Margaret Wilson (Scottish martyr)
Encyclopedia
Margaret Wilson was a young Scottish Covenanter
, from Wigtown
, Galloway
in Scotland
executed by drowning for refusing to swear an oath declaring the King
as head of the church
. She died on May 11, in 1685. Her death became part of the martyrology
of Presbyterian
churches, and she was commemorated as the most famous of the Wigtown Martyrs.
The Covenanter
movement to maintain the reforms of the Scottish Reformation
came to the fore with signing of the National Covenant of 1638 in opposition to royal control of the church, promoting Presbyterianism
as a form of church government instead of an Episcopal polity
governed by bishops appointed by the Crown. The dispute led to the Wars of the Three Kingdoms
and the overthrow of the monarchy. With the Restoration of the monarchy
in 1660 the Covenants were declared treasonable and Episcopacy was restored. Particularly in the south-west of Scotland, ministers refused to submit. Barred from their churches, they held open air field assemblies called conventicles which the authorities suppressed using military force.
Margaret Wilson had been born at Glenvernoch, a farm near Newton Stewart
in Wigtownshire. Her parents were dutiful Episcopalians, but her older brothers were among the Covenanters. By 1684 they were hiding from the authorities in the hills, and increasingly draconian action had ended the large conventicles. There were still small gatherings held indoors, but now failure to take a test of allegiance to the king, which required renouncing the Covenant, met with the death penalty, as did even attending a conventicle or harbouring Covenanters. Despite the risks, she began attending conventicles together with her younger brother Thomas, possibly beginning when there was an opportunity at a local conventicle to see the charismatic James Renwick who had newly become leader of the more extreme Covenanters known as the Cameronian
s. On occasion they also took along their young sister Agnes.
In February 1685 the sixteen year old Thomas Wilson left to join other Covenanters in the hills. The girls went on a secret visit to Wigtown
to visit friends, including an elderly widow Margaret McLachlan (there are various spellings of her second name). The young sisters Margaret and Agnes were taken prisoner, possibly after declining to drink the King's health, and put into the "thieves' hole". They refused to take the Abjuration Oath renouncing the Covenant. On the following Sunday Margaret McLachlan was arrested, and also put into the "thieves' hole" with the Wilson girls, along with a servant woman. Taken before the assizes of the Government Commissioners for Wigtownshire, the servant was found partially guilty and given a sentence of flogging and pillory
ing on three successive days. The other three were found guilty on all charges, and sentenced to be "tied to palisades fixed in the sand, within the floodmark of the sea, and there to stand till the flood o'erflowed them". The father of the girls, Gilbert Wilson, went to Edinburgh
and made a plea to the Privy Council of Scotland
for clemency for all three, presenting a petition which claimed that Margaret McLachlan had recanted. Agnes was granted freedom on a bond of 100 Pounds Scots, and reprieves were written out for the two Margarets with a date of 30 April 1685. There have been claims that the two women recanted the Covenant and were not executed, but Kirk Session records written out twenty years after the events provide detailed accounts supported by witness statements.
Margaret Wilson and Margaret McLachlan, were condemned to death by drowning and were chained to stakes on the Solway Firth
. Although at the last moment, choking on the salt water, Margaret Wilson was allowed to offer a prayer for the King, this was not good enough for her accusers, and she was forcibly thrust beneath the waves. It is said that, as the tide rose, she defiantly quoted from the psalms
and the epistles and sang. After her drowning, witnesses described how her hair floated around her head like a halo in the clear water.
About 18 at the time of her death, Margaret Wilson was buried, together with her friend Margaret McLauchlan, in the churchyard of Wigtown.
and published in his History of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland from the Restoration to the Revolution. The Church of Scotland
synod
had decided in 1708 to collect accounts of persecution under the Stuart monarchs, and persuaded Wodrow to take on the research. The account was published in 1721, and had a considerable effect on public perception despite it being attacked by royalists and supporters of the Scottish Episcopal Church
.
