Presented to the
LIBRARYo///ie
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
by
JOSEPH BUIST
THE STORY OF EDINBURGH CASTLE
I
THE STORY OF EDINBURGH CASTLE
BY LOUIS WEIRTER R.B.A.
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY PROFESSOR PATRICK GEDDES
WITH SIXTEEN COLLOTYPES AND AN ETCHED FRONTISPIECE BY THE AUTHOR ALSO EIGHT DRAWINGS IN LINE BY MONRO S. ORR AND END-PAPERS DESIGNED BY OTTO SCHLAPP PH.D.
LONDON
GEORGE G. HARRAP & COMPANY
PORTSMOUTH STREET KINGSWAY W.C.
MCMXIII
TO
MY OLD AND DEAR FRIEND JOHN GEDDIE
PRINTED AT
THE BALLANTYNE PRESS
LONDON
ALTHOUGH much has been written about Edinburgh Castle, the historical interest attaching to the ancient fortress is so great that perhaps the appearance of another book on the part it played in the romantic history of Scotland is not without justification. This attempt to collect the strands of history from the web wherein the story of the Castle is woven was not undertaken with any intention of writing a 'guide-book.' My desire has been to entertain those who dwell within the shadows of the grey fortress and to give to others who may visit its ancient battlements food for the inspiration which from my earliest days I have received from them.
I have pleasure in expressing my indebtedness to, among present-day authorities, Mr. C. G. Cash, F.R.S.G.S., and Mr. John Geddie; also to the monumental work edited by the late Rev. Dr. Taylor. My thanks are due to my friend Professor Patrick Geddes, who has kindly furnished the book with an Introduction, and to Mr. William J. Hay, who read the proofs with much care.
LOUIS WEIRTER
August 1913
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION I : ONCE UPON A TIME II: QUEEN MARGARET III: DARK DAYS IV : THE BLACK DINNER V : THE BLACKEST DAY FOR SCOTLAND VI : THE POWER OF THE DOUGLAS
VII : THE CORONATION OF CHARLES THE FIRST
VIII CROMWELL AND THE MINISTERS
IX BONNIE PRINCE CHARLIE
X THE STORY OF THE REGALIA
XI MONS MEG AND OTHER RELICS
XII THE CASTLE HILL
XIII FROM THE CASTLE WALLS
PAGE
xi
i 1 1
23 37 59 93
'33
'57 181
203 227
245
Vll
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
^ Facing page
THE CASTLE FROM THE GRASSMARKET : TWILIGHT
frontispiece
QUEEN MARGARET GIVING FOOD TO THE POOR 14
NORMAN ARCH IN ST. MARGARET'S CHAPEL 18
THOMAS THE RHYMER RECITES TO ALEXANDER III 26
WILLIAM FRANK SCALES THE ROCK 30
WILLIAM BULLOCH FIGHTS AT THE CASTLE GATE 34
THE PARLIAMENT HALL 44
THE BLACK DINNER 52
THE CASTLE FROM JOHNSTONE TERRACE AT SUNSET 56
THE ESCAPE OF THE DUKE OF ALBANY 64
THE PALACE, OR ROYAL LODGING 70
MARGARET TUDOR RECEIVES THE PEERS 76
THE CASTLE FROM THE VENNEL 84
THE CHAMBER WHERE JAMES VI WAS BORN 102
THE ARGYLL TOWER AND PORTCULLIS GATE 118
DUNGEONS UNDER THE PARLIAMENT HALL 148
ST. MARGARET'S CHAPEL 154
THE FAMOUS POSTERN 160
WALLACE'S CRADLE AND THE WELL-HOUSE 166
THE HIGHLANDERS MARCH UP THE HIGH STREET 174
THE RUINS OF THE WELL-HOUSE TOWER 186
THE STATE PRISON 196
MONS MEG 210
THE CASTLE BY MOONLIGHT 230
SUNRISE FROM THE CASTLE WALLS 248
b ix
IT must be twenty years and more since Mr. Weirter and I made acquaintance ; when he joined the cheerful company and helped the opening festival of one of those groups of students, happily mingled with artists, who in hostel after hostel of Castlehill and Lawnmarket and St. Giles were in those days initiating for Edin- burgh the adoption of that free and informal mode of associated life from which the historic colleges of mediaeval universities have been a further but not always a more vital development. And I speak here first of this little fellowship of University Hall, not only as having afforded our initial and enduring personal tie, but as having set its stamp upon us both, since common environment and associated action ever tend toward unity of interest and harmony of spirit. For our association of ' town and gown ' —of individual citizen, and student then, and as yet, but planned to steep and spread into University and City in no very distant morrow — was already foreseeing, in this union of artist and student, the educational future, in which the old schism between knowledge and beauty, the long separation of learning and art, and of these from the common life, shall be abated. More than this, it was also forefeeling an opening civic future, through which our romantic old town, largely fallen though it has been for genera- tions into squalor and even ruin, should yet be worthily conserved, maintained, renewed. From our vantage-points among its highest outlooks we could already foresee its recovered precedence over the New Town, which with all its stateliness is, and can be, but the foremost mansion- suburb of the historic city. To the rightful denizens of this — the innumerable company of lawyers made perfect, who well-nigh to a man, as fame has so long made known, and social survey can but confirm, exceed those of all other cities in scrupulous conformities, in conscious respectabilities, and all the other formal virtues, and whose dynamic attitude, that of criticism, is correspondingly practised and displayed — to these, I say, our dreams have naturally appeared but vain, as indeed they do to this day, and even to most of those fathers of either City or
XI
Introduction
University who mistakenly persist in inhabiting that dangerously chilling neighbourhood. Still, our fraternity has managed to survive ; and as little by little we have cleansed and gardened, repaired and built, our dreams have developed, our plans and town^plans with them, until we are well-nigh ready to leave to our successors in these first hostels of Old Edinburgh not merely the project, but a clear and organized, albeit plastic and adaptive, design for the ' Historic Mile/ nothing short of the phoenix4ike renewal of the ancient capital as a modern one. With this too may advance that rejuvenescence of its University, which has long and at many points been in unmistakable if tardy progress, as henceforth largely a residential one, yet withal not less democratic than in its best days, with its modest halls and courts mingled among the homes and gardens of the people ; and it may be, yet more vitally and closely knit with their own renewing purpose and joy of life than even were the friaries of old, or are the settlements of to-day.
Thus, even within the opening generation Old Edinburgh may again be no less significant than in its bygone days of patriotic defence or of religious initiative, of political intensity or of philo^ sophic thought. Indeed, why not more than ever? For what if that rarest of historic marvels, that of a city's too rare culture* blossoming and architectural renewal, be after all a simple and an opening life'Secret — that which lies plain before us in the growing child, the interaction of bodily and mental life, of health and happiness as sound and sane — material conditions and higher activities evolving together ? Even for the academic town, though Edinburgh, past or future, is far more, our associated endeavours from the very first have begun to show how it may readily, even speedily, be made a no insignificant nor less individual third to those two most magnificent of the material creations of collegiate life in the past, the 'Backs' in Cambridge, the ' High ' of Oxford. For, unapproachably splendid in their way though these two monumental perspectives be, here is a yet fuller civic, national, and historic seat, in the most nobly romantic and inspiring setting ; and this for learning and its professions,
XII
Introduction
and up to their highest applications and expressions in literature or for art ; and with its innumerable study windows, befitting a city of thought, each commanding some synthetic yet changeful view and vision of city and country, mountain and sea and sky, hardly surpassed by that which of old aided the thought of Athens to its encyclopaedic syntheses, which stirred it to creative idealisms. Where better can youth recall the long pageant of the historic past, and thence proceed to grapple with the tangled tasks of the present, or search into its problems, and finally plan and strive toward the opening future, than upon this long sky-line which runs from the Abbey ruins and the Palace towers up to the yet more varied and historic Castle, and which thus sums up against the sky the past, the present, and something of the opening future ; and all this scarce less dramatically and far more comprehensively than in any other great city-view in the world ? For in the high outlooks of the classic cities so full a presentment of recent and present times is lacking, while from the towering heights of new-world centres we miss the rich perspective of the past. Here, moreover, the presentment is complete and emphatic enough to be more than a local record ; and to be broadly representative, and to a scarcely less striking degree, of the main institutions and monuments of the long history of civilization. It is no less than this social and civic completeness which gives the central panorama of Edinburgh its impressiveness to every eye. Scott's work was indeed above all an evidence of this and an earnest of more : and thus, when that tragic pre-eminence in the diseases of overcrowding amid which the University has so justly won and ever and again renews her medical fame has been cleansed away for good, and her most crowded school thus falls to mere provincial magnitude, she may bestir herself to the shaping of a new Faculty of Civics, with a School of Sociology perhaps no less pre-eminent in its turn. Here then, and indeed more fully stated than either of us has realized before, are the deep ties which after so many years have brought our artist-author and his preface-writer together — fitly at first as players in one of the masques with which we have
Xll
Introduction
been celebrating the semHubilee of our pro-collegiate and civic endeavour ; and now, fitly again, between these bookish boards, as lovers of Old Edinburgh, and each therefore in his own way intimate with its initial, central, culminating feature, the rock' built Castle.
Edinburgh, though fruitful in young ability and aspiration and rich in educative resource and influence, has ever been one of the sternest mothers ; chary of claiming, even accepting, her children's aid, but sending them forth throughout the world to seek what fortune may send. Yet few can forget her charm, and many at one phase or another of life " return with a natural and salmon-like affection to the place of their rearing." And these feel more than before the simple pride and pleasure of their youth in her antique stones, since now their very dust is felt to lie deep with memories dear. Here then is an essential cause of this book, and the spirit of its drawings and its tales together. To set forth the old, heroic Heritage of the past, to recognize mingled with this the sombre Burden, is an ever-renewing task of the arts : the harper and saga-man of old, the minstrel and the ballad-singer, the romancer and historian, and now the etcher and writer of to- day are in one true and continuous succession. It may seem long since Sir Walter first adequately revealed Edinburgh and its region to Scotland and the world ; and since then, after the memorable generation he kindled again to Cavalier and to Puritan idealisms, we have had that long reaction into a coalition of the defects of both, from which we are again seeking escape. Till two genera- tions ago and less the name of Scot has stood throughout the world with and for the noblest — witness, at simplest, the pro- verbial phrases of France — not only Fier co-mme un Ecossais, or even Hospitaller co-m-me un Ecossais, but also, and this through history most truly of all, Genereux co-mme un Ecossais : for who have ever held friendship and honour more high, and life more lightly ? But to-day, wherever English is spoken, have not the commonest associations of ' Scotch ' come to be but with drink and with bawbees ? Nor are these undeserved ; these vile thirsts and obsessions in which we thus are acclaimed by our imitators to
Introduction
excel are at once the essence and the nemesis of the coalition aforesaid, that of old mysticisms decayed with ambitions degraded. And our city would not be that well-nigh perfect expression of Scottish and of general history and civilization as which we have claimed it did it not to-day stamp itself upon every eye by its long lines of public-houses and slums, by the perhaps yet more ominously towering ' first-class hotels ' which confront them, and above all by a bank and an advertisement office upon the fullest level of mag- nificence, in fact the only two nobly situated buildings of our time upon which wealth has been poured out like water. But now again the times are changing, and we with them. The generation which will be remembered in history as most identified with the material growth of towns, but these debased with dull prosperity and drugged into squalid sleep, is now lapsing from its ill-used power, and a new age of Cities is beginning. Is this not plain to the reader ? Not yet plain in Edinburgh or in London it may be confessed, though indications are not lacking ; yet here, where I am writing, it is plain to every citizen, and even mani- festing itself before every child. For this old city of Ghent is en fete — a city to many seeming now merely provincial, and of course a long way outside Brussels, yet none the less the most historic and monumental of all the regional capitals of the longest civilized and most civilizing region of Northern Europe, this great delta of the Netherlands, of which the * Great Powers ' are still in too many ways but the lagging hinterlands or the outlying isles.
This main fete of Ghent is a world-exhibition, and that in many ways of the best ; above all to be remembered beyond its material wonders, as of radiology, aviation and the rest, for having given the clearest expression in the world as yet of a conception long and slowly struggling toward utterance at many points in England and America alike, and not least in Edinburgh — and now soon to be familiar throughout the world as a new objective for thought, a new goal for policy — that of the Revival of Cities. For here in one palace, worthily metropolitan, are shown forth the civic services of Paris, after seeing which the purest of political fools will
XV
Introduction
not so readily again sneer " Gas and Sewage/' Then near this a noble * Square Communal ' is formed by the palaces of the four greatest cities of the land, Ghent, Antwerp, Brussels, Liege. The nearest doorway to this square is that of the most varied and many-sided of Civic and Town-Planning Exhibitions as yet brought together ; and beside it has just met the ' First International Congress of Cities/ with representation from a hundred and more all the way from Aberdeen to Bucharest, at which the burgo* master and councillor and engineer have sat in unwonted converse with the historian, the idealist, and the artist. Almost as I write an hour^long tercentenary pageant has marched and ridden by, to the unveiling of a great monument to the city's worthies of yet earlier centuries, the brothers Van Eyck ; and from this the young King has gone on to open the garden fetes, and to encourage the new agricultural village.
And so on : the Revivance of Cities is in actual progress ; and here, if any still doubt, we have a kilometre and more of plan* covered walls to confirm it ; though of course how long our Rip Van Winkles may snore, or, if awakened, feel puzzled or determinedly incredulous, is a quite different matter.
Enough, however, of Ghent for the present ; it is time to come home to Edinburgh, where with all its beauty the seasons are late and it is chilly in the morning.
Pending the approaching Revivance of Edinburgh, what better task than to be thus recording its central monument and heritage with Mr. Weirter, to be interpreting its broadest aspects with Dr. Schlapp, to be redesigning its pageant of memories, as Mr. Orr in his turn is doing ? In such ways artists, writers, and readers have come together before now ; and, when the time is but a little more ripe, we too may join hands in the coming Masque of Arousal.
PATRICK GEDDES EXPOSITION COMPAREE DES VILLES (Cities and Tenon-Plaining Exhibition}
GHENT j August 1913
xvi
CHAPTER I : Once Upon a Time
CHAPTER I : Once Upon a Time
FOR the few who have an eye for the beauty of townscapes, Edinburgh is still the loveliest thing in Scotland. The grey city of the North, mantled in her delicate mists, and lifting proudly her rude spears of rock, flings her fierce head against the sky, brooding always as men come and go in the busy streets and the narrow closes beneath. About her beaten stones cling many shadowy tales of laughter and of tears, of love and desire and hate -, of mail-clad chivalry and lurking crime. Tier on tier it rises from the estuary of the river to its crowning pride — the gaunt rock on which stands its Castle. " The rude, rough fortress," of which Burns sang :
gleams afar
Like some bold vefran, grey in arms, And marked with many a seamy scar ; The ponderous wall and massy bar, Grim-rising o^er the rugged rock, Have oft withstood assailing war, And oft repeWd tfr invader's shock.
But now its rooms are drab and tenantless. The colour is gone from them- -the flush of passionate life, the ring of song and merry-making, the murmur of soft voices, and the odour of wine and roses, are no more. Of its infancy, far removed in the twilight of the
3
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
ages, there is nothing more than conjecture. Before the Roman invasion the rock reared a vastly greater bulk amidst a wilderness of forest. The wander- ing tribesmen of early Caledonia fought hard for the majestic rampart as a site for their capital- -now triumphant, now repulsed. Geologists state that the rock is believed to have been a molten mass which cooled in the throat of a volcano. Hugh Miller gives a vivid picture of the time when the waters once swept down in two channels, to right and left of the rock,
' O i
leaving a long ridge down the eastern side which forms Castle Hill and the High Street.
o
But more modern geologists show that the rock is the plug of the old Edinburgh volcano- -the mass of lava that cooled and solidified within the throat when there was no longer eruptive force sufficient to eject it.
This plug has been left standing aloft when the softer surrounding material was removed by the grind- ing action of the great ice-sheet that covered Scotland during the ice-age.
To the west, south, and north of the rock are hollows scoured out by the moving ice, and to the east is the long height on which the High Street is built, left as a ridge because protected by the hard volcanic rock. Various theories are current concerning the remote history of this natural fortress at one time almost inaccessible. According to that genial and invalu- able chronicler, Thomas Stow, the Castle was
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
supposed to have been built by the designer of Bamburgh Castle. In his Summarie of Englyshe Chronicles he says :
"Ebranke, the sonne of Mempricius, was made ruler of Britayne ; he had, as testifieth Policronica, Ganfride, and others, twenty-one wyves, of whom he received twenty sonnes and thirty daughters ; whyche he sente into Italye, there to be maryed to the blood of the Trojans. In Albanye (now called Scotlande) he edified the castell of Alclude which is Dumbritayn (Dum- barton) j he made the castell of Maydens, now called Edinbroughj he made also the castell of Banburgh in the 2,3rd yere of his reign. He buylded Yorke citie, wherein he made a temple to Diana, and set there an Arch-flame j and there was buried when he had reigned 49 yeres."
