Scottish Reformation
Reformed from the doctrine of the Roman Catholic church Among the twenty-odd persons martyred for their beliefs during the decades preceding Scotland 's official embrace of Protestantism (1560), there was only one woman: Helen Stirk. The only information we have about Helen Stirk's life comes to us, ironically, from accounts of her death. We know that she was married, that she was the mother of at least one child, and that she was a woman of rather remarkable faith and courage. Beyond that, her life and doings remain shrouded in mystery. Helen was arrested in Perth on the 25th of January, 1544, along with her husband, James Ronaldson, and three other residents of the town, Robert Lamb, William Anderson, and James Hunter. Perth, like most of Scotland's east-coast towns, proved to be a hotbed for reforming ideas, largely because its shipping industry guaranteed regular contact with the European continent (and thus continental books and ideas). Sensitive to the inroads ...