Geddes, Janet, "known in Scottish ecclesiastical history as ' Jenny Geddes,' has had her name trans- mitted as the person who took a prominent part in re- sisting the introduction of the Liturgy, or Service-book, into the Church of Scotland in 1(537. The circum- stances were these. Sunday, 23d Jul}', 1637, was the day fixed for this innovation, so obnoxious to the Scot- tish Presbyterians, and an immense crowd filled the High Ciuircli of St. Giles's, Edinburgh, on the occa- sion. On the dean of Edinburgh beginning to read, his voice was lost in a tumultuous shout, and an old woman, said to have been one Jenny Geddes, who kept a green-stall in the High Street, Itawling out, 'Villain ! dost tliou say mass at my lug' (that is, ear), launched her stool at the dean's head. Universal confusion en- sued, and the dean, throwing oflf his surplice, fled, to save his life. The bishop of Edinburgh, on attempt- ing to appease the storm, was assailed b}' a volley of sticks, stones, and other missiles, accompanied by cries and threats tliat effectually silenced him. This tumult proved the death-blow of the liturgj' in Scotland. It has been doubted, however, if there ever was such a person as Jenny Geddes. In 1756, a citizen of Edin- burgh, of the name of RoberfMein (who died in 1770), known for his exertions for the improvement of his
native city, published a tract called Tlie Cross Removed, Prelacg and Patronage Disproved, etc., in which lie claims the exploit of Jenny G. for liis great-grand- mother, ' the worthy Barbara Hamilton, sjiouse to John Mein, merchant and postmaster in Edinburgh, who, in the year 1037, spoke openly in tlie church at Edin- burgh against archbishop Laud's new Service-book, at its first reading there, wliicli stopped their proceeds ings, and dismissed their meeting, so that it never ob- tained in our Ciiurch to this day.' In the obituary no- tice of Robert Jlein, Weekly Magazine, vol. xxxix, and Scots Magazine, vol. xxxvi (1770), this Barbara Ham- ilton is said to have been descended from tlie Hamil- tons of Bardowie, ' but was lietter known in our liis- tory by the name of Jenny Geddes, though called so erroneouslJ^' Jenny Geddes's famous stool is said to have been burned by herself in the bonfires at the cross of Edinburgh at the Restoration, and what has been called hers in the Museum of the Society of Anti- quaries at Edinburgh has no claim to that name be- j'ond gratuitous conjecture. See Proceedings of Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, vol. iii, pt. ii, p. 179, 180." — Chambers, Cyclopaedia, s. v.
Geddes, Michael, a divine of the Church of En- gland, was Ixirn in Scotland, and in 1678 was appoint- ed chaplain to the English factory at Lisbon. In 1086 he was summoned to appear before the court of tlie In- quisition. The judges received him at first with great affectation of civility and courtesy, desiring liim to sit down and to be covered before they proceeded to ex- amine him. After this ceremony was over, tliey stern- ly asked him how he dared to preach or exercise his function in that citj' .' He answered that \\i enjoyed that liberty by virtue of an article in the treaty be- tween the crowns of Portugal and England; that it was a privilege which had never been called in ques- tion ; and that he had resided at Lisbon for eight years, during which time he had served the English factory in the capacit}' of chaplain, as many others had done before him. To these declarations they falsely replied that they were entirely ignorant till lately that any such liberty had been assumed, and that if they had known it tliey would never have suflered it. The}^ strictly forbade him to minister any more to his con- gregation ; and, after threatening him with vengeance if he should disobey, dismissed him. It is said that they were encouraged to take this step by the Roman- ist party in England. Upon this interdiction, letters of complaint were addressed by the f ictory to the bish- op of London ; but as they did not reach England be- fore the suspension of his lordship, all hopes of speedy redress were lost. Geddes returned to his native coun- try in the beginning of 1688. He was soon made LL.D. by the University of Oxford, and was made chancel- lor of Sarum by bishop Burnet. He wrote a History of the Church of Malabar (Lond. 1694, 8vo) :— Tlie Church History of Ethiopia (Lond. 1690, 8vo) : — Miscellaneous Tracts against Popery (Lond. 1730, 3 vols. 8vo) ; and the Council of Trent no Free Assembly. He died in 1715. — Birch, Life of Tillotson ; Hook, Eccles. Biog. v, 308.
Ged'dur (Ff c?c^o)'|o), one of the "Temple servants" or Nethinim, whose "sons" are stated to have return- ed from the exile (1 Esdr. v, 30) ; evidently the Ga- HAR (q. V.) of the Heb. texts (Ezra ii, 47 ; Neh. vii, 49).
Ged'eon (riCiiov, the Grrecized form of Gideon), the name of two men.
1. The judge Gideon (q. v.), thus Anglicized in the N. T. (Heb. xi, 32).
2. The son of Rephaim and father of Ananias, among the ancestors of Juditli (Judg. viii, 1 ; where, however, many copies have " Gideon").