St. Giles Cathedral

Why did I choose this place? I chose this place because it was another that I was able to visit on my free travel in one of my top favorite cities.

How was it connected to the Reformation? St. Giles was an important site for the Protestant reformation. In 1560, Scotland became officially Protestant when parliament passed a series of acts ending the pope's authority over the Scottish Church. John Knox became the elected minister of St. Giles, and the protestant town council in Edinburgh removed all things connected to the Roman Catholic Church. St. Giles became a protestant church and seating was introduced so that people would not have to stand during Knox's lour long sermons in the Church.

Something that surprised me. It surprised me that sitting in the Church of St. Giles was not introduced until the Protestant reformation. Of the 400 years that it had served as a Catholic Church, the people stood during all services.

Lateran Palace

Why I chose this place? I chose the Lateran Palace because of the fact that it was in Rome. While abroad, Rome is the city that I have grown to love the most. While there, it quickly became my favorite city, and I especially loved its rich history of the city.

What is the connection to the Reformation? The Lateran Palace in Rome has a major connection to the Reformation. This is where the Lateran Councils were held. These councils were when groups of Catholic Church leaders would come together to discuss debates and controversies within the church. The catholic church would use these to determine what they definitely believed and with the 4th Lateran council, the inquisition was created. This would allow the church to investigate heresy and persecute those who were found guilty. This received much backlash among those who disagreed with the Roman Catholic Church, including the protestant reformers.

What surprised me about this place? One thing that surprised me is the fact that in the chapel, there is a wooden box that supposedly holds the bones of at least 13 saints.

The Beguinage

Why did I choose this place? I chose this place because of its beauty and the peacefulness of it. The outside of the Begionage is unassuming but when you walk through the gates, you are just surrounded by so many pretty flowers and a quiet place. This place really makes you reflect on the beauty of simplicity.

What is its connection to the reformation? This was a place of community for the widows of crusaders who had not returned from the Holy Land. This left women without a protector and most women felt as though they had to join a religious order in order to have protection. During the Reformation, many women did not wish to devote their lives exclusively to religion. The women of this community took no religious vows and could leave and remarry if they wanted to. This became a safe haven for women as they could own their own property and women of all classes were welcome. Here, women could carry on professions, often in textile, and also taught and cared for the sick. Many of these communities were destroyed or abandoned during the protestant reformation, but those in present-day Belgium were rebuilt.

What about this surprised me? When we were walking along and Neil was telling us about this site, I was expecting to walk into a dark, almost cathedral type of building. I was completely shocked by the beautiful open place that signified hope and safety for women.

Castle of St. Andrews

Why did you choose this place? I chose this place because it is one of the locations that I got to visit during my free travel, and is one of my favorite places that I have gotten to visit during my semester abroad so far. It was a beautiful site of ruin and made me think about how temporary people are. This site is rapidly falling to ruin and being taken by nature and the ocean because it is unoccupied.

Connection to the reformation? This castle was a site of much reformation violence. In the 1500s, This was the center of Roman Catholicism in Scotland. This is also where the first martyr of the Scottish Reformation was put to death when he was burned at the stake outside of St. Salvator's Chapel. This was also the site of the execution of protestant preacher Wishart, who was an influential figure to the well-known John Knox. A Catholic Cardinal strongly opposed the reformation and he was assassinated by a group of protestant nobles after the execution of Wishart. This siege by the protestants led to extensive damage to the castle. Another Archbishop took the castle and repaired it but was also executed because of his opposition to the reformation. It was then left without a resident and rapidly fell to ruin.

One element that surprised me about this place. The biggest thing that surprised me was some of the violent moments that led up to the reformation. This includes the burning of a protestant preacher George Wishart and the murder of Catholic Cardinal David Beaton. Both of these extremely violent events took place inside the castle walls!

Heylshof Garden

Why did I chose this place? I chose this location because we talked of the importance of Worms and its connection to Luther and I feel like without his extreme boldness, the world would not be the same as it is today. This made me want to know more about the places he had to go to.

What was the connection to the reformation? Heylshof Garden was where king Charles V lived during the Imperial Diet of 1521. Martin Luther was summoned here, and this palace was the place where he confessed to his writings and refused to take them back. He believed that it would have been wrong for him to recant the words of his writings because he believed that it was wrong to act against what he believed was correct in God’s law, even if it went against the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.

One thing that surprised me about this place. The biggest thing that surprised me about this place is that when the city was sacked in 1686, the building was destroyed completely, and the details of the building’s layout remain unknown. This means that although the building has since been refurbished and rebuilt, we have no way of knowing the location in which Luther’s hearing actually happened.

This image is a 3D rendering of what the palace was believed to have looked like in 1521 although we cannot be certain as it has since been destroyed.

This is a photo of the Luther monument in Heylshof Garden today.