The Dunkeld Lectern is a mediaeval lectern which was one of the most prized possessions of St Stephen's Church, St Albans, England. The 150 kg brass reading desk stands approximately 1.6 metres high and takes the form of a large eagle with outspread wings, with the bird perched on an orb supported by a turned shaft: an eagle lectern. Engraved on the orb is a Latin inscription Georgius Creichton Episcopus Dunkeldensis (translation: 'George Creichton Bishop of Dunkeld'). The lectern was looted from Holyrood Abbey by the English army in 1544 and found its way to the St Albans church. Requests from Scotland for its repatriation were rebuffed. In 1984, it was taken from the church by a Scottish nationalist group and did not reappear until 1999. Since then it has been on display at the National Museum of Scotland, although its ownership remains in dispute. Origin George Crichton was abbot at Holyrood Abbey, Edinburgh from 1515 to 1528. He was, it is commonly stated, presented with the lectern at the time of the visit of Pope Alexander VI to mark Crichton's being made Bishop of Dunkeld. There are questions about this claim, as, in fact, Pope Alexander VI had died two decades previously, in 1503. Crichton allegedly, in turn, presented it to Holyrood Abbey. The lectern was plundered from Edinburgh by the troops of Sir Richard Lee in 1544. History In the autumn of 1543, Scotland and England signed two agreements which are often referred to as "The Treaties of Greenwich". The first guaranteed peace between the two countries for a fixed period of time and the second affirmed that an arranged marriage would take place between Prince Edward of England, the son of Henry VIII, and Mary, Queen of Scots, soon after her tenth birthday. At the beginning of 1544 the relationship between England and Scotland began to worsen as it had done so many times before. The Scots reneged on the treaties which drove Henry VIII into a fury. His response was swift and brutal. He directed the commander-in-chief of the English army, the Earl of Hertford to "... put all to fyre and sworde, burne Edinborough town... [so it] may remayn forever a perpetuel memory of the vengeance of God... for their [the Scots] faulsehode and disloyailtye... over throwe the castle, sack Holyrod house". In May 1544, the English army arrived by boat to destroy Edinburgh. The