First, the St. Mungo of
Harry Potter fame, as in “St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies,” really
did exist. Who knew? It turns out Mungo was an Irish missionary given credit
for helping to convert the Picts (Scots) to (Roman Catholic) Christianity.
Second, did you know that there really was a Blackadder? Not
just a character on a series of British sitcoms starring Rowan Atkinson, eh?
Nope, a real Scottish Machiavellian religious figure, a sort of Celtic Richelieu.
Do I draw a conclusion from both of the above? Perhaps that
Brit authors aren’t as creative as I’d given them credit for, looks like they’re
mining their own history for characters. Not that we don’t in the U.S. ,
isn’t somebody doing a film in which President Lincoln is a vampire slayer?
A third semi-learning is that the Church of Scotland is to
Presbyterian as Church of England is to Episcopalian. The Church of Scotland is
a very austere (not into decorated churches) faith. Oh yeah, and they have no
bishops and therefore no cathedrals, only high churches, one of which we
visited today – very nice.
There is a nascent Scottish independence movement. If it
succeeds and Scotland
becomes independent, will the Church of Scotland become its state church in the
same way the Church of England is the state church of Britain
If you’re in Glasgow and
would like a recommendation of a great attraction to see, check out the Riverside Transport Museum
