlier origin the first mention of "the great church of Linlithgow" is in a charter of 1138 in which King David I gifted it "with all its chapels, lands and other rights" to the Cathedral of St Andrews.
On 22nd May 1242, the Church of St. Michael of Linlithgow was consecrated by David de Bernham, Bishop of St Andrews. The ancient kirk has for centuries been recognised as a place of worship and as a historical memorial without equal in Scotland.
In 1301, King Edward I of England arrived and requisitioned the Church as a garrison storehouse.
Whatever reconstruction work was done in the 14th century was not long-lived as, in 1424, a great fire occurred, which caused massive damage to the church and neighbouring palace.
Over the next 115 years, St Michael’s was largely rebuilt, although many of the old stones were incorporated in the new construction.
All the Stewart kings from James I to V donated revenue to St Michael’s "kirk werk" and not until 1540 was the beautiful medieval church’s completion celebrated. This was a much favoured as a place of worship by the Scottish monarchs, most notably Mary Queen of Scots, who was born in Linlithgow Palace on December 8th 1542 and was baptised in St Michael’s church.
In 1559, the Protestant Lords of the Congregation arrived to obliterate all traces of the Roman Catholic religion from the Church. They smashed the holy water stoop along with the statues and altars. Occasionally, fragments of this orgy of destruction are found in and around the churchyard. Today, we were able to see grooves in the stone wall from sharpening of swords.
At one time  the church was dominated by the minister and his Kirk Session, who rigorously guarded the community’s moral life and enforced fines for any breach of church discipline. The money collected was used to help the poor of the parish. The church was equipped with a repentance stool, on which any wrongdoer had to sit in full view of the congregation, and a set of jougs at the church door to chain up by the neck anyone guilty of repeated transgressions. The Kirk Session minutes are full of references to such moral lapses: drunkenness, adultery, whistling, working or washing clothes on the Lord's Day or not "keeping elders’ hours".Baca selengkapnya