The death of Margaret Wilson was depicted in 1862 by the Pre-Raphaelite artist John Everett Millais
in an illustration (shown above) for the magazine Once A Week
. The magazine also reproduced the verses describing her death which are inscribed on her grave in Wigtown.
Some years later Millais revisited the subject in his painting The Martyr of Solway (1871) (shown at the left), which hangs in the Walker Gallery in Liverpool
. Although the painting today shows Margaret wearing an open-neck blouse, when conservators x-rayed the piece, they found that the figure had once been a nude looking sharply to the right. In fact the head and torso had originally formed part of Millais' 1870 painting The Knight Errant, which portrayed a naked rape victim tied to a tree. A medieval knight is depicted cutting her free, having killed her attacker. The painting received negative reviews, leading Millais to cut away the head and torso section and add a fresh piece of canvas to paint it anew, with the woman's head turned distinctly away to the left. The original figure section was added to a new canvas for the 1871 Martyr painting and was repainted with chains and the more modest blouse.
) in her novel 'The Daughter of Time' (originally published 1951) claimed that the two women were reprieved on their own petition by the Scottish Privy Council and that the reprieve is still in the Privy Council register "to this day". She further claims that "the original collector of the material, canvassing the Wigtown district only forty years after the supposed martyrdom and at the height of the Presbyterian triumph, complains that "many deny that this happened"; and couldn't find any eyewitnesses at all".
Covenanter
The Covenanters were a Scottish Presbyterian movement that played an important part in the history of Scotland, and to a lesser extent in that of England and Ireland, during the 17th century...
, from Wigtown
Wigtown
Wigtown is a town and former royal burgh in the Machars of Galloway in the south west of Scotland. It lies south of Newton Stewart and east of Stranraer. It has a population of about 1,000...
, Galloway
Galloway
Galloway is an area in southwestern Scotland. It usually refers to the former counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire...
in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
executed by drowning for refusing to swear an oath declaring the King
Charles II of England
Charles II was monarch of the three kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Charles II's father, King Charles I, was executed at Whitehall on 30 January 1649, at the climax of the English Civil War...
as head of the church
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland, known informally by its Scots language name, the Kirk, is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....
. She died on May 11, in 1685. Her death became part of the martyrology
Martyrology
A martyrology is a catalogue or list of martyrs , arranged in the calendar order of their anniversaries or feasts. Local martyrologies record exclusively the custom of a particular Church. Local lists were enriched by names borrowed from neighbouring churches...
of Presbyterian
Presbyterianism
Presbyterianism refers to a number of Christian churches adhering to the Calvinist theological tradition within Protestantism, which are organized according to a characteristic Presbyterian polity. Presbyterian theology typically emphasizes the sovereignty of God, the authority of the Scriptures,...
churches, and she was commemorated as the most famous of the Wigtown Martyrs.
Martyrdom
Covenanter
The Covenanters were a Scottish Presbyterian movement that played an important part in the history of Scotland, and to a lesser extent in that of England and Ireland, during the 17th century...
movement to maintain the reforms of the Scottish Reformation
Scottish Reformation
The Scottish Reformation was Scotland's formal break with the Papacy in 1560, and the events surrounding this. It was part of the wider European Protestant Reformation; and in Scotland's case culminated ecclesiastically in the re-establishment of the church along Reformed lines, and politically in...
came to the fore with signing of the National Covenant of 1638 in opposition to royal control of the church, promoting Presbyterianism
Presbyterianism
Presbyterianism refers to a number of Christian churches adhering to the Calvinist theological tradition within Protestantism, which are organized according to a characteristic Presbyterian polity. Presbyterian theology typically emphasizes the sovereignty of God, the authority of the Scriptures,...
as a form of church government instead of an Episcopal polity
Episcopal polity
Episcopal polity is a form of church governance that is hierarchical in structure with the chief authority over a local Christian church resting in a bishop...