The most ancient name of which we have a record is Castelh-Mynyd Agned, signifying the fortress on the hill of Agnes } but it was known to the Ancient Britons as Castel Mynedh Agnedh, the maidens' or virgins' castle, since it was used by the Pictish kings and nobles as a place of safe keeping for their daughters. From the fifth century to the reign of Malcolm there seem to have been continuous struggles for the fortress between
oo
the Picts and the Saxons of Northumbria, each being alternately victorious. But in the seventh century, the Saxons, under the leadership of Edwin, the most power- ful of the petty kings of Northumbria, decisively repulsed
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
the Picts. The Castle was then rebuilt, according to tradition, with stones from a quarry at Craigmillar, and the name Edwinsburgh affixed itself to the settlement existing on the ridge. Thus both it and the Castle became known as Edinburgh, though the Celts moulded the name into a closer affinity with their language, and called it Dun Edin — the face of the hill. This settlement formed a nucleus around which the town has gradually arisen. Tradition has it that Edwin succeeded in conquering Scotland as far north as the Forth, while his territory extended as far south as the H umber. His successor, Egfrid, was not so fortunate, for in a great battle with the Picts, under Brude, he was himself killed, and the remnants of his army, with terrific slaughter, were driven across the border, never to return again. This decisive battle, which was fought in 685, was the finish of the Saxon monarchy. Thereafter, the defeated Northumbrians were confined to their country south of the Tweed } and Dunedin became once more the stronghold and the capital of the Scots and Britons. A hamlet of a sort had already begun to show itself, and the Church of St. Giles, a structure of primitive type, became a chaplainry of the ancient see of Lindisfarne. The church was built of wood because it was popularly believed that in the year 1000 the world would come to an end. Scotch caution, even in religious matters, showed itself thus early in this frugality in the use of less easily wrought
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
material for the raising of an edifice whose permanence was by no means assured.
Caution in erecting expensive buildings as the year 1000 approached was not, however, confined to Scotland- -the belief was universal throughout Europe, and it had a considerable effect on architecture. At this point occurs a hiatus in the history of Edinburgh and its Castle. For a period of four hundred years, dating from the regaining of Dunedin by the British, nothing is known. It is not until the reign of Malcolm II is reached that the historian can catch up the threads of its story. Owing to the destruction of the national records by Edward I, and again by Cromwell, one has to attempt to fill the gaps from casual tradition, and by re- search in other quarters. According to Buchanan, Grime the usurper, in 996, waged a series of bloodthirsty sea-fights with the Danes who attempted to invade the country, and totally destroyed their galleys. After this effort he seems to have wearied of blood and toil, and to have changed from a hardy warrior to a self-indulgent man of peace. His Queen, it appears, took up her residence at the Castle, and Grime seems to have been well contented that she should do so.
He left her to her own devices, and pursued the pleasures of the chase among the woods of Polmood. Like many another hunter, he caught a finer game than he set out to seek. Fate laid a snare for him,
7
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
and brought to his notice here, by a chance meeting, a beautiful maiden named Bertha of Badlieu. (The very name lends itself to a ballad of love and adven- ture and high endeavour.) He forgot his lady in the castle — " out of sight, out of mind." The charms of chasing the white bull seemed suddenly to pall ; not so the life of the joyous greenwood. His men sought him, and sought in vain ; he had found a new quarry, and a new zest for the chase. In course of time a son was born to the hapless pair ; and to the Queen, isolated in the Castle, came news of it. Whereat she was — and justly- -moved to queenly fury, and vowed vengeance on the beautiful Bertha. Fate guided her hand. In due time Grime seems to have found that even the fair Bertha and the infant son were pleasures whose capacity to satisfy was not unlimited ; or else the man within him urged him to action against his old enemies, who had re- commenced their forays. In any case, it was- -up and away and to war again ! News of this came to the Queen, and a band of low fellows was at once dispatched to Badlieu.
Bertha and her infant son were slain. Into one grave they were thrown, and over their bodies the murderers heaped a cairn. Then, the thirst for vengeance being slaked, the Queen took to her bed and died- -fortunately for her — before the return of her lord. He had inflicted a crushing blow on the Danes, and came, flushed with victory, to Bertha,
o
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
carrying to his love the first story of the fight. He found only the cairn !
Sick with despair, he commanded that the grave be opened that he might gaze upon the remains of his loved ones. With them he seems to have buried his heart and his fortune ; for, after this unhappy love-venture, his story becomes a tragic and terrifying moral lesson. The way of the transgressor is hard, and Grime paid dearly for his false step. The sub- sequent narrative is not clear, and rests only on tradition, but it is fitting. It runs to the effect that his love-sickness lay so grievously upon him that he lost all interest in living, and plunged madly into war with Malcolm. At the crucial battle he was deserted by his army, and taken prisoner by Malcolm. His eyes were torn out ; prolonged tortures were inflicted on him ; and he died in the deepest misery in the eighth year of his reign.
Thereafter commences the authentic history of the Castle, with the story of Malcolm III, and Margaret, his beautiful and pious Queen.
CHAPTER II : Queen Margaret
CHAPTER II : Queen Margaret
F | AHE first epoch of importance in the history of
the Castle is reached with the advent of the
JL Malcolms. The romantic story of Malcolm
III and his wooing of Queen Margaret, is one of the
bright episodes in Scottish history. Malcolm's father,
Duncan, was slain by Macbeth, and Shakespeare in his
Tragedy of Macbeth, with his customary licence, has
made Margaret the mother of Malcolm instead of his
wife. Macduffis made to say:
.
The Queen that bore thee, Offner upon her knees than on her feet, Died every day she lived.
She was a very beautiful woman, and her life in the Castle of Edinburgh was one long story of piety and kindness, of tending the poor in sickness, of feeding the hungry, and of aiding the oppressed. Legend credits her with feeding three hundred people daily at the Castle gates, waiting upon them on her bended knee, like a vassal of her household. Not only did
* J
she sacrifice her own rich robes and treasures for the benefit of the poor about her home, but on more than one occasion she drained the treasury to succour them in their need.
Her first meeting with Malcolm was the work of accident, and took place in the picturesque setting of an escape from vengeful pursuers, a storm at sea, and a shipwreck on a rocky coast. Margaret left England
'3
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
after the death of Harold about 1067 because of the Conquest by William of Normandy. After many minor adventures, she reached the Forth in safety, but was caught in a storm and wrecked on a part of the estuary known to this day as St. Margaret's Hope. (The exact landing place is perhaps a little vague, as in some chronicles it is referred to as " the landing place of the headland " at Rosyth.) It would seem clear, however, that after finding shelter in St. Margaret's Hope, she, with her brother the Atheling, her mother and sister, and the refugee English lords, gained the mainland, and were there nobly received by Malcolm Canmore, who had himself once received Saxon hospitality whilst in exile.
During the days that followed, Malcolm, with the ardour of his time and race, pursued Margaret and true love, and eventually gained his reward at Dun- fermline, when she became his Consort and Queen of Scotland. With inspired wisdom, he placed in her hands the internal polity of his kingdom, and she, inspired in her turn, ministered to him in such ways as would most gratify him. His meals were served to him on dishes of gold and silver, but so illiterate was he that he was unable to read the dainty missals which his tender wife wrought and presented to him from time to time. He would show his appreciation of these loving tokens by pressing them solemnly to his bosom and kissing them reverently. Five children blessed their union — three sons,
QUEEN MARGARET GIVING FOOD TO THE POOR
MONRO S. ORR Page 14
little x ^ the Jar
'. St. M
IHT ()T UOO-J ,)Xr/!,
Saxo
The Story of Edinbur gh Castle
Edward, Edgar, and David, and two daughters, the elder of whom, Matilda, lived to become the popular queen of Henry I of England. Until her death, which took place in a tower of the Castle, destroyed later in the great siege of 1573, Margaret lived with her children in a state of quiet happiness that was unusual in royal families of the period. Among the monu- ments remaining to her memory is the little oratory near the Mons Meg Battery, the predecessor of which on the same site she herself built as a private chapel during her residence at the Castle. Outwardly it possesses all the charm of simplicity, and is regarded as the oldest and the smallest Chapel Royal in Scot- land. The mixed masonry work in the south wall will at once attract the attention of the archaeologist since it illustrates the various periods of restoration. To the casual observer it suggests a patchwork device in stone. The measurements of the nave of this tiny house of prayer will give some idea of its general size ; it measures within but 1 6 feet by i o feet ! A modern western entrance has been built up, and the ancient one re-opened at the north-west corner of the nave, giving on to the Mons Meg Battery. The chancel, which is semicircular, is divided from the nave by a fine Norman arch, decorated with zigzag mouldings, with, on the exterior, a border of lozenge-shaped ornaments. The plain barrel roof of the nave has been restored in ashlar, and the old coved roof has been re-plastered, so that little is left of the
'5
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
original. The small round-headed windows which fill the chancel with a dusky light now carry stained glass. The eastern one commemorates a lady recently connected with the Castle. The other in the chancel represents St. Margaret, and the two on the south side of the nave represent Malcolm Canmore and their son, David I. The window in the east gable bears the sacred monogram, and this Latin inscription :--//. jfcdicula Beat<e Margarita Scotm. T^egime gu^e ob. A.D. MXCIII patriot ingraft negli- gentia lapsa auspiciis Victorite Margarita? prognate restituta A.D. MDCCCLIIL For some years the oratory was used as a powder magazine, but largely by the zealous efforts of Dr. Daniel Wilson and others, it was recovered from such base uses, and was, as the inscription shows, restored in 1853. The restoration extended practically to the entire build- ing. The arch dividing the apse from the nave was happily preserved intact, and in some of its crevices one may still find vestiges of the colouring with which the chapel was illuminated in the fourteenth century. The original Norman stone font has been replaced by a replica, given by the Society of Anti- quaries of Scotland, and here all children of the soldiers' families who are born within the Castle walls are christened.
To this quaint little shrine Queen Margaret would daily resort, and she spent many silent hours in prayer for the safety of her family and the Scottish army
16
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
during the siege of Alnwick Castle, then held by William Rufus. It was the news of the result of this expedition that brought about her death. She was already suffering from severe illness, brought on by exposure while pursuing her acts of devotion during a cruel winter, and when the story came that Malcolm and their eldest son had both fallen in battle, she died of grief two days later, on November 16, 1093, in her forty-seventh year.
Bishop Turgot, in his Life of St. Margaret, has left a touching picture of the deathbed scene. In her last moments she lifted her hands to heaven, saying in a faint but unquavering voice : " Praise and blessing be to Thee, Almighty God, that Thou hast been pleased to make me endure so bitter anguish in the hour of my departure, thereby, as I trust, to purify me in some measure from the corruption of my sins ; and Thou, Lord Jesus Christ, who through the will of the Father, has enlivened the world by Thy death, oh, deliver me ! ' Uttering the last two words she peacefully closed her eyes and died. A few hours previous to her death she had been carried to mass in her little chapel, holding in her hands a crucifix of gold decorated with an ivory figure, enclosing a relic, a fragment of the true cross, which became known as c the black rood of Scotland.'
On hearing of the death of his brother Malcolm on the battlefield, Donald Bane, who on the usurpa- tion of Macbeth had taken refuge in the Isles,
c 17
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
proclaimed himself King, and at the head of an army of wild Highlanders from the West, clad in their primi- tive dress of deerhide, marched on Edinburgh. His immediate object was to take the life of Edgar, the youthful heir to the throne, while the Court and family, then lodged within the Castle walls, were mourning their triple loss. Relying on the almost inaccessible rock to hold his prey, Donald Bane, " The Fair-headed," determined to secure the regular access facing the town on the east side. But fate was against him. Through a postern on the west side, down a steep declivity of the rock, the children escaped, and through it a few days later the body of Margaret was secretly conveyed and taken to Dunfermline Abbey. There is a legend to the effect that, during the escape, a miraculous mist arose from the sea which veiled the cortege from the view of the insurgents, and covered it for a distance of nine miles until it had crossed the Forth.
Margaret was canonized by Pope Innocent IV in 1251, and at the Reformation the Abbot removed her head in a jewelled casket, and fled with it to a Jesuit settlement at the Castle. Just before the birth of her son James, Queen Mary had the head of Queen Margaret brought to her at Edinburgh Castle, that she might receive benefit from the presence of the sacred relic. After her enforced flight, the relic remained for some time in safe custody in Scotland ; it was afterward taken successively to Antwerp and
NORMAN ARCH IN ST. MARGARET'S CHAPEL
Page 1 8
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The Story of Edinburgh Castle
to Douai, and in the French Revolution it disap- peared. The bodies of Margaret and Malcolm are said to have reached the church of St. Lawrence in the Escurial, but apparently they are not now identifi- able there.
Her son Edgar, who had fled to England to seek the protection of his uncle, Edgar Atheling, returned and recaptured the throne at the point of the sword. Fourteen years later he died at the Castle, and was succeeded by Alexander I. At this stage we find definite signs that Edinburgh was recognized as a Royal Borough and residence; and, indeed, many local features still existing trace their origin to the time of David I, heir to Alexander. He founded the abbey of Holyrood, on the site on which it stands to- day. Among the many gifts of the founder to his new monastery were the churches of the Castle and St. Cuthbert's, and one plot of land belonging to the latter is marked by "the fountain which rises near the king's garden on the road leading to St. Cuthbert's Church." The full story of the well and the garden, however, comes at a later stage in the history of the Castle.
King David, it will be remembered, is the central figure in the legend of The White Hart, which, Daniel Wilson says, probably had its origin in some real occurrence magnified by the superstition of a rude and illiterate age. It is recorded that on Rood Day, the 1 4th of September, in the harvest of 1128, King
19
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
David, in the fourth year of his reign, was residing at the Castle which was surrounded by " ane gret forest, full of hartis, hyndis, toddis, and sic like manner of beistis." After the celebration of mass on Rood Day, contrary to the dissuasions of a holy canon named Alkwine,1 he yielded to the solicitations of some of his nobles and set forth to hunt. Whilst riding through "the vail that lyis to the eist fra the said Castell, quhare now lyis the Canongeite," the noise of the bugles aroused the wild beasts of the forest and brought them from their dens. By some mischance the King was separated from his party, and his horse flung him heavily to the ground. As he arose, bruised and shaken, he found himself confronted with a huge white stag, wearing a fearsome set of horns. Immediately, it lowered its head to attack him. The delinquent King drew his short hunting sword and prepared to defend himself as best he might, when there appeared before him a silver cloud, out of which swam a cross of surpassing beauty. Stretching out his hand in mute astonishment, he seized the emblem, whereupon the stag fled away through the valley. After some minutes' rest, during which he sought to recover his senses, he returned to the Castle, chastened and humiliated. But the avenging spirit had not yet finished with him. No sooner had he fallen asleep on a couch in his apartment than there appeared to him
1 Alkwine was head of the Augustinian Monks then resident in Edinburgh Castle, and is often referred to as David's Confessor. He was the first Abbot of Holyrood House.
20
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
the patron saint of Scotland, St. Andrew, who instructed him that on the spot where his erring life had been spared, he should found a monastery for the canons of St. Augustine. Here, accordingly, he built the Abbey of Holy rood, where the miraculous cross was preserved.
Before the completion of the Abbey, the monks were accommodated in the Castle, and occupied a building which was originally a nunnery ; but it was deemed expedient to transfer the nuns elsewhere, for, as was truly stated, monks were "fitter to live among soldiers than the nuns."
David, who was one of the earliest monarchs to occupy the Castle as a permanent residence, was one of the finest of Scotland's royal line. Of an easy, democratic manner, he spent most of his leisure in the cultivation of his garden and in the study of horti- culture. He was found dead in the priory of Hexham whilst on his knees at prayer, and in the year 1153 his grandson Malcolm succeeded to the throne.
21
CHAPTER III : Dark Days
CHAPTER III : <Dark T)ays
I^W^IS kindliness won for King David the affec- tions of his subjects. Aldred says : " I have JL seen him quit his horse and dismiss his hunting equipage when even the humblest of his subjects desired an audience j he sometimes employed his leisure hours in the culture of his garden, and in the philosophical amusement of budding and engraft- ing trees." He was succeeded by his grandson Malcolm the Fourth, who reigned for twelve years, during which the Castle seems to have enjoyed a time of comparative peace. Malcolm had made Scone his capital, so that, although he frequently resided in the Castle, perhaps Edinburgh did not figure so much in the story of his life. In 1153 he appointed Galfrid de Melville, of Melville in Lothian, to be governor of the fortress. De Melville proved himself a very prudent ruler and was a great benefactor to the monks there in residence. When Malcolm died in 1 165 the succession fell to William, his eldest brother, known as William the Lion, who resided at Haddington and continued doing so long after his coronation } but many of his state documents are dated and inscribed " Apud monasterium Sanctae Crucis de Castello"
William disturbed the harmony which had prevailed between the two countries during his father's reign by invading England at the head of 80,000 men and ravished the northern counties, but he was captured
D 25
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
near Alnwick — it is said treacherously — and treated in a barbarous fashion. His release, however, was speedily arranged by the surrender of the Castle of Edinburgh to the English King as a pledge for a ransom of ^£ 100,000. Fortunately for Scotland that which was lost in war was restored through a romantic incident ; a marriage was arranged between William and Ermengarde de Beaumont, a cousin of Henry, and the Castle was given as a dowry to the new Queen. It had been held by an English garrison for nearly twelve years. The next important event in the history of the Castle took place when Alexander the Second, the son of William, convened his first Parliament within its walls on his accession in 1215 } and a still further prominence was given to Edinburgh by a provincial synod being held in the city by Cardinal PAleran, the legate of Pope Gregory the Ninth. It is noteworthy that one of the eight monasteries of the mendicant order founded by Alexander in various parts of Scotland stood on the site of the present University building on South Bridge. More eventful times were in store for the Castle during the long reign of Alexander III, who succeeded his father in 1233. After his coronation he took up his residence in the old fortress, where a bard, or sennachie, recited to him a Gaelic poem containing a recital of the King's ancestors from the time of Fergus. This bard was probably Thomas the Rhymer, who was during this period at the height of his reputation.
