survivors of the corps would make their last actual
appearance in public at the laying of the foundation
of his monument, on the 15th of August, 1840.
The last captain of the Guard was James Burnet,
their ancestors and successors, were attached to
most royal foundations, and they are mentioned in
the chartulary of Moray, about 1226. The number
of these Bedesmen was increased by one every
CHAPTER XV.
THE CHURCH OF ST. GILES.
St. Giles?s Church-The Patron Saint-Its Origin and early Norman style-The Renovation of &-History of the Structure-Procession of the
Saint?s Relics-The Preston Relic-The Chapel of the Duke of Albmy-Funeral of the Regent Murray-The ?Gude Regent?s Aisle?-
The Assembly Aisle-Dispute between James VI. and the Church Party-Departure of James VI.-Haddo?s Hole-The Napicr Tomb-
The Spire and lantern-Clock and Bells-The KramesRestoration of 1878.
THE church of St. Giles, or Sanctus Egidius, as
he is termed in Latin, was the first parochial one
erected in the city, and its history can be satisfactorily
deduced from the early part of the 12th
century, when it superseded, or was engrafted on
an edifice of much smaller size and older date,
one founded about? IOO years after the death of
its patron saint, the abbot and confessor St. Giles,
who was born in Athens, of noble-some say royal
-parentage, and who, while young, sold his patrimony
and left his native country, to the end that
he might serve God in retirement. In the year
666 he amved at Provence, in the south of France,
and chose a retreat near Arles; but afterwards,
desiring more perfect solitude, he withdrew into a
forest near Gardo, in the diocese of Nismes, havjng
with him only one companion, Veredemus, who
lived with him on the fruits of the earth and the
milk of a hind. As Flavius Wamba, King of the
Goths, was one day hunting in the neighbourhood
of Nismes, his hounds pursued her to the hermitage
of the saint, where she took refuge. This hind
has been ever associated with St. Giles, and its
figure is to this day the sinister supporter of the
city arms. ( ? I Caledonia,? ii., p. 773.) St. Giles
died in 721, on the 1st of September, which was
always held as his festival in Edinburgh; and to some
disciple of the Benedictine establishment in the
south of France we doubtless owe the dedication
of the parish church there. , He owes his memory
in the English capital to Matilda of Scotland,
queen of Henry I., who founded there St. Giles?s
hospital for lepers in I I 17. Hence, the large parish
which now lies in the heart of London took its name
THE EARLY CHURCH. I39 St. Giles?s Church.]
of that hospital used to present a bowl of ale to away. The first stone church was probably of
every felon as he passed their gate to Newgate.
Among the places enumerated by Simon Dunelmensis,
of Durham, as belonging to the see
.of Lindkfarn in 854, when Earnulph, who removed
it to Chester-le-Street, was bishop, he includes
that of Edinburgh. From this it must
be distinctly inferred that a church of some
kind existed on the long slope that led to Dun
Edin, but no authentic record of it occurs till the
reign of King Alexander II., when Baldred deacon
of Lothian, and John perpetual vicar of the
church of St. Giles at Edinburgh, attached their
seals to copies of certain Papal bulls and charters
of the church of Megginche, a dependency of the
church of Holyrood ; and (according to the Liber
Cartaruni Sanctae Crucis) on the Sunday before the
feast of St. Thomas, in the year 1293, Donoca,
daughter of John, son of Herveus, resigned certain
Iands to the monastery of Holyrood, in full consis-,
Norman architecture. A beautiful Norman dborway,
which stood below the third window from the
west, was wantonly destroyed towards the end of
the eighteenth century. ?? This fragment,? says
Wilson, ?sufficiently enables us to picture the
little parish church of St. Giles in the reign of
David I. Built in the massive style of the early
Norman period, it would consist simply of a nave
and chancel, united by a rich Norman chancel
arch, altogether occupying only a portion of the
centre of the present nave. Small circular-headed
windows, decorated with zig-zag mouldings, would
admit the light to its sombre interior; while its
west front was in all probability surmounted by
a simple belfry, from whence the bell would summon
the natives of the hamlet to matins and
vespers, and with slow measured sounds toll their
knell, as they were laid in the neighbouring churchyard.
This ancient church was never entire4 detory,
held in the church of St. Giles. Its solid masonry was probably very
is again mentioned, when William the bishop of St. forces of Edward 11. in 1322, when Holyrood was
,%ndrews confirmed numerous gifts bestowed upon spoiled, or by those of his son in 1335, when
the abbey and its dependencies. In 1359 King the whole country was wasted with fire and sword.
David II., by a charter under his great seal, con- The town was again subjected to the like violence,
Catharine in the church of St. Giles all the lands I conflagration of 1385, when the English army
.of Upper Merchiston, the gift of Roger Hog, under Richard 11. occupied the town for five days,
burgess of Edinburgh. It is more than probable and then laid it and the abbey of Holyrood in
961, and built up again within the year. Of what ? the original fabric by the piety of private donors,
must the materials have been? asks Maitland. I or by the zeal of its own clergy to adapt it to
Burned again in 1187, it was rebuilt on arches of, the wants of the rising town. In all the changes
.stone--? a wonderful work,? say the authors of the that it underwent for above seven centuries, the
day. I original north door, with its beautifully recessed
A portion of the church of St. Giles was arched ? Norman arches and grotesque decorations, always
I with stone in 1380, as would appear from a con- commanded the veneration of the innovators, and I tract noted by Maitland, who has also preserved remained as a precious relic of the past, until the
the terms of another contract, made in 1387, be- tasteless improvers of the eighteenth century de-.
tween the provost and community of Edinburgh I molished it without a cause, and probably for no
on one hand, an? two masons on the other, for the better reason than to evade the cost of its repair !?
construction of five separate vaulted chapels along I In the year 1462 great additions and repairs.
the south side of the church, the architectural appear to have been in progress, for the Town.
features of which prove its existence at a period Council then passed a law that all persons selling
I long before any of these dates, and when Edin- corn before it was entered should forfeit one chal-
I der to church work. In the year 1466 it was I burgh was merely a cluster of thatched huts.
The edifice, as it now stands, is a building erected into a collegiate church by James III.,.
including the work of many different and remote the foundation consisting (according to Keitli and
I periods. By all men of taste and letters in Edin- others) of a provost, curate, sixteen prebendaries,.
burgh it has been a general subject of regret that sacristan, beadle, minister of the choir, and four
the restoration in 1829 was conducted in a man- choristers. - Various sums of money, lands, tithes,
ner so barbarous and irreverent, that many of its &c., were appropriated for the support of the new
In an Act ? molished.
passed in 1319, in the reign of Robert I., the church I partially affected by the ravages of the invading
firmed to the chaplain officiating at the altar of St. i probably with results little more lasting, by the
that the first church on the site was of wood. St. i ashes. The Norman architecture disappeared
Paul?s Cathedral, at London, was burned down in I piecemeal, as chapels and aisles were added to