governed by bishops appointed by the Crown. The dispute led to the Wars of the Three Kingdoms
Wars of the Three Kingdoms
The Wars of the Three Kingdoms formed an intertwined series of conflicts that took place in England, Ireland, and Scotland between 1639 and 1651 after these three countries had come under the "Personal Rule" of the same monarch...
and the overthrow of the monarchy. With the Restoration of the monarchy
English Restoration
The Restoration of the English monarchy began in 1660 when the English, Scottish and Irish monarchies were all restored under Charles II after the Interregnum that followed the Wars of the Three Kingdoms...
in 1660 the Covenants were declared treasonable and Episcopacy was restored. Particularly in the south-west of Scotland, ministers refused to submit. Barred from their churches, they held open air field assemblies called conventicles which the authorities suppressed using military force.
Margaret Wilson had been born at Glenvernoch, a farm near Newton Stewart
Newton Stewart
Newton Stewart is a burgh town in the south of Scotland in the west of the region of Dumfries and Galloway and in the county of Wigtownshire....
in Wigtownshire. Her parents were dutiful Episcopalians, but her older brothers were among the Covenanters. By 1684 they were hiding from the authorities in the hills, and increasingly draconian action had ended the large conventicles. There were still small gatherings held indoors, but now failure to take a test of allegiance to the king, which required renouncing the Covenant, met with the death penalty, as did even attending a conventicle or harbouring Covenanters. Despite the risks, she began attending conventicles together with her younger brother Thomas, possibly beginning when there was an opportunity at a local conventicle to see the charismatic James Renwick who had newly become leader of the more extreme Covenanters known as the Cameronian
Cameronian
Cameronian was a name given to a section of the Scottish Covenanters who followed the teachings of Richard Cameron, and who were composed principally of those who signed the Sanquhar Declaration in 1680...
s. On occasion they also took along their young sister Agnes.
In February 1685 the sixteen year old Thomas Wilson left to join other Covenanters in the hills. The girls went on a secret visit to Wigtown
Wigtown
Wigtown is a town and former royal burgh in the Machars of Galloway in the south west of Scotland. It lies south of Newton Stewart and east of Stranraer. It has a population of about 1,000...
to visit friends, including an elderly widow Margaret McLachlan (there are various spellings of her second name). The young sisters Margaret and Agnes were taken prisoner, possibly after declining to drink the King's health, and put into the "thieves' hole". They refused to take the Abjuration Oath renouncing the Covenant. On the following Sunday Margaret McLachlan was arrested, and also put into the "thieves' hole" with the Wilson girls, along with a servant woman. Taken before the assizes of the Government Commissioners for Wigtownshire, the servant was found partially guilty and given a sentence of flogging and pillory
Pillory
The pillory was a device made of a wooden or metal framework erected on a post, with holes for securing the head and hands, formerly used for punishment by public humiliation and often further physical abuse, sometimes lethal...
ing on three successive days. The other three were found guilty on all charges, and sentenced to be "tied to palisades fixed in the sand, within the floodmark of the sea, and there to stand till the flood o'erflowed them". The father of the girls, Gilbert Wilson, went to Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
and made a plea to the Privy Council of Scotland
Privy Council of Scotland
The Privy Council of Scotland was a body that advised the King.In the range of its functions the council was often more important than the Estates in the running the country. Its registers include a wide range of material on the political, administrative, economic and social affairs of Scotland...
for clemency for all three, presenting a petition which claimed that Margaret McLachlan had recanted. Agnes was granted freedom on a bond of 100 Pounds Scots, and reprieves were written out for the two Margarets with a date of 30 April 1685. There have been claims that the two women recanted the Covenant and were not executed, but Kirk Session records written out twenty years after the events provide detailed accounts supported by witness statements.
