Cupar Muir | |
---|---|
Hamlet | |
Cupar Muir seen from Cupar | |
Location within Fife | |
Population | 229 |
OS grid reference | NO36021326 |
Civil parish | |
Council area | |
Lieutenancy area | |
Country | Scotland |
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Post town | CUPAR |
Postcode district | KY15 |
Dialling code | 01334 |
Police | Scotland |
Fire | Scottish |
Ambulance | Scottish |
UK Parliament | |
Scottish Parliament | |
Cupar Muir or Cuparmuir is a hamlet or small village situated just outside the town of Cupar, Fife. Lying around 25.5 miles (41 km) north of Edinburgh, it had a population of around 229 in 2011. [1]
The settlement was primarily developed around quarrying of stone, but is better known for a 1559 confrontation between the French troops of Mary of Guise and the Protestant forces of the Lords of the Congregation. [2] [3]
On some early maps, Cupar Muir can be found labelled as Brighton after the Brighton Brick and Tile works which were once a prominent feature found to the south of the hamlet. [4] These were opened in 1837 by Archibald Mitchell, so named after John Bright with whom Mitchell shared his politics, [5] and he was joined soon after by his business partner Henry Duncan. The works were at one point considered extensive, and employed around 30 people in the mid-1850s. [6] By 1909, the works had been closed for "some time," and in 1936 the associated Fife Brick and Tile Company was dissolved. [7] [8] On the site of the Brighton Brick and Tile works, occasionally referred to as the Trafford Bank Brickworks, now stands a small industrial estate. [9]
John Knox and Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie described a confrontation during the Scottish Reformation at Cupar Muir on 13 June 1559. The Protestant Lords of the Congregation opposed the French troops of Mary of Guise commanded by Henri Cleutin and a Scottish force led by James Hamilton, Duke of Châtellerault. Following the Reformation riots at Perth, the French troops were marching towards St. Andrews from Falkland. On 13 June a Protestant force of 3,000 assembled at Cupar Muir to prevent the French reaching Cupar. [10] [11]
The Protestants were led by the half-brother of Mary, Queen of Scots, Lord James, Lord Ruthven, the Earl of Rothes, the Lothian lairds of Ormiston, Calder, Haltoun, Restalrig, and Colstoun, with men from Dundee, St. Andrews and Cupar. Knox wrote it seemed as if "men had rained from the clouds." Master James Halyburton, Provost of Dundee, chose their position on the Muir to give the best advantage with their guns.
The French advanced within a mile, keeping the River Eden between them and the Protestant force. Cleutin and the Duke rode to Hill of Tarvit. John, Lord Lindsay, (or Patrick, Master of Lindsay), and Patrick Hepburn of Wauchton came from the Duke or the Regent to treat with the Protestants. A truce of eight days was made and signed by Lord James and Cleutin [12] at "Garlabank", now Garlie Bank, on the flank of the hill by the river. [13] Robert Lindsay supplies dialogue for the negotiation, giving Lord Lindsay a lengthy and persuasive speech to the French commanders Cleutin, De la Chapel, and Sarlabous that brokered the peace;
"Ye are strangers, lose not the hearts of Scottish-men, neither procure the nobility of Scotland to turn enemies to the King of France, who are now his friends, ... Likewise it is an old Scottish proverb; I will suffer my friend to need, but I cannot see him bleed." [14]
The negotiation of a truce at Cupar Muir is regarded as a major turning point in the crisis of the Scottish Reformation. [15]
John Knox was a Scottish minister, Reformed theologian, and writer who was a leader of the country's Reformation. He was the founder of the Church of Scotland.
Mary of Guise, also called Mary of Lorraine, was Queen of Scotland from 1538 until 1542, as the second wife of King James V. She was a French noblewoman of the House of Guise, a cadet branch of the House of Lorraine and one of the most powerful families in France. As the mother of Mary, Queen of Scots, she was a key figure in the political and religious upheaval that marked mid-16th-century Scotland, ruling the kingdom as queen regent on behalf of her daughter from 1554 until her death in 1560.