THOMAS THE RHYMER RECITES A GAELIC POEM TO ALEXANDER III
MONRO S. ORR Pajf 26
of
I that
* romantic
n William
of Henry,
the new
garnson
for
o*/or/ his first
^ :il 1215;
Ftlinhuroh
^ o
hv Cardinal
hv. Ninth. It
ifiira^tcric^ of the
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c\ttitful
:,c du he long
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:c-Jr father in
fW$ residence
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
It is interesting to note that these minstrels not only sang to the harp verses composed by themselves, but they accompanied their songs with mimicry and action, which were much admired in those rude times and supplied the want of more refined entertainment. Alexander became betrothed to Margaret, the daughter of Henry III of England, and nine years later, in 1251, their marriage was celebrated at York. The Queen, who was only fifteen, was greatly dis- appointed at the Castle as a residence, describing it as "a sad and solitary place, without verdure and by reason of its vicinity to the sea, unwholesome," and she complained that she was not permitted to make excursions through the kingdom, nor to choose her female attendants. The disappointment of the girl- Queen suggests that in those days the Castle was more of a stronghold than a residence, and had undergone some change from the days of Queen Margaret, the wife of Canmore, who lived within its walls in com- parative comfort.
Although very young, Alexander presided at the assemblies for the transaction of public affairs, which were held, it is believed, in St. Margaret's Chamber- the room in which Queen Margaret died. During Alexander the Third's reign the Castle, under its governor William of Kinghorn, was greatly repaired and its fortifications were considerably strengthened ; not only the Regalia of Scotland but
all the records were in its safe keeping.
27
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
The English King Henry's ambition was to annex Scotland, an ambition viewed by a considerable portion of the Scottish community with a certain amount of satisfaction. The kingdom consequently became divided into two rival parties ; one favoured the English King, and the other, which was bitterly against the proposal, held possession of Edinburgh and its Castle. However, unfortunately for the nationalists, whilst they were engaged in preparing for a Parliament to be held at Stirling, the Earl of March, Alan Dureward, and other leaders surprised and captured the Castle. The royal pair, who had been kept more or less in a state of captivity, were then liberated, and eventually we find them holding an interview with Henry at Wark Castle in Northumberland. The Castle continued to be the chief residence of Alexander during the remainder of his reign, and he held his courts and conducted judicial affairs within its walls up to the time of his tragic death on the shores of Fife in 1290. And now Edinburgh Castle enters into the darkest chapters of its history, and we find many tales of bloody deeds and wars. Bruce, Baliol, and others claimed succession to the throne, and on the pretext that he would arbitrate in the dispute, the wily Plantagenet, Edward the First of England, advanced across the border and pushed on to Edinburgh, where he laid siege to the Castle.
Great damage was done to the buildings by the
28
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
military " engines" of the English soldiers, and after fifteen days the Castle capitulated on the 1 1 th of June 1291. Edward left a garrison of English soldiers with Sir Radulf Basset de Drayton as governor } he ransacked the entire fortress of its records and the other contents of its treasury, a list of which was drawn up and included the famous Black Rood of Scotland. Edward ordered some of the records to remain in the Castle under the care of Basset, but the more important ones were brought to England, and those that dealt with the old independ- ence of Scotland were all destroyed and the remainder allowed to decay in the Tower of London. On the 8th of July 1292 we find Edward once more at the Scottish capital, where, styling himself "Lord Paramount of Scotland," he received within St. Margaret's Chapel the enforced oath of fealty from Adam, Abbot of Holyrood; John, Abbot of Newbattle ; Sir Brian le Jay, Preceptor of the Scottish Templars ; the Prior of St. John of Jerusalem ; and Christine, Prioress of Emanuel, in Stirlingshire. After the Bruce's refusal to accept the crown, Edward decided in favour of John Baliol, and issued orders to the captains of all Scottish castles to deliver them up to John, King of Scotland. "Shame at last," says Grant, "filled the heart of Baliol } he took to the field and lost the battle of Dunbar," where he had gone to encounter Edward and his mixed army, and after the defeat Baliol took the
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
road to Forfar, where the worthless Scot persuaded the Earl of Atholl that by the disaster at Dunbar all was so lost, that if he wished to save his life he must surrender himself to Edward. The brave Douglas tried to alter Baliol's resolution, but without effect. Edward, reinforced by fifteen thousand Welsh and a horde of Scottish traitors, returned and besieged Edinburgh Castle, which surrendered after a fruitless defence on the 6th of June 1296, and with ruth- less severity the English King put the whole garrison to the sword. He now made Walter de Hunter- combe, a baron of Northumberland, the governor ; but, the year following, Wallace the Hero of Scotland made a clean sweep of the invaders, drove them out of the country after his great victory at Stirling, and recaptured all the fortresses, Edinburgh Castle in- cluded.
But ere long the English returned, in 1298, with Edward at the head of an army a hundred thousand strong. The English monarch sent his envoy, Lord de Spencer, with a message to Wallace offering him the throne of Ireland if he would abandon the cause of Scotland. This offer Wallace proudly rejected, whereupon Lord de Spencer stepped forward and said : " Since Sir William Wallace rejects the grace of his liege lord Edward, King of England, offered to him this once, and never to be again repeated, thus saith the King, in his mercy, to the earls, barons, knights and commonalty of Scotland ! To every one
3°
WILLIAM FRANK PILOTS A PARTY UP THE ROCK BY A SECRET PATHWAY
MONRO S. ORR Page 30
The Srory of E
road to Fr.rfjr, where the the Earl of Athol! that hv was so Ii>*t. that if h«- wi*h
-• besic
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them out
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proud! ejected,
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
of them, chief and vassal, excepting the aforesaid rebel, he grants an amnesty to all their past treasons j provided that, within twenty-four hours after they hear the words of this proclamation, they acknowledge their disloyalty with repentance, and laying down their arms, swear fealty to their own lawful ruler, Edward, the lord of the whole island, from sea to sea." "Away to your King," said Bothwell, "and tell him that Andrew Murray, and every honest Scot, is ready to live or die by the side of Sir William Wallace." Too well do Scotsmen know how the great defender of Scotland was betrayed by Sir John Monteith, and how in chains he was shipped to the Tower of London, there to meet his death for the offence of having faith- fully served his country.
Once again the Castle of Edinburgh was in the hands of the English, and 1300 saw "Johan de Kingsston, Connestable et Gardeyn du Chastel de Edenburgh," and he was succeeded four years later by Sir Piers de Lombard, a knight of Gascony. But Robert Bruce was now in arms and soon carried all before him. In 1311 he invaded England, and in the year following he recaptured every Scottish stronghold with the exception of the one at Edinburgh, the seizure of which he had entrusted to Sir Thomas Randolph of Strathdon, Earl of Moray, Bruce's nephew. The English soldiers, suspecting the fidelity of Sir Piers de Lombard, locked him up in a dungeon and under a new commander prepared for a desperate defence of
31
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
the fortress, but by a clever stratagem it was restored once more to the Scottish King.
Among the soldiers of Sir Thomas Randolph was one William Frank (some accounts call him Francis) who volunteered to pilot a party up the steep crags by a secret and intricate pathway which he himself knew. Having in past times lived in the garrison, he had been accustomed to clamber down the rock during the night to escape military durance in order to visit his lady, and so became familiar with the way.
On a dark and stormy night (the 1 4th of March 1312) Randolph, under the guidance of Frank, led thirty brave men up the steep part of the Great Rock which overhangs Princes Street Gardens, below which is
c?
the ruin of the Well-house Tower. At midnight they scaled the walls, surprised the garrison, and after a fierce fight overpowered them.
St. Piers de Lombard (sometimes called Laland), the governor, who had been imprisoned by the suspicious garrison, now joined the Scots, but King Robert thinking that he had an English heart made him to be "hangit and drawn."
Grant says : " There are indications that some secret pathway known to the Scottish garrison existed, for during some operations in 182,1 traces were found of steps cut in the rock about seventy feet above c Wallace's Cradle '• -a path supposed to have been completed by a moveable ladder."
Bruce, who was now completely triumphant, decided 32
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
to dismantle the Castle to remove the temptation to its recapture by the English, and for twenty-four years it became a veritable ruin, only once being used, in 1335, by the remnant of the army of Guy Count of Namur, who had landed at Berwick with a con- siderable number of armed men to assist the English. Guy was met on the Borough-Muir within sight of the Castle by the Earl of Moray with a powerful army, and here a fierce and bloody battle ensued. During the fight a Scottish squire, Richard Shaw, was challenged to single combat by a knight in armour with a closed helmet in the train of the Count After a brave encounter both fell, each transfixed by his opponent's lance. On the bodies afterward being stripped of their armour the chivalrous knight proved to be a woman.
Very few of the Count's army escaped, and those who did retreated to the Castle, now a bare ruin, where they killed their horses and piled them up to make a temporary rampart in a last attempt to defend them- selves against the Scots. But hunger and thirst deprived them of energy, and on the following day they surrendered } their lives were spared by the Earl of Moray on the promise not to bear arms again in any Scottish war.
Edward III, not at all discouraged, again in 1336 pressed north, and again recaptured and rebuilt the Castle. In 1341 the Castle was once more restored to the
E 33
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
Scottish people by an ingenious stratagem planned by a William Bulloch, who had been entrusted with the custody of Cupar Castle for Baliol. "A man very brave and faithful to the Scots," says Buchanan. Under his directions, Walter Curry of Dundee received into his ship two hundred Scottish warriors under the command of William Douglas and Sir Simon Fraser.
Anchoring in Leith Roads, Bulloch appeared himself at the gates of the Castle, and represented to the Governor that he was the master of an English craft just arrived with a cargo of wines and provisions, which he offered for sale. The bait took, and early on the following morning, attended by a dozen armed followers disguised as English sailors, the trader appeared before the gates. On entering the Castle they contrived to upset their barrels and hampers so as to prevent the closing of the gates, whereupon the guards were immediately slain. At a signal given by the blast from a bugle-horn, Douglas and his men sprang from their hiding-place close by, raised their terrific war-cry, and rushed at the garrison, who were overpowered after a fierce conflict, and captured the Castle in the name of the young King David II, who had succeeded his father on his death. The following month David with his consort Johanna landed from France to find that Scotland was once again clear of the southern invaders. A few years after the Scots became bent on a raid in
WILLIAM BULLOCH FIGHTS AT THE CASTLE GATE
MONRO S. ORR
34
the
warriors ^vuglas and Sir
*red himself
,>H HJO.I.UJH M/a..ur/7 the
•IT/ H.II^A Knorlish craft
«o .1 ->M/oi/ .A isions,
and early
,\ dozen
..lots, the
•-t-t their ii)sina ot
io!c-horn, ling-place Kcd at the
flict,
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
England, but they were defeated at Durham, the young King was made captive and thrust into a dungeon in Nottingham Castle, where he spent the weary years of his captivity in engraving on a rock the story of our Saviour's Passion. In the treaty for his ransom we find the merchants and burgesses of Edinburgh and the principal towns in Scotland holding themselves responsible for its fulfil- ment. A Parliament was held in the capital for the final adjustment of the terms, at which the Regent Robert (afterwards Robert II) presided. There were seventeen burghs represented at the meeting- -among them Edinburgh appears for the first time at the head — in addition to the clergy and nobles. After returning from England, David took up his favourite residence within the Castle walls ; he at once carried out extensive repairs and additions, enlarging the fortifications, and building an extensive tower which was erected on the east face of the rock, immediately to the north of the site of the half-moon battery. The outflanking walls of this tower have lately been disclosed by excavations carried out by H.M. Board of Works.
Here he died on February 22, 1371, in his forty- seventh year, and was buried before the High Altar in the Church of the Abbey of Holy rood. This terminates the direct line of the Bruce, who had fought so hard for their right to the Throne and for the independence of their country.
35
CHAPTER IV : The "Black Dinner
CHAPTER IV : The Black Dinner
EDINBURGH, which had the characteristics of a frontier town, was as yet a small burgh, even a village. The houses were mostly thatched with straw, and so could be easily repaired after having been burnt by the invaders from over the border. But the Castle, owing to its strength and the con- venience of the Abbey, remained the chief residence of the kings, and there they held their parliaments and their courts of justice (and injustice sometimes). Another reason for the importance of the Castle was that the country round was fertile and provided ample food-stuffs for those within the fortress. With the accession of Robert II, the first of the Stuarts, a new era began in the history of Edinburgh. Daniel Wilson says : " From this time may be dated its standing as the chief burgh of Scotland, though it did not assume the full benefits arising from such a position till the second James ascended the throne." The relations of England and Scotland were more like an armistice in time of war than any approach to actual peace, so it was impossible for anything resem- bling national progress to be made. In 1383 King Robert II held his Court in the Castle, and received there the ambassador of Charles VI of France, with whom he renewed the league entered into with his predecessor. So intimate was the inter- course maintained between the two nations that the manners of the people and the architecture of the
39
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
buildings were each based on the French model. The next year we find the capital with its Castle again in the hands of the English. The Scots under the Earls of Douglas and March began the war with great success, but the Duke of Lancaster at the head of "an army almost innumerable," crossed the border and headed straight for the capital, which was spared from destruction owing to the hospitality the Duke enjoyed there when an exile from the English Court. This kindness the Scots paid no heed to, and they followed and attacked him on his retreat into England. In return, the following year he laid the town in ashes, and amongst others the first building of St. Giles' Church was entirely destroyed.
At the close of 1390 Robert III succeeded to the throne, and again we find the ambassadors of Charles VI at the Scottish Court, where they were treated with great hospitality. They witnessed in the Castle the signing and sealing of the treaty of mutual aid and defence against the English which had been
£5 o
arranged and drafted by his father. Not long after this ceremony, in 1400, Henry IV of England, renewed the old claim of Edward to the right of superiority over Scotland, and in letters to the Scottish King and his nobles demanded that homage should be
* i i * • *— '
paid to him at a meeting which he appointed to be
held in the Castle.
Henry kept to his word, and we find him with a
numerous army before the Castle previous to the day
4o
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
he had appointed. From the fortress the Duke of Rothsay despatched a messenger with a challenge to meet him where he pleased, with a hundred nobles on either side to settle the quarrel in that way. But " King Henry was in no humour to forego the advantages he already possessed at the head of a more numerous army than Scotland could raise ; and so contenting himself with a verbal equivocation in reply to this knightly challenge, he sat down with his numerous host before the Castle, till (with the usual consequences of the Scottish reception of such invaders) cold and rain and absolute dearth of provisions com- pelled him to raise the inglorious siege and hastily recross the border, without doing any notable injury either in his progress or retreat."
Together with Holy rood, the Castle was the residence of the aged Robert, never a strong King, neither a bad one, and his once beautiful Queen Annabella Drum- mond. The Queen was one of the Drummonds of Stobhall, a family famed for the loveliness of feature and complexion of their women, and, as Holinshed states, she was married rather for her singular beauty "than for anie benefit that might grow to the Common- wealth from her alliance " : nevertheless she had great
' o
domestic virtues and her prudence in counsel was
commendable.
Upon the death of Robert in 1420, James succeeded
to the throne. He, however, was a prisoner in
Windsor Castle, where he had been confined for
F 41
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
nineteen years, having been captured at sea when quite a boy by the English. Towards the sum demanded as a ransom for his release, Edinburgh contributed 50,000 merks, which shows that the town was gaining in prosperity. James I was the royal poet and "belonged," says Washington Irving, "to one of the most brilliant eras of our literary history, and establishes the claims of his country to a participation in its primitive honours." In one of the stanzas of his long poem called 'The Kingis Quhair [or Book], which he wrote during his imprisonment at Windsor, James describes the circum- stances of the attachment he formed to Lady Jane Beaufort, who subsequently became his Queen. The verse describing her rich attire may be considered as an accurate description of the female costume of that day :
Off hir array the form gif I sail write,
Toward hir goldin haire and rich atyre
In fret-wise couchit was with perllis quhite
And grete balas lemyng as the fyre,
With mony ane emeraut and faire saphire y
And on hir hede a chaplet fresch of hewe,
Off plumy s par tit rede, and quhite, and blewe.
When James returned to Scotland to enter upon the cares of royalty he resided for some time in Perth. Owing to his politic plans for the pacification of the
Highland clans it was necessary to have frequent
42
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
assemblies of Parliament there; but in 1430 he came to reside at the Castle of Edinburgh, attended by his Queen Jane and the Court. The Lord of the Isles, who had been in rebellion against the resolute measures of the King, came privately to Edinburgh, and when James and the Queen were at divine service at Holy- rood, he prostrated himself on his knees and holding the point of his sword in his own hand presented the hilt to the King, intimating that he put his life at his Majesty's mercy.
At the Queen's request his life was spared and he was imprisoned for only a short space of time in Tantallon Castle, to be released, by the leniency of James, with many other prisoners, on the occasion of the Queen giving birth to two sons in the royal Palace within the Castle walls. One of these infants, Alexander, died ; the other, James, lived to ascend the throne. The Lord of the Isles is said to have been chosen by his Majesty to be sponsor for the royal infants at the christening.
James I exercised himself in making stringent laws, one of which required the magistrates of the royal burgh to have in readiness seven or eight ladders twenty feet in length, three or four saws, and six or more cleeks of iron "to draw down timber and ruiffes that are fired." Another law compelled visitors to live at the 'hostillaries' and not with their friends, so as to encourage the trade of the former. There were also laws in regard to dress that forbade any person
43
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
who possessed not more than 200 merks of yearly rent to wear silks or fur, and commanded that wives and their daughters should dress according to their station with short curches on their heads with small hoods ; and as to their gowns, "that na woman weare mer- trickes nor letteis nor tailes unfit in length, nor furred under but on the Halie-daie." Also it was enjoined that no labourers were to wear anything on work- days but grey and white, and the curches of their wives to be of their own making and not to exceed in cost "of xl pennyes the erne."
On February 21, 1438, James I, the poet, states- man, and soldier, fell under the dappers of his
. . , . oo
rebellious subjects in the Blackfriars Monastery at Perth, in the presence of his Queen, in whose arms, indeed, he was left to die.