Margaret Wilson and Margaret McLachlan, were condemned to death by drowning and were chained to stakes on the Solway Firth
Solway Firth
The Solway Firth is a firth that forms part of the border between England and Scotland, between Cumbria and Dumfries and Galloway. It stretches from St Bees Head, just south of Whitehaven in Cumbria, to the Mull of Galloway, on the western end of Dumfries and Galloway. The Isle of Man is also very...
. Although at the last moment, choking on the salt water, Margaret Wilson was allowed to offer a prayer for the King, this was not good enough for her accusers, and she was forcibly thrust beneath the waves. It is said that, as the tide rose, she defiantly quoted from the psalms
Psalms
The Book of Psalms , commonly referred to simply as Psalms, is a book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Bible...
and the epistles and sang. After her drowning, witnesses described how her hair floated around her head like a halo in the clear water.
About 18 at the time of her death, Margaret Wilson was buried, together with her friend Margaret McLauchlan, in the churchyard of Wigtown.
Martyrology
The story of the Wigtown Martyrs was among those collected by Robert WodrowRobert Wodrow
Robert Wodrow , Scottish historian, was born at Glasgow, being a son of James Wodrow, professor of divinity.-Biography:Ordered as in the text above:...
and published in his History of the Sufferings of the Church of Scotland from the Restoration to the Revolution. The Church of Scotland
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland, known informally by its Scots language name, the Kirk, is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....
synod
Synod
A synod historically is a council of a church, usually convened to decide an issue of doctrine, administration or application. In modern usage, the word often refers to the governing body of a particular church, whether its members are meeting or not...
had decided in 1708 to collect accounts of persecution under the Stuart monarchs, and persuaded Wodrow to take on the research. The account was published in 1721, and had a considerable effect on public perception despite it being attacked by royalists and supporters of the Scottish Episcopal Church
Scottish Episcopal Church
The Scottish Episcopal Church is a Christian church in Scotland, consisting of seven dioceses. Since the 17th century, it has had an identity distinct from the presbyterian Church of Scotland....
.
Millais painting
John Everett Millais
Sir John Everett Millais, 1st Baronet, PRA was an English painter and illustrator and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.-Early life:...
in an illustration (shown above) for the magazine Once A Week
Once A Week (magazine)
Once A Week was an English weekly illustrated literary magazine published by Bradbury and Evans. According to John Sutherland, "[h]istorically the magazine's main achievement was to provide an outlet for [an] innovative group of illustrators [in] the 1860s."The magazine was founded in consequence...
. The magazine also reproduced the verses describing her death which are inscribed on her grave in Wigtown.
Some years later Millais revisited the subject in his painting The Martyr of Solway (1871) (shown at the left), which hangs in the Walker Gallery in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
. Although the painting today shows Margaret wearing an open-neck blouse, when conservators x-rayed the piece, they found that the figure had once been a nude looking sharply to the right. In fact the head and torso had originally formed part of Millais' 1870 painting The Knight Errant, which portrayed a naked rape victim tied to a tree. A medieval knight is depicted cutting her free, having killed her attacker. The painting received negative reviews, leading Millais to cut away the head and torso section and add a fresh piece of canvas to paint it anew, with the woman's head turned distinctly away to the left. The original figure section was added to a new canvas for the 1871 Martyr painting and was repainted with chains and the more modest blouse.
Fictional treatment
The author Elizabeth Mackintosh (under the pen name Josephine TeyJosephine Tey
Josephine Tey was a pseudonym used by Elizabeth Mackintosh a Scottish author best known for her mystery novels. She also wrote as Gordon Daviot, under which name she wrote plays with an historical theme....
) in her novel 'The Daughter of Time' (originally published 1951) claimed that the two women were reprieved on their own petition by the Scottish Privy Council and that the reprieve is still in the Privy Council register "to this day". She further claims that "the original collector of the material, canvassing the Wigtown district only forty years after the supposed martyrdom and at the height of the Presbyterian triumph, complains that "many deny that this happened"; and couldn't find any eyewitnesses at all".