James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray was a member of the House of Stewart as the illegitimate son of King James V of Scotland. At times a supporter of his half-sister Mary, Queen of Scots, he was the regent of Scotland for his half-nephew, the infant King James VI, from 1567 until his assassination in 1570. He was the first head of government to be assassinated with a firearm.
St Andrews Castle is a ruin located in the coastal Royal Burgh of St Andrews in Fife, Scotland. The castle sits on a rocky promontory overlooking a small beach called Castle Sands and the adjoining North Sea. There has been a castle standing at the site since the times of Bishop Roger (1189–1202), son of the Earl of Leicester. It housed the burgh’s wealthy and powerful bishops while St Andrews served as the ecclesiastical centre of Scotland during the years before the Protestant Reformation. In their Latin charters, the Archbishops of St Andrews wrote of the castle as their palace, signing, "apud Palatium nostrum."
The Lords of the Congregation, originally styling themselves the Faithful, were a group of Protestant Scottish nobles who in the mid-16th century favoured a reformation of the Catholic church according to Protestant principles and a Scottish-English alliance. The Confederate Lords were nobles who opposed Mary, Queen of Scots, after she married the Earl of Bothwell.
Sir William Kirkcaldy of Grange was a Scottish politician and soldier who fought for the Scottish Reformation. He ended his career holding Edinburgh castle on behalf of Mary, Queen of Scots and was hanged at the conclusion of a long siege.
Walter Milne, also recorded as Mill or Myln, was the last Protestant martyr to be burned in Scotland before the Scottish Reformation changed the country from Catholic to Presbyterian.
Sir James MacGill, Lord Rankeillor of Nether Rankeillour, was a Scottish courtier and Senator of the College of Justice.
Henri Cleutin, seigneur d'Oisel et de Villeparisis, was the representative of France in Scotland from 1546 to 1560, a Gentleman of the Chamber of the King of France, and a diplomat in Rome 1564–1566 during the French Wars of Religion.
The Battle of Glasgow, 18 March 1560, was fought by supporters of the Scottish Reformation against French troops.
The Articles of Leith were the terms of truce drawn up between the Protestant Lords of the Congregation and Mary of Guise, Regent of Scotland and signed on 25 July 1559. This negotiation was a step in the conflict that led to the Scottish Reformation. Although its immediate effect was the withdrawal of Protestant forces from Edinburgh, subsequent disputes over the content and observance of the treaty fuelled the crisis in Scotland.
The siege of St Andrews Castle (1546–1547) followed the killing of Cardinal David Beaton by a group of Protestants at St Andrews Castle. They remained in the castle and were besieged by the Governor of Scotland, Regent Arran. However, over 18 months the Scottish besieging forces made little impact, and the Castle finally surrendered to a French naval force after artillery bombardment. The Protestant garrison, including the preacher John Knox, were taken to France and used as galley slaves.
Corbeyran de Cardaillac de Sarlabous was a 16th-century French soldier who served in Scotland as Captain of Dunbar Castle, and was Governor of Le Havre for twenty years. He was usually called Captain Sarlabous in Scottish and English letters of his time. A contemporary French writer calls him the "sieur de Sarlaboz." Sarlabous is a place in the Hautes-Pyrénées where Corbeyran held lands.
Robert Sempill, 3rd Lord Sempill was a Scottish lord of Parliament.
Master John Wood, was a Scottish courtier, administrator and secretary to the Earl of Moray. He was assassinated on 15 April 1570.
Patrick Lindsay, 6th Lord Lindsay of the Byres, (1521–1589), Scottish courtier and Confederate lord.
John Lindsay, 5th Lord Lindsay of the Byres was a Scottish judge.
John Stewart, Commendator of Coldingham (1531–1563) was a Scottish landowner.
Sir John Wishart of Pitarrow was a Scottish lawyer, courtier, comptroller of the exchequer, and rebel.
James Barroun or Baron was a wealthy Scottish merchant based in Edinburgh and supporter of the Scottish Reformation.
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: CS1 maint: others (link)Mr Henry Thomson, Percival, Buchhaven... Some years ago when the Brighton Brick and Tile Works at Cupar Muir were running, he was a director of the company…