Cathedral
Johnson expounds, “The cathedral, of which the foundations may be still traced, and a small part of the wall is standing, appears to have been a spacious and majestic building, not unsuitable to the primacy of the kingdom…it was demolished, as is well known, in the tumult and violence of Knox’s reformation.” The cathedral, at St. Andrews is indicative of the pervasiveness of Christianity in the region prior to the reformation. Its subsequent demolition depicts the overhaul of religious ideology, which undermined the relevance of cathedrals and the dogmas which they symbolized. The demolishers were convinced that the cathedral was no longer required; thus, spearheaded its deconstruction.
Reformation
Johnson observes, “The change of religion in Scotland, eager and vehement as it was, raised an epidemical enthusiasm, compounded of sullen scrupulousness and warlike ferocity, which, in a people whom idleness resigned to their own thoughts.” The proponents of reformation activate passion among the masses reading religious ideology. They aggressively propagate reformation ideologies to ensure that masses will join in the course of reformation. The approach of popularizing reformation is analogous to war whereby there are proponents and opponents of reformation.
Archiepiscopal
Johnson elucidates, “The city of St. Andrews, when it had lost its archiepiscopal pre-eminence, gradually decayed: one of its streets is now lost; and in those that remain, there is the silence and solitude of inactive indigence.” Archiepiscopal denotes the city’s associations with the Catholic Church and the archbishop which was instrumental in its eminence prior to the reformation. Archiepiscopal links make the city to be regarded as a religious area that is revered by many before the advent of the reformation which undermines its Catholic foundations fundamentally.
