The Glasgow Story
The Glasgow Story
By the later 12th century Glasgow’s population had reached around 1,500, making it an important settlement. In 1175, Bishop Jocelyn secured a charter from King William making Glasgow a burgh of barony, opening up its doors to trade. In 1238 work began on Glasgow Cathedral, symbolising the city’s growing role as a major ecclesiastical centre. In 1450 James II issued a chapter to the Bishop “erecting all his patrimony into a regality”. Glasgow was now a Royal Burgh in all but name. Later that same year Glasgow Green became Glasgow’s first public park. In the following year, 1451, the University of Glasgow was founded by Bishop Turnbull at its original site in the High Street, making it the second oldest university in Scotland and the fourth oldest in the UK. In 1471 Provand’s Lordship (pictured), Glasgow’s oldest house, was built, directly opposite the Cathedral building. Elevated to an archbishopric in 1492, Glasgow, by the end of the 15th century had become a powerful academic and ecclesiastical centre rivalled only by St Andrew’s.
Following the Reformation, James Beaton, Glasgow’s last Roman Catholic archbishop, fled to Paris in 1560, taking many of the Cathedral’s (pictured) records and treasured relics. Beaton’s exile marked a significant move towards greater civic power and the emerging influence of the city’s merchants and craftsmen. In 1639 the National Covenant was confirmed by the General Assembly of the Kirk at Glasgow Cathedral. The Covenant had been signed in 1638 in Edinburgh, and was crucial in hastening the end of Charles I’s authority, leading to his eventual execution some ten years later. Arguably the General Assembly’s deliberations were the most significant in political terms of any meeting ever held in Glasgow. Glasgow’s foreign trade had also begun in earnest, traceable back to the 1530s, and it was undoubtedly booming by the time that Oliver Cromwell, hammer of the Stuarts, visited the city in 1650 just
By the later 12th century Glasgow’s population had reached around 1,500, making it an important settlement. In 1175, Bishop Jocelyn secured a charter from King William making Glasgow a burgh of barony, opening up its doors to trade. In 1238 work began on Glasgow Cathedral, symbolising the city’s growing role as a major ecclesiastical centre. In 1450 James II issued a chapter to the Bishop “erecting all his patrimony into a regality”. Glasgow was now a Royal Burgh in all but name. Later that same year Glasgow Green became Glasgow’s first public park. In the following year, 1451, the University of Glasgow was founded by Bishop Turnbull at its original site in the High Street, making it the second oldest university in Scotland and the fourth oldest in the UK. In 1471 Provand’s Lordship (pictured), Glasgow’s oldest house, was built, directly opposite the Cathedral building. Elevated to an archbishopric in 1492, Glasgow, by the end of the 15th century had become a powerful academic and ecclesiastical centre rivalled only by St Andrew’s.
Following the Reformation, James Beaton, Glasgow’s last Roman Catholic archbishop, fled to Paris in 1560, taking many of the Cathedral’s (pictured) records and treasured relics. Beaton’s exile marked a significant move towards greater civic power and the emerging influence of the city’s merchants and craftsmen. In 1639 the National Covenant was confirmed by the General Assembly of the Kirk at Glasgow Cathedral. The Covenant had been signed in 1638 in Edinburgh, and was crucial in hastening the end of Charles I’s authority, leading to his eventual execution some ten years later. Arguably the General Assembly’s deliberations were the most significant in political terms of any meeting ever held in Glasgow. Glasgow’s foreign trade had also begun in earnest, traceable back to the 1530s, and it was undoubtedly booming by the time that Oliver Cromwell, hammer of the Stuarts, visited the city in 1650 just