The news spread sorrow and indignation all over Scotland and within less than forty days those respon- sible for the horrible crime had been brought to the Castle of Edinburgh for trial in the great hall. The less important of the conspirators were at once handed over to the hangman, but the titled leaders were dealt with in quite a different way, being made to suffer tortures which had been specially devised to satisfy the revenge of the embittered Queen rather than the indignation of the people. The Earl of Atholl was elevated on a pillar at the Cross, and in the gaze of the citizens was crowned with a red-hot chaplet. The next day he was dragged
44
THE PARLIAMENT HALL
Page 44
ast
• 9
i
md
•
furred
*?» )ed
their • exceed
UAH T'/'ir/;/-.i.!H/'l« ,11 !T
<.t, states- rs of his >nastery at ose arms,
all over .>se respon- brought •:ai in the !te conspirators :;^m;tn, but the • * d-,tV...u.nt way, peciallv
with
44
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
on a hurdle through the High Street, where he was at length beheaded. His head was exposed on a pole at the Cross, and his body quartered and sent to the four chief towns. Robert Graham also, one of the most active of the regicides, suffered in the same way.
The assassination of James I exposed the kingdom to the evils of a long minority. The administration of the late King had been highly resented by his nobles, and his death was viewed with secret satisfaction. It had been the aim of James to reduce within constitu- tional limits the ponderous pretensions of the nobility, who saw the property of the Crown which they had appropriated, torn from their grasp. During the minority of the new King, who was only five years old at his accession, and the feeble govern- ment of a Regency, they undid all that the late monarch had accomplished, and vied with each other to humble the Crown and restore their own splendour, to which at that time there seems to have been no check.
The Queen, after avenging the death of her husband, hastened back to Edinburgh from the north with the young King and found shelter within the walls of the Castle. The governor, Sir William Crichton, was a friend of the late King, and as master of the house- hold the Queen placed in him implicit trust, and feeling free from immediate danger she awaited the approaching meeting of the estates. Parliament assembled at
45
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
the Castle on March 20, 1438, and adopted immediate measures for the coronation of the young King. He was conducted in procession from the Castle to the Abbey of Holyrood, and before a great concourse of nobility, clergy, and representatives of the burgh, and amid the great rejoicings of the people, he was crowned King James II of Scotland. During his minority his care was entrusted to the Queen- Mother (with an annual allowance of 4000 merks), while Crichton was appointed Chancellor of the Kingdom and had the general administration of affairs. It was not long before he usurped the office of the Queen-Mother as custodian of the King. The appointment of Archibald, the fifth Earl of Douglas, as Lieutenant-General of the kingdom, was a concession to the pride of the nobles and a guarantee for the protection of their privileges, as both Livingstone and Crichton had been elevated by James I from an inferior class.
The house of Douglas again flourished, and had risen to a height of power which rivalled even that of the Crown ; indeed, the Earl had attained the state of an independent monarch, meeting the measures of the Chancellor with haughty defiance which threatened the kingdom with civil war. Both Crichton and Living- stone viewed with suspicion and a certain amount of fear the increasing power of the Earl, who in turn looked on them with scorn as his inferiors.
The Queen to the great disappointment of herself and
46
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
party found that her son, in the custody of the Chancellor, was beyond her control. Crichton refused to allow him to leave Edinburgh ; but under the pretence of great friendship to Crichton and a long- ing desire to see her son, she gained full permission to visit the King and to take up her abode also in the Castle. At length, having lulled all suspicion, she made out that she wished to go on a pilgrimage to the White Kirk of Brechin, and bade farewell to the Chancellor overnight, commending her son to his care. She left the Castle at early dawn in 1439 with two chests, borne on horses, containing her wardrobe ; but in one of them she had cleverly concealed the young King amongst her linen. Getting safely to Leith, she set sail thence for Stirling Castle, at that time commanded by the Regent Livingstone, who received her and the King with joy and unfurled the Royal standard. Livingstone took immediate steps to raise an army of the Queen's friends and his own followers, and laid siege to the Chancellor in his stronghold at Edinburgh, to compel him either to resign his office or to recognize the rights of the Queen-Mother as guardian. Driven to despair, Crichton resolved at last to endeavour to enlist the sympathy of Douglas, and sent a message to the Earl offering him his constant friendship in return for his assistance ; but Douglas rejected the overture and declared that both Crichton and Livingstone were " a pair of mischievous traitors whom it became not the
47
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
honourable state of noblemen to help," and finished by expressing his desire for their speedy destruction. The wily Chancellor, thus scornfully repulsed by Douglas, secured a two days' truce, and the rival states- men met before the gates of the Castle, each being attended by a group of his own followers. Crichton urged a speedy reconciliation as a safeguard against their common enemy ; terms were eventually made, and the Chancellor delivered the keys into the King's own hand, whereupon Livingstone entered the Castle in triumph.
A number of banquets followed, during which the rivals vied with each other in expressions of friendship. Jane, the Queen-Mother, though ostensibly restored, on the reconciliation of the statesmen, to her office as guardian of the King, found herself so jealously watched by Livingstone, that dreading the dangers of her defenceless position, she contracted a second marriage with Sir James Stewart, commonly called 'the Black Knight of Lorn,' a man of high rank and approved valour. To the ambitious designs of Livingstone, the marriage of the Queen was eminently favourable, as, by placing her under tutelage, she was thus disqualified, by the laws of Scotland, from taking any part in the administration. Her husband was the friend of the Douglases ; and the governor, alarmed at this accession of power to that great family, resolved to take advantage of the marriage to consolidate his
own authority. His measures were speedily taken,
48
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
and partook largely of his characteristic craft and cunning. Sir James Stewart, then residing at Stirling, was seized and thrown into prison, on pretence that he had conspired against the state } and scarcely had the Queen received intelligence of the fate of her husband, when, by orders of Livingstone, her own private apartments were entered, and herself hurried to confinement on a similar charge, after a brave and unsuccessful resistance by her servants. These arbitrary acts were immediately followed by a convention at Stirling — composed entirely of persons in the interests of the governor. Before this assembly the unhappy Queen was conducted, trembling for her own and her husband's safety ; and there she surrendered, by solemn deed, the person of her son into the hands of Sir Alexander Livingstone, resigning at the same time the royal residence of Stirling Castle and the annual allowance made to her by Parliament as Queen- Mother. The deed of transference having been solemnly ratified, the Queen and her husband were set at liberty, while the young King was delivered to Livingstone, who forthwith retained him in a kind of honourable captivity. By the proceedings of the Stirling convention, the influence of Livingstone became paramount in the state ; and Crichton, who had calculated on an equitable division of power, saw, with surprise and dismay, the functions of government monopolized by his rival. He determined, therefore, with all speed to restore the balance, and his measures
49
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
were taken with great cunning, and were attended with complete success. Having consulted with his friends, and secured their co-operation, he rode on a dark night, with a hundred chosen men, to the Park of Stirling, where he placed his followers in small parties, to avoid suspicion and discovery. Fortunately for the success of his enterprise, Livingstone was at this time absent. At the break of day the King left the Castle, as was his custom, to enjoy the pastime of hunting, attended by a small body of horsemen, and found himself suddenly surrounded by groups of armed men, who hailed him with every demonstration of loyalty. At the same time Crichton advanced, and kneeling before him, protested his devotion to his person, condemned the ungenerous captivity to which the jealousy and ambition of Livingstone had con- signed him, and offered the services of himself and
. his friends in securing to him immediate freedom from
a state of undignified restriction. The young monarch, in spite of the opposition of his retinue, lent a willing ear to the solicitations of Crichton, hastened with him to Edinburgh, and made his entrance into that city, accompanied by an additional escort of 4000 men, before Livingstone had received any intelligence of his movements. The escape of the King and the treachery of Crichton filled Livingstone with mingled rage and fear. However, he curbed his temper and hastening to Edinburgh he sent a message to Crichton deploring their alienation, and expressed his willing-
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
ness to submit their disputes to the arbitration of mutual friends. They accordingly met, with the Bishops of Aberdeen and Moray, in the Church of St. Giles, and sealed their reconciliation by mutual concessions. The young King was restored to the custody of Livingstone, and Crichton resumed, with increased power, his office of Chancellor. The reconciliation was thus quickly brought about principally owing to their common hatred of the Earl of Douglas, who, however, shortly after was seized with fever and died at Restalng on June 26, 1439. His great possessions and titles descended to his son William, the sixth earl, a boy of seventeen years, whose arrogant pretensions soon caused national troubles. Besides openly defying the laws and maintaining a state dangerous to the Throne, it had been conjectured that Douglas had subjected himself even to a graver charge by impugning the title of James II to the Throne, and preferring the claim of his uncle Malise, Earl of Strathearn, who, as the descendant of Euphemia Ross, the second Queen of Robert II, was supposed by some to have a better right to the Crown than its present possessor. Douglas never rode out without a personal following of a thousand horse j he was believed to have held a court which in brilliance outshone the solemnity of Parliament j and he paid no heed to the commands of his sovereign to appear in the royal presence. His conduct afforded his
enemies sufficient ground to give at least the appear-
51
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
ance of justice to their subsequent proceedings, and as soon as their plans were matured they took immediate measures to secure his person. Crichton and Living- stone dispatched an invitation in their own names to William Douglas soliciting his presence at a banquet along with his retinue, so that the Earl might cultivate the friendship of the young King 5 they expressed their admiration for him and their regret at the mis- understanding which had separated them. Douglas easily fell into the snare. The Chancellor met him some twelve miles from the castle of Crichton, at which place he was royally entertained for the night, and next day the whole party rode to Edinburgh, where they were received with open arms. Before entering the town some of his followers, observing that there were too many private messages passing between the wily Crichton and Livingstone, reminded the Earl of the injunction of his father that he and his brother should never go together where there was a shadow of danger, and entreated him to send David home. The good counsel, however, was not followed, and relying on the honour of Crichton and Living- stone, the young nobles rode fearlessly to the Castle, where they were conducted to the apartments of the young monarch, who became speedily attached to them, and they remained a few days enjoying the hospitality of their royal host. At last the hour of tragedy struck; the banquet was prepared in the great hall which occupies the southern side of the quad-
THE BLACK DINNER : THE ATTACK UPON THE DOUGLASES BY CRICHTON'S MEN
MONRO S. ORR
5*
•iquet
Htivate
vpressed
the mis-
m. Douglas
/,."! j A'ji:\\ I-. ;in i >i/i//!(i /O/.JH .IHT ?.
' ^ | r '.iHt''' rnCt "im
nchton, at
M • ihc night,
uinburph,
o
Before
:-r>, - !bsers'incj; i^res passing •'"•e, ivminded it he and
send r i •
astle, " the
'The Story of Edinburgh Castle
rangle known as Palace Square 5 the brothers were placed at the table beside the King, whilst in the meantime the portcullis at the Castle was lowered. At the close of the entertainment a sable bull's head, the symbol of death, was placed upon the table. The Douglases, who knew at once what to expect, immediately drew their swords, but were dragged away by an armed band of Crichton's vassals, with loud cries of treason, to an antechamber, where they underwent a mock trial which was speedily terminated, despite the entreaties of the youthful monarch, with the sentence of death. They were hurried into the court of the Castle and cruelly beheaded. Three days afterward their friend and counsellor Malcolm Fleming of Cumbernauld shared the same fate. This tragic event appears to have taken place in 1441. In 1753 some workmen who were digging for a foundation to erect a new storehouse found the gold handles and plates of a coffin supposed to have been the one in which the young Earl was buried. Godscroft, the historian of the Douglases, quotes the following rude rhyme:
Edinburgh Castle, 'Towne and Tower. (jod grant thou sinke for sinne ; Idtf that even for the black dinnour Earle Douglas gat therein.
The earldom of Douglas devolved upon his great- uncle James, Lord of Abercorn, surnamed the Gross,
53
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
who quietly assumed the title and estates of his nephew without opposition ; and the large unentailed property of the late Earl, comprehending Galloway, Wigton, Balveny, Ormond and Annandale, descended to his only sister Margaret, who from her great beauty was commonly called the Fair Maiden of Galloway. The new Earl of Douglas silently matured plans to restore the political influence of his house. James cherished a dislike to those who for years had made him their puppet, and he gained the friendship of Douglas and made him Lieutenant-General of the kingdom as well as a member of the Privy Council. Livingstone remained quietly at Stirling and on the plea of old age surrendered his office as governor into the hands of his eldest son; while Crichton fled from the Court and threw himself into the Castle of Edin- burgh, where he proceeded to lay in provisions, and to strengthen the fortifications in the expectation of a siege. The proceedings of Douglas speedily justified the alarm of the Chancellor. Crichton was summoned in the name of the King to appear at Stirling and answer for his many acts of treason against the State } but the proud baron, undismayed by the danger to which he was exposed, and confident in the strength of the fortress, replied only by an incursion into the lands in Lothian belonging to Douglas and his adherent, Sir John Forrester of Corstorphine, which he wasted with fire and sword. In a Parliament sub- sequently convened at Stirling he was proclaimed a
54
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
traitor, his estates confiscated, and his friends out- lawed.
Kennedy, Bishop of St. Andrews, a prelate of great wisdom and integrity, whose high talents and in- corruptible honesty fitted him to be raised to the post, was made Chancellor on the disgrace of Crichton.
Douglas now commenced the siege of Edinburgh Castle, which Crichton stood prepared to defend to the last extremity ; after the lapse of nine weeks, however, the besiegers finding that they were making little progress in the reduction of the fortress, entered into negotiations for peace, and the stout old baron capitu- lated on terms in every way advantageous. His titles, honours, and possessions were restored to him, and at the solicitation of Douglas he was induced to join the administration. Of his less fortunate adherents, some just saved their lives by the forfeiture of their estates, and others, including three members of the Livingstone family, were tried, and lost their heads within the Castle walls.
The death of the Queen -Mother occurred in 1445. Her husband, Sir James Stewart, had calculated that his connexion with the royal family would improve his position ; and on discovering his mistake, and finding himself the victim of suspicion and persecution, he became gradually alienated from his wife, and ultimately treated her with utter neglect. Compelled at last to flee from Scotland, he deprived her even of
55
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
the slender protection which his presence afforded. Thus abandoned, and pursued by the relentless malice of her enemies, the health of the unhappy princess gave way, and she died in the Castle of Dunbar. It is not exactly known whether she chose the castle as a sanctuary or had been violently carried there by its possessor, Patrick Hepburn, a fierce freebooter ; but the latter idea is not at all unlikely, as Hepburn was a partisan of Douglas.
The King, who was now seventeen years old, began to take an important share in the administration of affairs of state, and his prudence excited the warmest hopes of his friends. In 1449, by an exchange of embassies, he found a suitable bride in the only daughter and heiress of Arnold, Duke of Gueldres. In the following year the engagement was formally concluded at Brussels in the presence of envoys from France. This enabled Crichton not only to renew the ancient league between France and Scotland, but
C5 7
to conclude a treaty of defence between Burgundy and Scotland.
By this time, 1450, the royal capital was assuming a position of importance, and owing to the exposed position of its southern side, it was deemed necessary to enclose this part of the city by a fortified wall to protect the wealth of the citizens from the constant inroads of the English. The wall was consequently built along the south declivity of the ridge on which
the old High Street of the town stands, from the 56
THE CASTLE FROM JOHNSTONE TERRACE AT SUNSET
Page 56
a
wa«-
old, began
/'M'-i i iT«AO yHTration of
IA warmest
Mjhunge of
rhc only
7 wJ t.- 1 v.1 1 C- v^»
formally
vovs from
rr. renew
•uotland, but
< rt Burgundy
. i-.urr.5ng a
exposed
uccessarv
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
West Bow, which was the principal entrance to the city from the west. It crossed the ridge of the High Street at the Nether Bow, and terminated at the east end of the North Loch. Here was the city built on a hill, defended by an immense fortified wall, and guarded by its Castle perched on a great rock at its western extremity.
About the time when the wall was being built the Scottish Court was preparing for the reception of Mary de Gueldres, " a lady," says Drummond, " young, beautiful, and of a masculine constitution." It was decided at a meeting of Parliament that the royal nuptials should be conducted on a scale of grandeur suited to the occasion.
At length, on June 18, 1452, the vessels conveying the bride and her retinue of princes, prelates, and noblemen cast anchor in the Forth. She was met by a tremendous crowd of all classes, and, accompanied by a body-guard of three hundred horsemen, pro- ceeded amidst great rejoicings to Holyrood Palace, where she was received by her future husband. Her beauty and charm of manner soon won the affection of the Scots, who spent a week in wild revelry and entertainment to celebrate the event. The wedding took place in the Abbey with great solemnity and was witnessed by a numerous gathering of princes, prelates and noblemen amid universal joy. But the Earl of Douglas, jealous of the influence Crichton had already acquired with the Queen, pro-
H 57
The S tory of Edinburgh Castle
ceeded to revenge his private quarrel, and so violent were the disturbances that ensued that in the beginning of the following year a Parliament was assembled at the Castle to put an end to them. On Shrove Tuesday, 1452, James invited Douglas to dine at Stirling Castle. After the feast James led his guest into an inner room, where there were only a few privy councillors, and urged him most earnestly to return to his allegiance, assuring him of his pardon and favour if he would do so. The Earl replied with a haughty refusal ; whereupon James lost all control of his temper, drew his dagger and stabbed Douglas, exclaiming, "By Heaven, if you will not break the league this shall ! ' The councillors followed the royal example by stabbing the dying man with their knives and daggers, and the dead body was cast out into an open court and buried on the spot. In the twenty-fourth year of his reign James was killed at the siege of Roxburgh Castle from the bursting of a cannon of Flemish manufacture, and Scotland was once more exposed to the confusions of a long minority.
