#a city that reviles and reveres a man in the same breath

[demonzoro]

for me, i think the most painful part of tom's workers and the whole backstory surrounding that is not actually the events of the backstory itself, but that even years after the worth of the sea train been proved and the way water seven has flourished because of it, tom's legacy is still marred by the misconception he was a violent traitor. the way the island's pride and joy is the galley-la company but iceburg still can't clear tom's name as the city he loves continues to badmouth his beloved mentor. robin shouting, "you have no idea how much the world government has warped my life!" the way the world government can completely corrode someone's history and legacy

[scotianostra]

On May 21st 1650 James Graham, Marquess of Montrose, the chief Royalist military commander in Scotland was executed. (part two)

After being paraded through the towns of Scotland on the journey south Montrose was arrived at the Water Gate of Edinburgh where he was met by the City Magistrates. Mounted on a cart, with his hands tied so as to be unable to protect himself, the people were urged to pelt him with stones and rubbish. Thankfully this did not happen and so sweet was his carriage that even the women who had been paid to stone and abuse him were moved to tears upon observing his unfortunate predicament. The next day these same women were roundly rebuked from the pulpits for not taking the opportunity to revile and abuse him.

As the cart made its way up the Royal Mile it was stopped adjacent to Argyll's lodging of Moray House where the wedding of Lord Lorne and Lady Jean Gordon was in progress. As the party stood on the balcony and made ready to mock him, Montrose sensed what was afoot and defiantly turned his face towards them. Argyll stood at the back of the group shielded by a curtain, when it was wryly observed that even then he was unable to stand and look Montrose directly in the eye. Lady Gordon was heard to laugh aloud at Montrose whereupon an English gentleman in the crowd shouted to her that it should be she who should be in the cart for her adulteries.

In one version of this story I have read that someone from the balcony urinated on The Marquess as the cart sat there, I'm not sure if this is true though.

Moving on up the High Street Montrose was incarcerated in the Tollbooth, which at that time stood next to St. Giles Cathedral. His gaolers took delight in making his stay uncomfortable and in blowing tobacco smoke in his face, which they knew he detested.

Montrose had been a thorn in the side of the leaders of the Covenant for years now and they were not going to miss the opportunity of ridding themselves of their arched enemy. Charles the 2nd had by now come to agreement with the Covenanters and had signed the treaty of Breda, completing the total undermining of Montrose's campaign. Montrose presence was now an embarrassment to both sides.

Following a hurriedly staged sham trial, Montrose was condemned to be hanged at the Mercat Cross, the death not of a Scottish nobleman but that of a common felon. His body was to be dismembered and his torso thrown into a common burial pit. His head was to be displayed above the tollbooth in Edinburgh and his limbs distributed at Glasgow, Aberdeen, Perth and Stirling.

On 21st May 1650 Montrose was led from the tollbooth the short walk down the high street to the 30ft high gibbet which had been hurriedly erected. The Edinburgh trained bands had been called out to line the route and make sure that there was to be no attempt at rescue. It appears that, even in this sorry state, the Covenanters were still afraid of Montrose.

Even in his last moments he was denied the right to speak to the crowd. Instead he was allowed to dictate his speech to a young boy. The young scribe's surname was Gordon and, as the fortunes of Montrose's campaign had largely risen and fallen on the whim of the Clan Gordon, Montrose would have considered it a strange irony that one was to be with him at the end to record his last words.

During this whole episode Montrose was observed to maintain a noble carriage and with his dying words he declared his loyalty to both the original Covenant which he signed and to his sovereign Charles 2nd of whom he said 'Never any people, I believe, might be more happy in a King'.

Montrose displayed astonishing bravery right up to the end. An Englishman close to the scaffold observed his last moments…….

'It is absolutely believed that he hath overcome more now by his death in Scotland, than he would have done if he had lived. For I never saw more sweeter carriage in a man in all my life. I would write more largely if I had time, but he is just now a turning off from the ladder; but his countenance changes not'.

The part Charles II played in this sorry affair left very much to be desired and even his most enthusiastic apologists have struggled over the years to try to allow Charles to emerge from this episode with any credit whatsoever. Even up until the final days of Montrose Charles was proclaiming that he had not authorised a military campaign to recover his throne in Scotland. Montrose was simply a pawn in a game of very high stakes and he was undoubtedly sacrificed for the cause of the Monarchy.

Following the Restoration of Charles to the British throne in 1660 the political situation had gone full circle and the crown was once again in the ascendancy.

Argyll lay in the tollbooth and would shortly be executed. Montrose's remains were gathered from the corners of the realm and, amidst much pomp and ceremony, placed with great reverence in St Giles by some of those who had only 11 years before voted in favour of his execution.

Such is politics, but Montrose never professed to be a politician, he was simply a soldier; a soldier who stood up to be counted and to fight for a cause in which he solemnly believed until his dying breath.

The first pic is " The Execution of James Graham " the second " The head of Montrose is publicly exposed"