St. Margaret - Scotland's Saintly Queen

delivered at the Kirking of the Tartan, The Church of the Transfiguration, Cranston, Rhode Island by Bruce Hedman on November 14, 1999

Since we saw you last, Sandy and I were privileged to spend five months in Scotland and Ireland while I was on sabbatical leave a the university of Edinburgh fall term, 1998. We came to know Edinburgh quite well, and the most serene spot I found was St. Margaret’s Chapel atop Edinburgh Castle. It is the oldest structure in Edinburgh, and only measures some thirty feet in length. Its semi-circular chancel is set off from the rectangular nave by a finely carved Romanesque arch ornamented with chevrons. It was built in the 11th century by Queen Margaret, wife of King Malcolm Canmore as a private chapel for the royal family. After the Reformation, the building was used to store gunpowder, and its original purpose forgotten until 1845, when it was restored.

When we first visited the Castle in September, we clambered over the walls and parapets with the milling crowd of other tourists. But we saw when people entered St. Margaret’s Chapel they became very quiet. We, too, sat reflectively for long moments in the Chapel’s pews, awed by remembering those Christians who a thousand years ago worshipped within these very stone walls. Today the Chapel can accommodate perhaps 30 people, and is used for marriages and baptisms for the Castle’s small garrison. Sunlight filters in through five narrow slit windows, surmounted by stain glass images of Saints Andrew, Ninian, Columba, of William Wallace, and of Margaret. The Chapel houses a Gospel Book which belonged to Margaret herself.

As we toured Scotland I was struck by how deep a mark Margaret left on Scotland, even after a thousand years. She, in fact, was born and raised in Hungary, whose father and mother were prince and princess, respectively, of England and Hungary. When she was ten years old, her father took his family back to Saxon England, only to flee William the Conqueror in 1066. They arrived in Scotland and may have intended to sail back to Hungary. But Malcolm Canmore saw the advantage of an alliance with the Saxon royal house, and he married Margaret in About 1070.

Apparently, their’s was a love match, too. Malcolm deeply respected his wife’s piety, and financially supported her charitable works. In the seasons of Advent and lent they opened the royal kitchens to the poor. Margaret gave lavishly to the monks at St. Andrews, who preserved the relics of that saint. She provided free ferry service across the Firth of Forth for religious pilgrims journeying to St. Andrews, which to this day is known as Queensferry. Where she first landed in Scotland on the coast of Fife is still called St. Margaret’s Hope. Margaret had the first abbey built in Dunfermline, which had been Malcolm’s royal residence, and she settled a community of Benedictine monks there. Today parts of Margaret’s original building may still be seen in the nave of Dunfermline Abbey, marked out on the floor with brass strips.

In 1092 during his fifth invasion into England Malcolm Canmore was killed at the battle of Alnwick, along with his eldest son Edward. Upon receiving the tragic news, Margaret herself died four days later in Edinburgh Castle. She eventually was buried in St. Margaret’s Chapel in Dunfermline Abbey, where in time would be interred the remains of Robert the Bruce and 17 other Kings, Queens, and Princes of Scotland. Margaret was canonized in 1250.

Some have criticized Margaret for having anglicized the Scottish court and for having Romanized the Celtic church. It is true that she introduced English as the language of the royal court, that she brought the first Benedictine monks into Scotland, and that she introduced Romanesque architecture. But history’s view of Margaret was skewed by her biographer and chaplain Turgot, who favored English customs. Scholars today are discovering the extent to which Margaret helped the Celtic church. She gave large sums to Celtic hermits to aid the poor in the neighborhoods of their monastic cells. She generously supported the Culdee houses at Lochleven and Iona, so that they still flourished even a century after her death.

On Iona we again had the privilege of experiencing the serenity of Margaret’s legacy. On a fine sunny day in October we took the CalMac ferry from Mull over to Iona with a crowd of other tourists. I was surprised at how the religious Community of Iona had commercialized their Abbey. I felt that they had capitalized on tourists’ appetite for tacky religious trinkets. But there were no vendors in Iona’s oldest building, St. Oran’s Chapel, the only structure remaining from St. Margaret’s generous renovations for the 11th century Celtic Christians there. Again, we felt a sense of peace as we stood in this simple stone chapel, bare of all but the simplest altar, and felt a continuity with our ancestors in the Christian faith who had worshipped our God here on this island since the days of Columba some fifteen centuries ago.

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Inside St. Margaret's Chapel, Edinburgh Castle