CHAPTER V : The Blackest T>ay
CHAPTER V : The Blackest T>ay for Scotland
JAMES III was only seven years old when he succeeded his father in 1460, and no time was lost in arranging his coronation at Kelso Abbey, near to Roxburgh, whither his grief-stricken mother had hastened to make a chivalrous appeal to the troops besieging the castle. As usual there was a difficulty in arranging the regency. This nearly terminated in bloodshed, as the Queen's claim did not receive the support of the Barons, who refused to submit to the sway of a woman. The matter, how- ever, was eventually settled by appointing the Bishop of St. Andrews as joint guardian, and investing the Earl of Angus with supreme military power as Lieutenant-General of the kingdom, and the new reign commenced with great promise. But unfortunately the old Earl died not long after, which was a great loss to Scotland. The Queen-Mother, too, died suddenly, so that a great responsibility now rested on the Bishop, who continued to carry out the pacific policy for which he had constantly striven. In due time James approached a marriageable age and an advantageous matrimonial alliance was formed with Margaret, daughter of the King of Denmark and Norway, who was known as " little Margaret, the maiden of Norway."
The alliance was further rendered acceptable to the nation in that the royal bridegroom "gatt with the
61
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
King of Denmarkes dochter, in tocher guid, the landis of Orkney and Zetland," and in the month of July 1469, the future Queen landed at Leith in the presence of an immense crowd and amid general rejoicings of the people.
According to Abercrombye, "the very sight of such a Queen could not but endear her to all ranks of people, who, to congratulate her happy arrival, and to create in her a good opinion of themselves and the country, entertained her and her princely train for many days with delicious and costly feasts."
But these festivities, at the Castle and elsewhere, gave place to events of a quite different character, and the young King did not foresee the troubles that awaited him. James evidently had no conception of his duties and responsibilities as monarch, sacrificing the interests of his kingdom to his tastes for the fine arts. He did not have the slightest interest in the stirring exercises of the chase or the tilting-yard, nor in his duties of the cabinet or council-room. He spent his time in the society of ignoble favourites who speedily acquired an influence in the realm to which they had no title by hereditary rank, and as little claim on the ground of personal merit. Cochrane, an architect; Rogers, a musician; Torphichen, a fencing master; Andrews, an astrologer; Hommil, a tailor; and Leonard, a smith, were the principal persons on whom he bestowed such an injudicious and dangerous preference.
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
The nobility could not but feel the slight thus put upon them: alienated from their sovereign, they attached themselves to his brothers, the Duke of Albany and the Earl of Mar, who were distinguished by their skill in military exercises, their open-handed generosity, and the splendid array of friends and retainers with which they surrounded themselves. Hence arose jealousies and contentions between the young monarch and his brothers, which resulted in the Duke of Albany being imprisoned in the Castle on a charge of conspiracy, and his other brother, the Earl of Mar, being shut up in Craigmillar Castle, without the slightest evidence that they had enter- tained disloyal designs.
Albany effected his escape in 1478 by one of the most startling adventures recorded in the history of the Castle. The young Duke was on friendly terms with the court of Burgundy, and his friends there, learning of his imprisonment, sent by a trading vessel two casks of Malmsey, which were admitted to the Duke's chamber without examination. On their being
o
opened Albany found a coil of rope and a paper, of instructions enclosed in a cake of wax, explaining a plan of escape and informing him that his enemies had resolved to put him to death. Without hesita- tion the Duke invited the captain of the guard and his three soldiers to sup with him, and with the assistance of his chalmer-chield (attendant) he soon succeeded in reducing the party to a state of intoxica-
63
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
tion, after which the men were easily overpowered and slain. With the assistance of his attendant the Duke threw the bodies encased in their armour on to the blazing fire which burnt in the great open fireplace of the chamber, and stealing out in the darkness the fugitives made their way to a part of the outer wall and prepared for their descent. The attendant claimed the first trial, and as the rope proved to be too short, he dropped to the ground and broke his leg. Albany at once rushed back to his sleeping apartment in the Tower, took the sheets from his bed, knotted them together to the end of the rope, and effected his escape in safety down the rock. Staying only to convey his disabled attendant to a friendly shelter, he hastened to the shore and was taken on board the waiting vessel that speedily conveyed him to France, where he was hospitably received by the court of Louis XI. A different fate befell the Earl of Mar. There is some uncertainty surrounding the closing scene in his brief career, as he was not brought to a public trial. It has been said that he was taken to a house in the Canongate where, in a hot bath, he was bled to death ; but another story says that he died from fever after a process of bleeding prescribed by his physicians.
Whilst James with an army of fifty thousand men was on his way toward the border in 1 48 1 to encounter Richard Duke of Gloucester, the angry Scottish
barons felt that the time had come to assert their
64
THE ESCAPE OF THE DUKE OF ALBANY
MONRO S. ORR Page 64
'ke
.,. the
LTCJ! ;>lace of
.,»? in the d.irkness the
/*f the outer wall
Attendant claimed
to be too short,
his leg. Albany
.purtment in the
Y//.H.I/ •'(> HXTJU >THT ''To 3<iAD23j£ifcnotted them
, ffrcted his escape •\ to convey his I T, he hastened > j \\-aiting vessel •?ice, -A here he was ,* i X i
r Sj.ir. There is ;\o scene in his io ,i public trial. ,i house in the ..^h, he was bled to chat he died fr6m ...iiin«4 prescribed by his
'•housand men
% > V.': • :•
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
power. They were in a better position when in camp to cope successfully with the royal authority, and they seized the favourites and hung them without trial over the parapet of Lauder Bridge. Plans were discussed for the seizure of the King, but there was some hesitation, as the plot was certainly attended with considerable danger. While the mode of proceeding was being considered, Lord Gray quoted the fable of the mice and the cat, whereupon Angus, the head of the new house of Douglas, with characteristic boldness exclaimed " I shall bell the cat, " an expression which gained for him the appellation of Archibald Bell-the- Cat.
The unhappy monarch was seized and carried back to Edinburgh, where he was kept a close prisoner within the Castle. The Castle once again was, as it were, a prison and palace combined. James was kept more or less a close prisoner in the custody of the Earls of Athol and Buchan ; he was attended with all the honour due to him as a prince, but no one was allowed to speak to him except in the company of his custodian ; his door was locked before the setting of the sun and opened long after sunrise. During his own close confine- ment James' own prisoner, James the ninth and last Earl of Douglas, lay close by in one of the dungeons. James III did not die in the Castle, but like most of the princes of his unfortunate royal house, perished by the dagger of his own rebellious nobles on June 8, 1488, after his retreat from the battle of Sauchieburn,
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
close to Bannockburn, and was buried in the Abbey of Cambus Kenneth.
On the day after the battle the Earls of Angus and Argyle, with the Lords Hailes and Home and the Bishop of Glasgow, repaired to the Castle of Edin- burgh and secured and took an inventory of the jewels, plate, and apparel which belonged to the late King. He left behind him a wonderful collection of gems and jewels in his famous black kist, believed to be the one in which the Regalia were kept, and which is still preserved in the Crown Room. In the " inven- tory ' are mentioned five relics of Bruce, " King Robert's Serk' and four silver goblets, and other gold and silver plate.
With the advent of James the Fourth commences one of the brightest periods in Scottish national history. The Prince proceeded immediately to Scone- -some historians say Edinburgh — where he was crowned with the usual ceremonies. The Government of the new monarch was then organized, and his confederates in the rebellion which had raised him to the throne were rewarded by their appointment to offices of influence and trust.
James was now in the seventeenth year of his age, and his love of gorgeous pageantry and show was pandered to by his councillors. He was constantly attended not only by his huntsmen and falconers, but by his jester, ' English John,' and his youthful mistress, Lady Margaret Drummond, daughter of Lord Drummond,
66
"The Story of Edinburgh Castle
to whom he seems to have been attached at an early
period, and frequent notices appear in the Treasurer's
book of the sums paid to " dansaris, gysaris, and
players ' ' who were employed to amuse the youthful
lovers.
The Castle became famed throughout Europe for the
scenes of knightly feats beneath its walls.
*And of his court through Europe sprang the fame Of lusty lords and love some ladies y ing, 'Triumphand tourneys, justing and knightly game With all pastime according to ane Ring- He was the gloir of princely governing !
On a green lawn close to the King's stables James arranged great tournaments, where his nobles and barons assembled by royal proclamation for jousting. Meeds of honour such as a gold-headed spear and similar favours were presented to the victor from the royal hand or from those of the fair beauties for which the Scottish Court was famed. Knights came from all countries to take part in the tourneys, " but few or none of thame passed away unmatched, and oftymes overthrowne."
One noteworthy meeting which the King and his train witnessed in great splendour from the walls of the Castle took place in 1503, when a Dutch knight, Sir John Cockbeuis, challenged a Sir Patrick Hamilton, said to have been the bravest knight in Scotland, to
a great combat. The knights, clad in full armour,
67
"The Story of Edinburgh Castle
with their blazoned shields hung on their shoulders, appeared mounted on magnificent horses, and at the sound of the heralds' trumpets plunged at each other. Both lances were splintered, and the champions re- turned for another charge ; but the Scottish knight's horse failed him and the encounter was continued on foot, the knights fighting with their great swords. After an hour, during which the contest continued with great spirit, the Dutchman was struck to the ground with a mighty blow from the two-handed
sword of Hamilton, when the Kino- threw down his
. ^
bonnet over the Castle wall as a sign for the combat to cease, and amidst the sound of the trumpets the Scottish knight was proclaimed the victor. The capital during this reign became the favourite residence of famous men of art and letters. The Provost of St. Giles, Gavin Douglas, who became ultimately the Bishop of Dunkeld, translated Virgil's j^Eneid into Scottish verse, and dedicated his poem to the "Maist gracious Prince ouir Souerain James the Feird, Supreme honour renoun of cheualrie." James took an immense interest in his armaments, testing them almost daily, keeping them in repair against the day of invasion. His master gunner Borthwick had orders for casting a set of brass cannon for the Castle which were christened c The Sisters ' on account of their beautiful design ; the master gunner also cast within the Castle the bells which still hang in the belfry of St. Magnus Cathedral at Kirkwall in Orkney.
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The Story of Edinburgh Castle
Before the marriage of James the Court was the scene of a domestic tragedy. Lady Margaret Drummond, his mistress, had been poisoned along with her two sisters by the jealous Scottish nobles. It is said that James intended to marry her without consulting his Council, as he much loved the fair Margaret ; but as they were connected by blood a dispensation was required from Rome. The dispensation arrived from the Pope too late ; the ill-fated lady had already been cruelly poisoned.
By this deed all impediments to the completion of his marriage with the Princess Margaret of England were removed, and on July i'6, 1503, Margaret, who had attained the mature age of fourteen years, made her public entrance into Edinburgh amidst national re- joicings. The King met his fair bride on her near approach to the city, and dismounting from his horse, he fondly kissed her as she reclined in her litter. He then mounted on her palfrey, and taking up Mar- garet behind him they rode to the city and were met at the gate by Grey Friars bearing sacred relics which were handed to the royal pair to kiss. Within the gates the church bells pealed and the houses were gaily decorated, the windows being hung with tapestry. Next day the King and his bride were married with great pomp by the Archbishop of Glas- gow, " amid the sound of trumpets and the acclama- tion of the noble company." At the dinner which fol- lowed in the Banqueting Hall of the Castle the Queen
69
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
was served at the first course with " a wyld borres hed gylt within a fayr platter." The people showed their rejoicing by bonfires, while dancing and feasting and the sports of the age were continued for many days, " and that done every man went his way." We must pass from these great rejoicings to follow the history of the Castle, wherein we find James preparing for his departure, against all warnings and good counsels of his Queen, to the lamented field of Flodden. He had the seven great cannon out of the Castle called 'The Sisters,' along with the necessary powder and shot.
The Queen had given birth to two sons, both of whom had died, and a third son and heir had been born at Linlithgow ; but neither this event nor the entreaties of the Queen- -who prayed for him to remain in Scotland — could turn James from his fatal purpose. At the head of his great army, the flower of Scottish chivalry, the gallant monarch marched across the border to the bloody field of Flodden. The great disaster of September 9, 1513, which deprived Scotland not only of her King, but also of so many Scottish fathers, sons and brothers, that in- numerable homes throughout the border districts were left without a man, made Edinburgh a city of wailing. It was "the blackest day for Scotland that she ever knew before," and the wailing of her people has been echoed down the centuries.
Professor Aytoun, in his Edinburgh after Flodden,
7o
THE PALACE, OR ROYAL LODGING
Page 70
teir
•*' -4 and
days,
joieings to follow
sn we find James
-am ings and
rented field of
on out of the
)/f.)fIO.I I/ VOX HO ,.i3/UA'I .Tin
necessary
both of ad been nor the
rn his the fl
ower
^i Flodden. ' S i 3 , which _:., but also of Kurs, that in- .listricts were of wailing. fhat she e^ iias been
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
expresses the sorrow which the people felt on the death of their beloved King.
Woe, and Woe, and lamentation, what a piteous
cry was there, Widows, maidens, mothers, children, shrieking,
sobbing in despair. 'Through the streets the death-word rushes,
spreading terror, sweeping on, "Jesus Christ, our King has fallen — oh great
God- King "James has gone.
c/ ' O «-/ O
Oh the blackest day for Scotland that she e^er
knew before Oh our King, the good, the noble, shall we ne^er
see him more ? Woe to us and woe to Scotland, oh our sons, our
sons, and men, Surely some have ^ scaped the Southron, surely some
will come again ? ' 7/7/ the oak that fell last winter shall uprear
its withered stem, Wives and mothers of Dunedin you may look in
vain for them.
The body of James was found by Lord Dacre amongst the thickest of the slain : "his neck was opened in the middle with a wide wound -, his left hand, almost cut off in two places, did scarce hang to his arm, and the archers had shot him in many places of his body." Thus perished, in his forty-
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second year, one of the most popular monarchs that ever resided in the Castle of Edinburgh. Luckily for Scotland Henry VIII was too much engaged with the French to reap the fruits of his victory at Flodden. However, Edinburgh prepared itself for eventualities. The magistrates issued a proclamation to the effect that all men must be in readiness to assemble at the "jowing™ of the town bell, wearing what accoutrements they possessed, and carrying their weapons to defend the town. This is the origin of the famous "auld toun Guard." The proclamation likewise warned women not to be seen in the streets, clamouring and crying, but rather to go to the kirk and offer up prayers. Twenty-four men were appointed as the town guard, and five hun- dred pounds Scots was ordered to be levied for the purchase of artillery and also to fortify the town. The old wall erected in the reign of James II. had already proved to be too confined for the rising capital, and now with the fear of invasion the aristocratic suburb of the Cowgate, which was beyond the wall, became keenly alive to its exposed position. No time was lost in supplying the needful defences ; every person available assisted in the work, farmers lent their labourers and horses to the national work, and in a very short space of time this southern part of the city was surrounded by the new wall, called Flodden Wall, with its battlements and towers. Con- siderable portions of this wall still remain in good 72
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
preservation ; at the vennel one may see a battlement portion, also adjoining the museum at College Street, and again at the Pleasance there is a small stretch. As the greater part of the nobles had perished with their sovereign, the National Council was principally composed of clergy. The infant King, then only eighteen months old, was crowned at Scone. The Castle of Stirling was selected as his residence, and the Queen-Mother was appointed Regent of the kingdom and guardian of her son, in accordance with the will of the late King.
The Archbishop of Glasgow and the Earls of Huntly and Angus were selected to be the councillors of Margaret, and the government of Stirling Castle was entrusted to Lord Borthwick. The appointment of a female to hold the reins of government was contrary to the customary law of Scotland, and was far from popular among the Scottish nobles ; moreover, the near connection of the Queen-Mother with the English monarch excited a suspicion that she might be unduly swayed by his influence. A secret message was despatched to France inviting the Duke of Albany, who after the youthful monarch was next heir to the throne, to repair to Scotland and assume the office of Regent.
For some time after the death of the King, the Queen-Mother seems to have discharged the duties of her office to the satisfaction of the nobles and the people, but the defects in her character soon became
K 73
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apparent. On April 30, 1514, about eight months after Flodden, she gave birth to a son, who was named Alexander, and created Duke of Ross. Scarcely had the Queen recovered from her confinement, however, when, to the surprise and regret of all her friends, she hastily married the young Earl of Angus, without any previous consultation with her Council. This had the effect of lowering her reputation in the eyes of the nation.
Angus was the grandson and successor of the celebrated Archibald Bell-the-Cat, and was therefore at the head of the powerful house of Douglas. By the terms of the royal will the marriage at once put an end to Margaret's regency, and the Council lost no time in deposing her from the office. On May 1 8 the Duke of Albany arrived from France to take over the regency, landing at Dumbarton with a squadron of eight ships, and was eagerly welcomed by a large concourse of the nobles and gentry of the western counties. The citizens testified their joy on his arrival at Edinburgh by acting "sundry farces and gude plays," and the Queen came from the Castle to the gate at Holy rood to meet him and do him all possible honour. At a meeting of Parliament held in July 1515 he was solemnly installed in the office of Regent till the young King should reach the age of eighteen. The royal children still remained in the keeping of their mother, and it became an object of great importance to withdraw them from this dangerous
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situation. The new Regent accordingly summoned a Parliament, which met at Edinburgh and nominated eight lords, out of which four were to be chosen by lot, and from these the Queen-Mother was to select three to have charge of the King and his brother. This arrangement having been agreed to, the four peers proceeded from the Parliament house to the Castle, for the purpose of carrying into effect the commands of Parliament. Attended by a great con- course of people, who crowded to witness the imposing scene, they approached the gates of the fortress, which were thrown open, and Margaret the Queen-Mother was seen standing under the archway of the Portcullis Gate with the little King nestling by her side with his hand held fast in hers, whilst in the background a lady stood holding in her arms the infant Duke of Ross. As soon as the cheers with which the people greeted this royal tableau had subsided, the Queen with great dignity and a loud clear voice demanded the reason of the delegates coming ; they replied that they came in the name of Parliament to receive from her the King and his brother, whereupon Margaret commanded the warder to drop the portcullis. The great massive iron trellis instantly descended, and, according to Dr. Taylor, she thus addressed the dele- gates through the grille : " This Castle is part of my enfeoffment, and of it, by my late husband the King, was I made governor, nor to any mortal shall I yield the important trust. But I respect the Parliament
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The Story of Edinburgh Castle
and nation, and request six days to consider the mandate, for most important is my charge and my counsellors now, alas, are few ! ' As the last words fell from her lips she burst into tears. The Queen, however, found it impossible to hold the Castle against the forces of Parliament, and suddenly moved with her children to Stirling, her usual place of residence, where her adherents were numerous. She then sent to the Regent an offer to maintain the Princes out of her own dowry, provided they were left under her charge.
Indignant at this evasion of the orders of Parliament, Albany determined to compel obedience, and ordered Lords Ruthven and Borthwick to blockade the Castle of Stirling. A proclamation was now issued, threatening the penalties of treason against all those who should continue to hold out the Castle of Stirling against the Regent and Parliament ; and Albany, at the head of seven thousand men and accompanied by almost all the peers, marched against that fortress. The Queen's resistance was hopeless, and advancing to meet the Regent she delivered the keys of the Castle to the young King, who, by her directions, placed them in the hands of Albany. The Regent left a guard of seven hundred soldiers, and committed the two Princes to the custody of the Earl Marischal ; whilst the Queen returned to Edin- burgh, where she took up her residence in the Castle.
Margaret finding herself, as she alleged, in a kind of
76
THE QUEEN-MOTHER, MARGARET TUDOR,
RECEIVES THE REPRESENTATIVE PEERS
AT THE PORTCULLIS GATE
MONRO S. ORR Page 76
•he
r»y ist words
«Ktbie to hold the
nt, and suddenly
, her usual place
were numerous.
to maintain the
v ided they were
M.TJO 3HT
»\ I
>i0'! 1Hc, and ordered
-l/"lA blockade the
\v issued, all those Castle of Stirling and Albany, at i;ui a ceo iTi pan led ,nst that fortress. .-, and advancing
i he kevs of the
j
hv her directions,
hundred soldiers, i he custody of the i turned to Edin- m the C
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
captivity at Edinburgh, and her revenues retained by the Regent, determined to retire to Blacater, in close proximity to England while at the same time it was within the Scottish frontier, so she could not be said to have forfeited her rights by leaving the country. This imprudent step completely alienated the nobles and clergy from the cause of the Queen, and induced them to give their full support to the government of the Regent.
Albany tried in vain to avoid hostilities, and offered Margaret complete restoration of all her rights and revenues if she would return to Edinburgh Castle. The imprudent Queen-Mother refused the liberal terms, and Albany immediately advanced to the Border at the head of an army of forty thousand men, and razed the tower of Blacater to the ground. In the meantime the Queen fled to England along with Angus and Home, after finding it impossible to offer any effectual resistance. The Regent was still anxious to reclaim the Queen from the impolitic course which she was pursuing, and addressed a letter to her imploring her to listen to reason, but without success.
Eight days after her flight into England she gave birth to a daughter, the Lady Margaret Douglas, who eventually became the mother of Darnley and grand- mother of James VI ; and a few days after she re- ceived the news of the death of her younger son, Alexander, at Stirling, an event which the Queen and
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her faction did not hesitate to ascribe either to neglect or poison.
Albany now resolved to visit France in order to obtain assistance from the French court to enable him to resist the intrigues of England, and to main- tain the independence of the Kingdom. His absence was arranged to extend only to four months, and on June 7, 1517, he sailed from Dumbarton. Before leaving, the young King was brought from Stirling and placed in the Castle of Edinburgh under the care of the Earl Marischal and Lords Erskine, Borth- wick, and Ruthven. It was also settled that the Queen- Mother should be allowed to return to Scot- land, and to resume possession of her dowry and all her effects, upon condition that she should abstain from all attempts to overthrow the authority of the Regent. As soon as she heard of Albany's departure she commenced her journey northward, and on her arrival in Edinburgh she was not permitted at first to visit her son ; but the young monarch was removed to Craigmillar Castle on there being an apprehension that the plague had made its appearance in the capital, and there his mother was occasionally allowed to visit him.
Margaret's propensity to engage in intrigues seems to have been incurable, and a suspicion arose that she was meditating a plan to carry off the young King to England, whereupon his guardians at once restored him
to his original residence in the Castle of Edinburgh.
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The Story of Edinburgh Castle
Angus having failed in his attempt to obtain the regency, quarrelled with his wife and retired from the Court. He secluded himself in the Douglas country with his mistress, the daughter of Stuart of Traquair, to whom he is said to have been betrothed previous to his marriage with the Queen. Margaret broke into a violent rage at this new insult, and expressed her determination to sue for a divorce ; but through a friar named Chats worth, sent by Henry from England, a temporary reconciliation took place between her and Angus.
Meanwhile the ambition of Angus continued to annoy the Government and to disturb the peace of the nation, and the Regent on his return from France summoned a Parliament to meet at Edinburgh on December 26, 1522, and cited Angus and his prin- cipal followers to appear and answer to the charges to be brought against them. But, conscious of their guilt, they were compelled to fly to the borders, where they opened a negotiation with Henry through the Bishop of Dunkeld, a nephew of Angus. They brought charges against Albany of having murdered the young Duke of Ross at Stirling ; they alleged that the Regent had designs upon the Crown, that Margaret intended to set aside her son to marry Albany and raise him to the throne, to accomplish which they had attempted to induce Angus to consent to a divorce; also that the life of the young King was in danger.
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The Story of Edinburgh Castle
The Queen-Mother was speedily made acquainted with the charges which had been brought against her, and she immediately dispatched an envoy to her brother, flatly contradicting them. But Henry had no desire for peace, and openly accused his sister of living in shameful adultery with the Regent. Angus, who had remained inactive on the borders, became desirous of removing to some other country to mature his plans and await a favourable oppor- tunity for their execution. He prevailed on his wife to intercede with Albany for this end, and he was permitted to return to Edinburgh, from which he passed immediately into France- -the Regent con- senting, on his voluntary exile, to remit the sentence for treason which had previously been pronounced. Albany convened a Parliament at Edinburgh, and a formal declaration of war against England was agreed upon ; and the young King, now in his eleventh year, was removed to Stirling and placed under the sole charge of Lord Erskine. Albany was, however, anxious for peace with honour, which was speedily arranged with Henry, who professed to be anxious only that his nephew should be placed under proper guardians, while he insisted no longer on the depar- ture of Albany from Scotland. Albany consenting to a two months' truce disbanded his army and returned to Edinburgh. The Queen-Mother now began a correspondence
with the English nobles, to whom she revealed the
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The Story of Edinburgh Castle
whole policy of the Regent. Albany was now placed in a terribly complicated position. He was anxious to remain at peace, but Henry brought the negotia- tions for the continuance of a truce to an abrupt termination ; and as many of the nobles were in the pay of England, Albany found it difficult to find any- one to whom he could give his confidence, or whom he could entrust with the carrying out of his designs. Harassed and disheartened by the difficulties of his situation, the Regent resolved once more to repair to France, for the purpose of holding a conference with Francis I on the best method of overcoming the English faction. Meanwhile the Queen-Mother was busily engaged in carrying on her intrigues to advance her own interests at the expense of the welfare of the country, and a plot was hatched between her and the English court to put an end to the regency of Albany by allowing the young King to assume the reins of government, with the expectation that the manage- ment of affairs would fall into her own hands. Her schemes, however, were disconcerted by the unexpected return of Albany, who determined to make a final effort to maintain the independence of the kingdom. He mustered an army of forty thousand men on the Borough Muir, within sight of Edinburgh Castle, and began his march on England, which was slow owing to the state of the roads, along which the heavy artillery was dragged with great labour. But Albany soon found himself in difficulties, for his army and its
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The Story of Edinburgh Castle
leaders broke out into insubordination and they openly refused to proceed farther on reaching Melrose. Disgusted and mortified by these proceedings, and finding that the nobles were faithless, Albany requested permission to retire to France under the pretext of making further arrangements with Francis ; his request was complied with, and in July 1 5 24 he left Scotland never to return.
Margaret now succeeded in persuading the Earl of Arran, whose royal descent and large possessions made him a formidable rival, to unite his interests to hers j and on July 2 5 she suddenly left Stirling with her son, and entering the capital, showed him to the towns- people as their legitimate sovereign, now about to administer in his own name the affairs of his dis- ordered kingdom. James had not yet reached his thirteenth year, but his educational accomplishments were much in advance of his age. Accordingly he was welcomed to Edinburgh with great enthusiasm ; through admiring and cheering crowds he passed with his mother and a procession of nobility to his ancestral Palace of Holyrood, and there was declared of age, announced his assumption of the government, and received the homage of the peers and prelates.
The Queen's rapid and independent action enraged her brother and gave reason for distrust, which was greatly strengthened by her refusal to sanction the proposed return of her husband Angus. She had
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now become enamoured with Henry Stewart, the second son of Lord Evandale. This awakened general dissatisfaction, and several of the barons withdrew from her Court in consequence ; and even Arran, her principal supporter, began to consult his own interests in preference to her cause. Henry's chaplain, Dr. Magnus, was directed to repair without delay to her Court, and to endeavour to effect her reconciliation with her husband j but her former attachment to him had been replaced by so strong an aversion, that no argument could induce her to consent to his recall. Her opposition, however, did not prevent the return of Angus to Scotland ; in the beginning of November, after a two years' exile, he crossed the border and took up his residence at Cold- ingham Priory. He wrote to Margaret entreating her to grant him a personal conference, professing his readiness to make amends for any offences which he had committed. No notice was taken of this com- munication, not even in the Parliament which met in the middle of the month.
Early on the morning of November 23, 1525, several hours before sunrise, the citizens of Edinburgh were roused from their slumbers by the sound of war in their streets. The Earls of Angus and Lennox had scaled the walls, opened the gates, and penetrated to the Cross at the head of four or five hundred men. They announced that they only sought to have the King's person removed from the custody of those who
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The Story of Edinburgh Castle
were compassing the injury of the state. The guns of the Castle were directed against them, and the Queen, who was at Holy rood, collected a force of five hundred men and prepared to drive them out of the city at the point of the sword, when Dr. Magnus and others hastened to the palace to entreat her to stop the cannonade from the Castle, as it was doing much injury to the citizens. They found her in a fury of temper ; she there and then ordered the prelate home to his lodging, suspecting him to be a party to the outrage, and issued a proclamation demanding the immediate departure of Angus and his adherents. This had the desired effect, they withdrew in the direction of Dalkeith, and in the dawn of the winter's morn the Queen had passed up the High Street with her son, by torchlight, to the Castle, and shut herself in the fortress to devise measures for her security.
The Queen's retreat into the Castle separated her to a great extent from the nobles who had still continued to attend her councils. She now sent the Bishop of Dunkeld and the Abbot of Cambuskenneth on an embassy to her brother to remonstrate with him on account of her husband's return, but this had little promise of any satisfactory result.
The beginning of the year 1525 saw the influence of the Queen-Mother declining more and more. Angus, backed by an influential party, demanded the removal
of the King from the control of his mother, and the
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THE CASTLE FROM THE VENNEL
Page 84
.ins
out of Dr. Magnus trn treat her to > it was doing und her in a ordered the him to be a proclamation
Hit .
r Angus and • effect, they
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paratcd her to tili continued to hopof Dunkeld vin cmhassy to on account of promise of any
he intiuence of ore. Angi
vi«Mi
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
appointment of a new Council of Regency by the Parliament. Margaret could not venture beyond the walls of the Castle ; the possession of the fortress and her hold on the young King were the only elements of strength that remained to her, but her spirit was not yet broken and she still maintained a high tone of independence.
As a last resource she determined to try an appeal to arms, and entreated the barons who still lingered around her to take the field on her behalf. To this, however, they would not consent unless the young King accompanied them — a condition, of course, to which Margaret dared not agree, fearing to lose the custody of her son. Accordingly she was at last compelled to yield. Under the auspices of Dr. Magnus negotiations were opened, and it was mutually agreed that James should be removed to the palace at Holyrood and placed under the guardianship of a Council elected by Parliament and presided over by the Queen ; it was also stipulated that Angus should renounce his marital rights over her person and property.
It was with great repugnance that the Queen subscribed this contract, for she now saw that this was a virtual surrender of all for which she had so long struggled. Her influence was now at an end, and the disgraceful secret marriage in the following year with her para- mour Henry Stewart completed the ruin of her power. James' early education had been entrusted to the care
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of Sir David Lyndsay, who instructed him in the knowledge of all liberal and manly accomplishments. Sir David was appointed gentleman usher to the royal infant on the day of his birth, and was for many years his constant companion and playmate. Sir David Lyndsay recalls to his sovereign's recollection the amusements with which he had entertained his infancy in the two following verses :
When thou wast young I bore thee in my arm Full tenderly till thou begouth to gang ; And in thy bed oft happed thee full warm, With lute in hand, syne sweetly to thee sang; Sometimes in dancing ferclie I flang, And sometimes played farces on the floor, And sometimes on mine office did take care.
+JLJ
And sometimes like ane fend transfgurate, And sometimes hke the grisly ghost of Guy y In divers forms oft-times disfigurate, And sometimes dissuaged full pleasantly $ So since thy birth I have continually Been occupied, and aye to thy pleasure.
Under the pretence of providing for the security of the King's person, the Queen surrounded him with a guard of two hundred men-at-arms, who were for the most part younger sons of noblemen. The long- pending decree of divorce between Margaret and Angus was pronounced by the Chancellor, in his Consistorial Court of St. Andrews in 1525, and in the same year
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a similar decision was delivered by the Pope, upon which Margaret publicly acknowledged Henry Stewart as her husband. The Lords of the Council, incensed at this presumption on the part of Stewart who had not asked consent of the King, committed him to prison for a short time. In the month of April 1525 the King completed his fourteenth year, when by the law of Scotland his minority terminated and he was permitted the full exercise of his authority. James now proceeded to act with great promptitude and vigour against those who had so long held him in bondage. He issued a proclamation forbidding Angus or any of his adherents to approach within six miles of his Court, under pain of penalties for treason.
In 1536 James journeyed to France and there married Magdalene, the beautiful daughter of Francis. Mag- dalene is said to have fallen in love with the Scottish monarch at first sight ; she was extremely delicate, and her physicians assured him " that she was not strong enough to travel to a colder climate than her own, and that if she did her days would not be long.'; The youthful lovers, however, turned a deaf ear to the advice, and their nuptials were solemnized with great splendour on January i, 1537, in the Cathedral of Notre Dame. After a stormy passage they arrived at Leith on May 19, and were received with rejoicings by a great crowd, who came to welcome their sovereign home and to see their new Queen. As soon as they
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landed Magdalene knelt down and kissed the ground and returned thanks to God for a safe journey and prayed for the happiness of her new country, an incident which seems to have endeared her to the affections of the Scottish people. Alas ! within the short period of six weeks she died, to the inexpressible grief of her husband and the whole nation, before she had completed her seventeenth year. She was buried with great pomp in the royal vault in the Abbey of Holyrood, near James II, and her epitaph was composed in Latin verse by the celebrated George Buchanan. This was the first recorded instance of mourning dresses being worn by the Scots. James was not long a widower } within a few months after the death of his youthful Queen, he opened negotiations with Mary, a princess of the house of Guise } arrangements were speedily concluded and in June 1538 Mary landed at Balcornie in Fife and the marriage was celebrated at St. Andrews. Edinburgh and its Castle now became the scene of tragic occurrences that disturbed the peace of mind of the young monarch for a time. In June 1536 the Master of Forbes, who had married a sister of the Earl of Angus, was accused of a design to assassinate the King, and he and his father, Lord Forbes, were imprisoned upon these charges, but their trial did not take place till fourteen months after. The father was acquitted, but the son was found guilty, condemned, and executed on the same day. The young noble
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
was beheaded and quartered outside the gates, his remains being hung on the principal portals of the city.
The next victim was Lady Glammis, a blood relation of the hated Douglases, who with her husband, her son, then only sixteen years of age, a priest, and a barber named John Lyon, was accused of conspiring to bring about the King's death by poison. The un- fortunate woman was found guilty and was condemned to be burned at the stake on the Castle Hill. The sentence was carried out in sight of her husband and in the presence of a crowd of spectators, who were deeply moved by her noble birth, her great beauty, and the courage with which she endured her cruel
o
punishment.
Her son was also found guilty, but his life was spared out of compassion for his youth, and he was con- demned to imprisonment for life, but was released on the death of James. The husband, in attempting to escape from the Castle, was dashed to pieces on the rocks. Alexander Mackay, who had sold the poison knowing for what purpose it was bought, had both his ears cut off and was banished from all parts of Scotland except the county of Aberdeen. On May 2,2,, 1540, the Queen gave birth to a prince who was named after his father ; in the month of April 1541 another son was born, who died almost immediately, and nearly at the same moment his elder brother, the heir to the throne, died at St. Andrews.
M
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
Pitscottie says that " the death of the two Princes caused great lamentations to be made in Scotland, but especially by the Queen their mother. The Queen comforted the King, saying they were young enough, and God would raise them more succession." The Princes were buried on the same day in the royal vault at Holy rood.
Shortly after the death of the Princes the Queen- Dowager closed her turbulent life at Methven Castle at the age of fifty-two, and was buried in the tomb of James I in the church of the Carthusians at Perth. James felt keenly the death of his two children, who were taken from him with such suddenness, and sought consolation in interesting himself in useful enterprises such as the improvement in the breed of horses in his own country. French and Flemish armourers were brought over to increase the efficiency of his military resources, and craftsmen skilled in ornament were attracted from the Continent by the promise of his patronage. But James, in his endeavours to improve the conditions of his country, had not the support of his nobility, who were hostile to him. This was made apparent when James had collected his army at the Burgh Muir of Edinburgh preparatory to taking the field against his uncle, Henry of England, in 1542. They got the length of Fala, on the edge of the Lammermuir Hills, when the nobles persisted in their refusal to proceed farther. Some historians
say that the barons manifested a disposition to renew
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the tragic scenes of Lauder Bridge by hanging the confidential advisers of the King, but that a difference of opinion among the leaders regarding the selection of their victims prevented them from carrying out their designs. James, after being defeated by the English at Solway Moss, flew into a furious passion on hearing the news, which was brought to him at Lochmaben, where he had remained. His mind already overstrained by anxiety and disappointments, he sunk under the blow and fell into a state of melancholy. He returned next day to Edinburgh, and afterward proceeded to Falkland Palace in Fife, where he shut himself up, brooding over his disgrace, and refused to see anyone. A slow fever preyed upon him, and being without food for many days he gradually died, on December 13, 1542, at the age of thirty-one.
The Queen was at Linlithgow Palace, where she had given birth to a daughter who became her father's successor, and so we approach an eventful period of history in which the old Castle once more figures prominently, and the house of Stuart forfeited the throne.
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CHAPTER VI : The Power of the Douglas
CHAPTER VI : The Tower of the Douglas
JAMES hearing the news on his death-bed that his Queen had given birth to a Princess at Linlithgow Palace, exclaimed : " It cam wi' a lass, and it will gang wi' a lass." The infant was seven days old when her father died, and one can but pity the little Queen thus commencing her life amidst well-nigh hopeless turbulence and disorder. Despite the great difficulties of the situation, the Queen- Mother, who took up her residence in the Castle with the royal babe, handled the reins of the regency with skill and judgment. Although herself an ardent Catholic, by her liberal concessions she was able at once to secure the full approbation of the Protestant party.
Henry the Eighth in the hour of his death, embittered with disappointment by the refusal of Scotland to fulfil a treaty of marriage with the infant Queen and young Edward, urged the councillors of the little Prince to lose no time in waging war with Scotland. In the beginning of September 1544 the Earl of Hertford landed at Wardie at the head of an im- mense army, and the Fiery Cross was instantly sent through Scotland summoning all men spiritual or temporal between the ages of sixty and sixteen to repair to the city of Edinburgh. The English earl demanded, as the condition of
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peace, the hand of the little Queen for Edward, subject to the stipulation that she should remain within Scotland until she was of a fit age for marriage. This, however, the Scottish nobles peremptorily re- fused. Lord Huntly made the Earl an offer to decide the quarrel by single combat, but this challenge was declined, and the Earl immediately advanced toward Edinburgh, where the English set fire to the town, but were met with defeat when attempting to take the Castle, which had been thoroughly repaired by the Earl of Arran. For four days the English thundered with their cannon before the fortress, not only suffering heavy loss from the defenders, but the Scots under Lord Stanehouse made a sortie from the Castle and recaptured some of the guns lost at Flodden. The English then retired, leaving behind them the smouldering, blackened ruins of Edinburgh and seven miles of country round the city.
Three years later there was still another invasion ; the Scots and English fought a decisive battle at Pinkie on September 10, 1547, and the Scots were defeated- -a day known long after as 'Black Saturday.' So far from bringing about a union of the two coun- tries, this had unfortunately the opposite result and strengthened the old ties with France, toward which the Queen-Regent turned her eyes for a marriage between the young Queen and the Dauphin. It was
suggested that Mary should be sent across the channel
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to be educated, and also for security against the many dangers which threatened in her native country, and this proposal received the full sanction of the Scottish Parliament.
The death of Edward VI of England, which took place in 1553, removed the possibility of further troubles on account of an English matrimonial alliance. The little Queen Mary was scarcely six years old when, in the height of winter, she crossed the Channel in 1548. The voyage was made in a sailing- boat not much larger than a fishing-smack, and as she sailed down the Clyde from Dumbarton she just escaped the English fleet, which had already reached the Forth on its mission to intercept her. Mary of Guise continued her difficult task of ruling Scotland amidst all the difficulties created by the quarrelsome nobles on the one hand, and the re- formers on the other. She managed to steer more
o
or less a neutral course between the parties until her death, which, after a long illness, took place on June 10, 1560, in an apartment of the royal lodging, close to the present half-moon battery. She had summoned to her death-bed a number of her opponents with whom she spoke in terms of kindness, urged them to be loyal and true to the young Queen, and asked touchingly the forgive- ness of any past disputes in which she might have been in error. The rites of burial were refused her, being a Catholic, and the body lay in the Castle
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encased in lead for about four months, when it was conveyed to Rheims, where it was received by her sister, who was prioress of a convent. Mary Stuart was now ruler of Scotland, but in her absence the Protestant faith was established by Act of Parliament, and on the news being intimated to her she refused to recognize the procedure. She had married Francis II, who died in the same year as her mother, and she was now induced to return to her native kingdom, after thirteen years' absence, to ascend a throne and undertake the government of a people who were hostile to her religion, which to her was everything. Thus commenced a reign in which we shall find much to pity, whether we deplore her actions or blame others for their wily self-seeking. Destiny had brought her forth into a world where she was in- volved, young and inexperienced, in all the turmoil of a reformation, in the intrigues of plotting traitors who persuaded her with flatteries and unwise counsels ; and in the end, on a preposterous charge of conspir- ing to seize the English Crown, she was to be dastardly put to death by the English Queen. There was every chance that if this unfortunate monarch, with her refinement of education, her kindly disposition, and her great personal charm, had lived in more peaceful and happier times she would have left behind her a successful record. Queen Mary arrived at Leith in August 1561, and was indebted for her safe passage partly to a favour-
The Story of Rdinbur gh Castle
able wind and partly to a dense fog, under cover of which she was able to avoid the English fleet. She landed in circumstances which did not divert her from the melancholy consequent upon her departure from her beloved France, for the day was dull and gloomy. Knox says that "in the memory of man, that day of the year, was never seen a more dolorous face of the heaven, than was at her arrival, which two days after did so continue ; for besides the surface wet, and cor- ruption of the air, the mist was so thick and so dark, that scarce might any man espy another the length of two pair of buttis — the sun was not seen to shine two days before nor two days after."
Her arrival was at least ten days earlier than had been anticipated, and few preparations had been made for the reception ; but all classes hastened to express their joy and to demonstrate their loyalty, "At the sound of the cannons which the galleys shot, the multitude being advertised, happy was he and she that first might have the presence of the Queen." Accustomed to the splendour of the French court, Mary was greatly affected by the miserable arrangements which had been made for her conveyance to the palace. As there were no carriages in Scotland she was obliged to proceed on a shaggy pony, the royal stud having been captured by the English. Her eyes filled with tears as she observed to her attendants : " These are not like the appointments to which I have been accustomed ; but it behoves me to arm myself with
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patience." But her reception, though rude, was sincere and cordial \ her youth and beauty at once engaged the affections of a warm-hearted, generous people, and her feelings of vexation gave way to livelier emotions.
A few days later, Mary made her state progress through Edinburgh to the Castle with great pomp, as is chronicled in the Diurnal ofQccurrents. " Nothing was neglected which could express the duty and affection of the citizens towards their sovereign. Her High- ness," continues the ancient record, " departed from Holyrood with her train, and rode by the long street on the north side of the burgh, till she came to the foot of the Castle Hill, where a gate [more than likely a triumphal arch] had been erected for her to pass under, accompanied by the most part of the nobles of Scotland. She then rode up the bank to the Castle, where she sat down to the State banquet at noon. On her return after the function, the artillery boomed a royal salute from the batteries, and descending the Castle Hill she was met by sixteen of the most honour- able men of the town, clad in velvet gowns and bonnets, who carried aloft a canopy of fine velvet lined with red taffeta, fringed with gold and silk, under which the Queen rode back to Holyrood.': The next important event in the life of the Queen, which however did not concern Edinburgh Castle, was the marriage to her cousin, Lord Darnley, on July 29, 1565, at Stirling Castle, an alliance which
IOO
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
unfortunately was to terminate so unhappily. We next find her at the Castle after the return from Haddington, whither she had fled with her friendly nobles to escape the hand of the assassin at Holyrood, and where, in the midst of her anxieties and griefs, she had sought the security of the ancient fortress for the safe delivery of the expected heir to the Crown. Here she received a messenger who was sent by the King and Queen-Mother of France with a congratula- tory message on her escape from the recent peril. In the train of the French ambassador came Joseph Rizzio, whom Mary appointed her secretary, an office left vacant by the murder of his brother David at Holyrood. This was an imprudent step, but was perhaps to be excused on account of the difficulty in rinding one amongst her courtiers in whom she could truly confide.
Her resentment toward Darnley, who had played her false in many things and, beyond all, in conniving at the murder of Rizzio, considerably abated as the time of her confinement drew near ; she also pacified her nobles, who had long been at deadly feud with one another, and prevailed upon them to meet amicably at a banquet which she gave in the old Banqueting Hall to celebrate their reconciliation. But poor Mary seems to have been suffering from the apprehension of another attempt upon her life, and in consequence made out her will, of which one copy was sent to France, a second was given into the keeping of her
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Privy Council, and a third she kept herself. The day before the birth of her son she wrote a letter to Eliza- beth in her own handwriting announcing the event, but leaving a blank to be filled in either with " son " or " daughter," as it might please God to grant unto her. The birth of James VI took place on Wednesday, June 19, 1566. It was a happy birth for the whole island, but proved unfortunate for the Queen. The welcome tidings were announced by the firing of the Castle guns from the batteries in close proximity to the royal apartments. The same afternoon Darnley paid a visit to the Queen, and expressed a desire to see the young Prince. "My lord," said Mary, "God has given you and me a son whose paternity is of none but you," whereupon Darnley coloured as he stooped and kissed the child. Mary, taking the child in her arms, went on, "My lord, here I protest to God as I shall answer to Him at the great day of judgment, this is our son and no other man's son ; he is indeed so much your son that I only fear I will be the worse for him hereafter"; then turning to Sir William Stanley, Darnley's principal attendant, added, "This is the son who I hope will first unite the two kingdoms of Scotland and England." "Why, Madam," said Sir William, "shall he succeed before your Majesty and his father ? " "Alas !" replied Mary, " his father has broken to me." Upon these words Darnley, who had stood near, said, " Sweet Madam, is this your promise that you made, to forget and forgive all ? ' " I have
IO2
THE CHAMBER WHERE JAMES VI WAS BORN
Page 1 02
The ^ Edinburgh Castle
>he kept herself. The day she wrote a letter to Eliza-
L ,,L. . ,
Iwnting announcing the event,
» bt rilled in either with " son " or
'5^'ht please God to grant unto her.
I took place on Wednesday,
a happy birth for the whole
•nfortvmare for the Queen. The
meed by the firing of the
in close proximity to the
afternoon Darnley paid
/HOH ?AV/ IV ^;iM/il ;l>j iHV/ JJiMtVl^ P$^«ftlii(r to §ee tj^e
; M; S6isj*vr said Mary, "God has
o:,e paternity is of none but
coloured as he stooped and
v.ikmg the child in her arms,
protest to God as I shall
;t day of judgment, this is
son ; he is indeed so much
vill be the worse for him
ng to Sir William Stanley,
' vipa! attendant, added, "This is the
unite the two kingdoms of " Why, Madam," said Sir
J * '
before your Majesty and ; u Alas ; " replied Mary, " his father has
'pon these words Darnley, who hjf stood n« J.. - Sweet Madam, is this your promi
nat forget and forgive all ? " " I I
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"the Story of Edinburgh Castle
forgiven all," answered Mary, " but will never forget. What if Faudenside's [he was one of the murderers] pistol had shot ? What would have become of him and me both, and what estate would you have been in ? God only knows, but we may suspect." " Madam," replied Darnley, " these things are all past." " Then," said the Queen, " let them go." There were great rejoicings throughout Scotland on the birth of the heir to the Crown. The General Assembly of the Church at the same time met and arranged to send Spotswood, the Superintendent of Lothian, to congratulate the Queen, and to request her to permit her son to be baptized and brought up in the Protestant faith. Mary received the repre- sentatives very graciously, but was silent and only smiled at the expression of his brethren's desire. The child was brought into the room to be shown to the divine, who took it in his arms and fell upon his knees and uttered a prayer on its behalf; at its con- clusion he playfully asked the babe to say " Amen," and some little cooing murmur, it is said, escaped the lips of the infant. Mary was very pleased, and "ever after called the superintendent her 'Amen.' The young Prince did the same when he was old enough to understand the story, and whilst he lived did respect and reverence him as his spiritual father." The bedchamber in which tradition says the interesting and important event took place is the small inner room
of two in the south-east corner of the ground floor
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of the royal palace, but there is much evidence that runs counter to this tradition. The upper part of the panelling and the ceiling are as old as the time of James V. On the panels of the ceiling are the letters I.R. and M.R. surmounted by a crown, and on the wall at the end opposite the window are the royal arms of Scotland and the inscription :
Lord JESU CHRTST, that Crounit was with thornse Preserve the "Birth , quhais Badgie^ heir is borne, And send Hir Sonee1 succefsione to T^eigne still Lang in this T^galme, if that it be Thy will, A Is Grant, O LORD, quhat ever of Hir prose ed, Be to Thy (jlorie, Honer and Prais, sobied.
There are records of the tapestries with which the room was hung, and these show the taste which Queen Mary displayed in all her residences. The tapestries, which were of gilded leather, portrayed the Judg- ment of Pans and The Triumph of Virtue y but there were others of various devices on green velvet, cloth-of-gold, and brocaded taffeta, and four recording the hunting of the unicorn. The chairs- -of which one was rescued from a sale of canteen furniture and still remains- -had high backs and were carved with the crown and cipher. The date of the birth, ' 19 JVNII. 1566,' is painted on the panelling of the north and south walls of the room. An old but un- trustworthy story has it that the young Prince was
1 Body. 2 Soon.
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The Story of Edinburgh Castle
lowered secretly from the window in a basket to the Queen's adherents, to be taken away and baptized in their faith.
Below Queen Mary's room there are vaulted dungeons which are said till lately to have retained the staple of an iron chain to which many a prisoner was secured in olden times } but no date or even history of these massive foundations can be authenticated, though they certainly belong to a very remote period. There are other dungeons below the Banqueting Hall, in two tiers, lighted through small loopholes secured by iron bars, where the French prisoners were secured during the Peninsular War ; forty slept in one vault and, until recently, one could still see the wooden frame- work from which they slung their hammocks. A curious and somewhat remarkable discovery was made in a wall on the west front of the royal rooms in the year 1830. The wall on being struck was found to be hollow ; to satisfy curiosity it was opened, when a cavity was found to exist and in it a small wooden box containing the remains of an infant. The box was of great antiquity and much decayed ; the remains of the child were wrapped in a thickly woven cloth re- sembling leather, besides a richly embroidered silk covering with two initials worked upon it, one of which clearly was marked c I.' Most of the remains were restored to the curious little cavity, and the wall was built up again. Daniel Wilson in his Memorials of Edinburgh says : "It were vain now to attempt a
o 105
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
solution of this mysterious discovery, though it may furnish the novelist with material on which to found a thrilling romance."
To come back to the story of Mary and her associa- tions with the Castle : the birth of a Prince had little effect on the debauched life of Darnley, who continued his licentious ways to the great grief of his Queen. In the meantime the infant James had been christened at Stirling Castle with unusual magnificence. Elizabeth, who had consented to stand godmother to her young heir, appointed the Countess of Argyle as her repre- sentative and dispatched the Earl of Bedford, her ambassador, with a font of gold, valued at upward of one thousand pounds, to be used at the ceremony. In her instructions to Bedford, she desired him to express jocularly her fear that as the font had been made as soon as she heard of the Prince's birth, he might now have outgrown it. " If you find it so," said she, "you may observe that our good sister has only to keep it for the next child, provided it be christened before it outgrow the font." It may be mentioned, to show the abominable character of Darnley, that to give offence to his consort he absented himself from the baptism of his son, although living in the Castle at the time, thus proclaiming to all assembled the Queen's domestic unhappiness. Darnley was stricken down with small- pox and when convalescent was taken to Kirk-o- Fields, a house which was within view of the Castle
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The Story of Edinburgh Castle
windows, and now is the site of the University. Early one February morning the house was blown up, and Lord Henry Darnley and his page were found dead in the garden. It is believed that they were first mur- dered and the house then blown up by Bothwell and his fellow conspirators whilst Mary was at a masque ball at Holy rood.
Darnley 's body was taken to Holy rood and buried in the Chapel. The Queen had her little room at the Castle hung with black, and remained in privacy until after the funeral. Elizabeth sent a letter of condolence by her cousin Killegrew, and on his reception he found "the Queen's Majesty in a dark chamber, so that he could not see her face, but by her words she seemed very doleful."
Mary's unhappy marriage to Bothwell, of whom Kirkcaldy of Grange says she had become "shame- fully enamoured'1 -for Bothwell was nothing more or less than a freebooter- -was the crowning error of the unfortunate Queen's reign, and took place on May 15, 1567, at four o'clock in the morning. On the very evening of the wedding Bothwell behaved toward her with coldness and indifference, and she was heard to ask for a knife to stab herself, " or else," said she, "I shall drown myself." The confederate nobles having themselves signed the bond not only sanctioning the Queen's marriage with Bothwell but declaring it to be for the interests of
Scotland, found it impossible suddenly and at once to
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The Story of Edinburgh Castle
disclaim their own act. Nevertheless Morton, Argyle, Lethington, and Huntly now protested against the marriage and the conduct of Bothwell, and we find the confederates now resolved on taking the decided step of attempting to seize the persons of Mary and her husband. Apprised of their schemes and unprepared for resistance, Mary had recourse to flight, and Both- well fled with her to the Castle of Borthwick, about ten miles from Edinburgh, and thence to Dunbar Castle. From here they went to meet the nobles who were confederated against Bothwell. The meeting took place at Carberry, and when Bothwell perceived that his case was hopeless, and that his followers were deserting him, he mounted his horse and fled with a few attendants back to Dunbar, and quitted the kingdom for ever. Mary placed herself in the hands of the confederates, led by Kirkcaldy of Grange, to whom she offered her hand, which he kissed, and taking hold of her horse's bridle he conducted her to the camp of his associates, where she was received with grim respect by the leaders and outspoken insult by the soldiers. At seven o'clock on the same evening of this eventful day the unhappy Queen made her re- entrance into Edinburgh, riding between Earl Morton and the Earl of Atholl, and in the most deplorable condition, her hair dishevelled, her dress soiled with travel, her face disfigured with dust and tears, and so fatigued that she could hardly sit on her saddle, having been brought by a route which compelled her to
1 08
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
gaze upon the ruin of Kirk-o-Field House, the scene of Darnley's murder, which must have been most harrow- ing. The crowd greeted her with yells and jeers ; and at the Lord Provost's house, she rested for the night. Next morning after a council at Holyrood she was taken to Lochleven Castle, were she was kept in close confinement until her romantic escape. Mary had already signed the necessary papers abdicating the Crown in favour of her infant son, who was proclaimed at the Cross of Edinburgh on July 27, 1567, and preparations were now made for the immediate coro- nation of the young Prince at Stirling Castle. The Coronation procession of the infant King moved from the sister castle to the High Church, known later as the West Kirk. The Earl of Athol bore the crown, the Earl of Morton the sceptre, and the Earl of Glencairn the sword. The infant, only fourteen months old, was carried in the arms of the Earl of Mar. The ceremony lasted from two till five in the afternoon } John Knox preached the sermon ; the Bishop of Orkney performed the anointing ; the crown was held over the little King's head by the Earl of Mar; and the infant hands were made to touch the sword and sceptre. At the conclusion of what must have been to the poor child a very tedious ceremony, the newly crowned King was carried back to the old fortress by the Earl of Mar amid great rejoicing. At night bonfires were lighted all over the country. A month later the Earl of Murray was proclaimed
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The Story of Edinburgh Castle
Regent with great solemnity. He ruled the country with a strong hand and to some extent restored peace amongst its people, but his Regency did not last long, for he was cruelly assassinated at Linlithgow on January 23, 1570, by the Duke of Hamilton, whilst on his way to Edinburgh from Stirling. He was succeeded in the Regency by the Earl of Lennox, later by Mar, and then by the Earl of Morton. Meantime the Castle was held by Sir William Kirk- caldy of Grange, who was still a staunch supporter of Queen Mary ; during this unsettled period he seized the opportunity of strengthening his position, and laid in stores which he had seized at Leith, besides training soldiers.
Queen Elizabeth, bent on subduing Mary's supporters, sent two skilful engineers to examine the defences of
o
Edinburgh Castle- -their last stronghold- -and they reported that with a sufficient battering-train the place might be taken in twenty days. Elizabeth resolved that the attempt should be made ; Sir William Drury, the Marshal of Berwick, was chosen to conduct the enterprise, and his force, consisting of five hundred hagbutters1 and a hundred and forty pikemen, dis- embarked at Leith with a considerable train of artillery. The English were joined by the Regent's troops, seven hundred strong, and so they marched to Edinburgh to commence preparations for the great siege. First, however, a summons to surrender in
1 Soldiers armed with the hagbut or harquebus.
1 10
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
the name of the Regent and the English general was sent to Kirkcaldy } but although the supply of water and provisions was nearly exhausted he refused to submit, and declared that he would hold the Castle until he was buried beneath its ruins. Trenches were dug, artillery was placed on advan- tageous ground commanding the walls, and on May 17, 1573, the guns of the besiegers opened fire, concentrating on the principal bastion- -the great tower built by King David. The shrieks and cries of the women in the fortress could be heard distinctly in the English lines, and after a furious cannonade of six days the south wall of the great tower gave way and fell with its mass of men and guns, with a crash like thunder, over the rock below, choking with its rums the passage to the outer gate. Next day the eastern part of the tower, the portcullis tower, and another bastion called Wallace's Tower, shared the same fate. The garrison now was in a state of desperation ; their ammunition was exhausted, their water-supply was rendered impossible by being choked with debris, and the greater part of the garrison were lying hors de combat from want of food. The only water-supply left was from St. Margaret's Well, which however had already been poisoned by the Regent's troops, and only about forty men were left to man the guns. Still Kirkcaldy did not lose heart, and it was not until the besiegers prepared for a general assault that the brave soldier, seeing that further resistance was useless, appeared on
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
the ruins of the ramparts with a white wand in his hand and obtained an armistice of two days. He then gave up his sword to Drury on receiving his assurance that it was to the Queen of England and not to the Regent of Scotland that he surrendered ; but he was treacherously delivered into the hands of his enemy the Regent Morton, and despite the strenuous efforts of his friends, who offered to purchase his pardon by becoming servants to the house of Morton in a per- petual " bond of man-rent," and also to pay to the Regent the sum of two thousand pounds and an annuity of three thousand marks, but to this offer the Regent
o
turned a deaf ear. On August 3, Sir William Kirkcaldy and his brother, and two others who were accused of coining base money within the Castle, were taken to the Cross of Edinburgh and there hanged and after-
. o
ward decapitated, their heads being fixed on the Castle walls. The brave Kirkcaldy died full of penitence for his sins and professing unshaken attachment to the cause of Mary Stuart.
John Knox on his deathbed sent the following message to Kirkcaldy : "Say from me, that unless he forsake that wicked course wherein he is entered, neither shall that rock on which he confideth defend him, nor the carnal wisdom of that man whom he counteth a demi- god (Lethington) make him help, but shamefully shall he be pulled out of that nest, and his carcass hung before the sun. The soul of that man is dear unto me, and, if it be possible, I would fain have him to be
I 12
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
saved." These words of Knox, although they pro- duced but little impression upon Kirkcaldy at the time, were afterwards remembered by him when he was compelled to surrender his stronghold } and it is recorded that at the time of his execution he acknow- ledged that Knox had spoken with something of prophetic truth, and also that he had derived some consolation from his good wishes and prayers. On the wall of the Castle close to the inner portcullis gate there is a memorial tablet to the brave soldier who so nobly held the fortress in a last futile effort to re-establish the Queen on the Throne. The fall of the Castle and the death of Kirkcaldy of Grange was a death-blow to the unfortunate Queen's party in Scotland.
"3
CHAPTER VII : The Coronation of Charles the First
CHAPTER VII : The Coronation of Charles the First
REGENT MORTON committed the keeping of the Castle to his brother George Douglas of Parkhead, one of Rizzio's assassins, who lost no time in putting the fortress and royal palace into complete repair, adding the famous half-moon battery which now forms so characteristic a feature in the sky-line of Edinburgh. The battlements previous to the siege presented a series of towers armed by forty pieces of cannon, connected with curtain walls ; but they were demolished by the assailants, who used in their assaults " hundred-pounders ' loaded by a crane.
Over the gateway of the restored portcullis tower the Regent placed the royal arms surmounted by hearts and mullets, the cognizance of his own family ; these still remain in the entablature. The Scottish lion was removed during the Commonwealth, but has recently been replaced. Morton's government became so objectionable that the nobles implored the King, then only twelve years old, to consider the possibility of inducing the Regent to resign. They represented to him, in a lengthy oration, the miserable condition to which the country was reduced by the extortion and misgovernment of the Regent, and his insolent and haughty bearing to the nobility. This intrigue must have come to the ears of Morton, for we find a letter
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sent by him to the King, in which he requests to be relieved from the cares of office. A Convention met in 1578 and the Regent's letter was laid before them, when they unanimously resolved that his resignation should be accepted, and that the King should take the government into his own hands. The joy of the people of all ranks on hearing the news of his resigna- tion, which was proclaimed by heralds at the Cross, was excessive, and the deafening acclamations by which it was testified convinced Morton that he had utterly forfeited the affections of his countrymen. The King commanded Morton to deliver up the Castle of Edinburgh, which he still continued to hold ; but he showed some unwillingness to surrender a fortress the possession of which might have helped in his ambitious designs. His brother, the captain, was in the meantime actively engaged in storing the place with provisions, which looked as if Morton really contemplated defending it. The inhabitants of the town suspecting his purpose, rose in arms and intercepted a convoy of stores on their way to the Castle ; whereupon George Douglas of Parkhead came out with a party of soldiers, who, discharging their pieces among the people, killed many of them and wounded others. The population, enraged and alarmed, so strictly watched all the avenues of the Castle that ingress and egress became impos- sible. Under those circumstances, Morton, without any show of resistance, surrendered the fortress to
118
THE ARGYLL, TOWER AND PORTCULLIS GATE
%
Page 118
<Tfo, tin burgh Castle
sent ; he requests to be
rei;CN A Convention rr
in 1578 and rh< er was laid before the :
when they unanirm wived that his resignation
be accept *h*tt the King should take
•<*. n hands. The joy of the np the news of his resigna-
c> ^
•d by heralds at the Cross, ieafening acclamations by inced Morton that he had
k'i^tt.m to deliver up the he still continued to willingness to surrender mh might have helped brother, the captain, .ngaged in storing the looked as if Morton
ispecting his purpose, convoy of stores on n upon George Douglas party of soldiers, who, the people, killed hers. The population,
ly watched all the avenues j
of the O*st i< **id egress became impos-
sible. I ?Kk-' r**-rf * m>tances, Morton, wit-5
'rendered the forties
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
Lords Ruthven and Lindsay, who took possession of the royal apartments and the Crown jewels ; while the keys of the gates were delivered to Seton of Touch and Cunningham of Drumwhassel. The influence of Morton with the young King was now gone, and the hatred of him by the nobles cul- minated at the end of the year 1580 in his arrest. His trial commenced five months later, on June i, 1581, for the murder of Darnley, for which crime he had put others to death. On the following day, amidst the great rejoicings of an antagonistic crowd, he was executed by a guillotine called the "Maiden," which he had himself invented. Calder- wood relates that when Morton was being taken as prisoner to the Castle, "a woman whose husband he had put to death cursed him aloud on her knees at the Butter Tron." His head was stuck on a spike at the Tolbooth, and his body buried at the Burghmuir, the burial-place for the worst type of criminal.
During the reign of James VI the King's visits to the Castle were few, and few noteworthy incidents occurred there. Under the guidance of his tutor, George Buchanan, he resided at Stirling and Holyrood in a homely way until his accession to the English throne. The Castle, however, is mentioned in the record of James' State entry into Edinburgh with his bride Queen Anne of Denmark. The procession approach- ing from the palace came in sight of the old fortress,
The Story of Edinburgh Castle
which gave her " thence a great voley of shot, with their banners and ancient displays upon the walls."
On June 19, 1616, his fifty-third birthday, James feasted the Scottish and English nobles in the Banqueting Hall, and thereafter went to Holyrood to witness a grand display of fireworks. State prisoners continued to be committed to the dungeons in the rocky foundations of the old fortress, from which few if any escaped with their lives. George Kerr, however, through the clemency of the King, was an exception. On a charge of Popery he had been confined in those death holes for some time when he was permitted to make his escape. An apparent attempt was made to recapture him, but this was purposely rendered ineffective by sending out pursuers in one direction while he was conveyed away in another. This artifice was so palpable that on the following Sunday it was publicly exposed from the pulpit and condemned as a "mockery." James' association with the Castle was not entirely to end at his accession to the Throne of England, upon the death of Elizabeth; on April 5, 1603, accom- panied by a splendid retinue of noblemen, barons, and gentlemen, he set out from the land of his birth on his journey south amid the tears of the citizens, who, though they sincerely rejoiced at his exaltation, which they fondly hoped would conduce to the peace of the country, could not witness his departure with-
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The Story of Edinburgh Castle
out regret. Fourteen years later he paid the only visit between his leave-taking and his death, and in preparation for it much work was done in the restora- tion and repair of the Castle building. James had an interesting personality, and his quaint figure was missed from the walks of the Castle ; he looked very stout from the peculiar fashion of his doublet, which was quilted, so as to be stiletto-proof} he walked clumsily, owing to the weakness of his legs, which never seemed to have strength enough to support his body. He kept his heavy eyes continually rolling, and his tongue when he spoke seemed to be too large for his mouth ; his utterance was in conse- quence thick and indistinct. "Dirty in his habits, he never washed his hands but simply wiped the points of his fingers with a wet napkin. He always fiddled about with his fingers, and as he walked he was often leaning on other men's shoulders." So if this picture be correct, James certainly did not inherit any of the elegance ascribed to his mother.
After the birth of James and the dramatic departure of his ill-fated mother the Castle had for a short time little concern in Scottish annals ; but with the succession of James' only surviving son Charles, who succeeded to the Throne in his twenty-fifth year, the historic landmark of Edinburgh once more comes into
o
prominence. Charles had completed ten years of his reign before he made a visit to the birthplace of his father, although he had long felt the desire to revisit
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the land of his nativity and the kingdom of his ancestors. On May 16, 1633, Charles I entered his Scottish capital, and this was made the occasion of his coronation. Charles is said to have expressed his desire that the Regalia of Scotland should be taken from the Castle and sent up to London for the pur- pose of being used at his coronation there ; but this was esteemed contrary to the independent rights of his Scottish kingdom, and so the King found it necessary to visit Scotland in person. Charles rode at the head of a splendid retinue which included the officers of the royal household, who formed a bodyguard, and five hundred English noblemen, gentlemen, and ecclesiastics, including the intolerant Laud, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, whose presence was to regulate the forms of devotion of the Scottish Church.
According to old custom, Charles made his public entry into the capital by the west port. He was met out- side by Drummond, the poet of Hawthornden, who welcomed him in a long congratulatory address abounding in fulsome adulation which is believed to have done no honour to his poetical genius. The pageantry exceeded in magnificence anything that had ever been seen in Scotland ; the reception which the new King met with from all ranks of his northern subjects evinced a depth and fervour of loyalty which it had been well for him and for the country if he had wisely laboured to conserve. Charles rode on
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horseback, attended by sixteen coaches and the Horse Guards, until at length he reached
That noble, stately dome
Where Scotia's Kings of other years
Famed heroes, had their royal home
which thundered from its batteries a salute of fifty- two guns.
Charles remained in the royal lodging attended by his nobles, and the morrow being Sunday he attended the Chapel Royal, where a sermon was preached by the Bishop of Dunblane. The Earl of Mar gave a great banquet in the old hall of the palace in honour of the occasion, and this was attended by all the foremost noblemen of Scotland and England. Next day Charles was enthroned under a velvet canopy in the same hall, attended by the Duke of Lennox, who at that time was Lord High Chamberlain of Scotland.
Then the peers in stately procession, wearing their robes of dark crimson velvet and chains of office, entered, each preceded by his page in full court dress bearing on a velvet cushion his lord's coronet. After an address by the Chancellor, Viscount Dupplin, Charles was conducted to the square in front of the palace, wherein were waiting his English footguards and others who were about to take part in the State procession to the Abbey.
Edinburgh had perhaps never witnessed such a scene
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of magnificence and costly grandeur, the extravagance of many of the Scottish nobility on this occasion meant embarrassment and even ruin to some, but the Scots had determined at all cost to efface the impres- sion of poverty with which they had been taunted by their English fellow-subjects.
The procession moved through the Castle square, past the half-moon battery, and down through the inner portcullis gate to the upper reaches of Castle Hill, where every window was crowded with excited faces. Flags and banners floated in the breeze from the housetops, and the windows were decorated with flowers and tapestry. " First," says Spalding, " came mounted on a roan horse, having a saddle of rich velvet sweeping the ground and massive with pase- ments of gold, Alexander Clark, the provost, at the head of the bailies and council to meet the King, while the long perspective of the crowded street was lined by a brave company of soldiers, all clad in white satin doublets, black velvet breeches and silk stockings, with hats, feathers, scarfs, and bands. These gallants had dainty muskets, pikes, and gilded partisans."
The procession moved slowly from the Castle gate, preceded by six trumpeters in gold lace and scarlet. Then came the lords in their robes of scarlet, ermined and laced, riding with long foot-mantles j the bishops in their white rochets and lawn sleeves looped with
gold ; the York and Norroy English kings-at-arms
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with their heralds, pursuivants, and trumpeters in tabards blazing with gold and embroidery ; Sir James Balfour, the Scottish Lion King, preceding the spurs, sword, sceptre, and crown, borne by earls. Then rode the Lord High Constable, with his baton, supported by the Great Chamberlain and Earl Marshal, preceding Charles, who was arrayed in a robe of purple velvet once worn by James IV, and had a foot-cloth embroidered with silver and pearls. His long train was borne by the young lords Lome, Annan, Dalkeith, and Kinfauns.
Then came the Gentlemen Pensioners, marching with partisans uplifted ; then the Yeomen of the Guard, clad in doublets of russet velvet, with the royal arms in raised embroidered work of silver and gold on the
o
back and breast of each coat- -each company com- manded by an earl. The gentlemen of the Scottish Horse Guards where all armed a la cuirassier, and carried swords, petronels, and musketoons. The gorgeous procession moved down the High Street and Canongate, in the centre of which was a railed- in pathway, each side of which was thronged with thousands of the citizens, and came at length to Holyrood, where in the presence of the august assembly and with great solemnity the crown was placed on the head of Charles by Spotswood, Arch- bishop of St. Andrews. The Bishop of Moray, newly appointed Lord Almoner, exercised his new function by scattering among the spectators within
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the chapel handfuls of silver medals in commemoration of the event.
On July 1 8 the newly crowned Scottish King left his northern capital to return to London. His visit to Edinburgh and residence in the Castle, with the wealth of pageantry and public rejoicings, did not leave behind it the loyalty which one would imagine must follow such events j this, however, is easily explained by the fact that Laud attempted to impose upon the Scottish people Episcopacy. This after- ward resulted in civil war, in which the Castle played an important part.
The national Covenant was drawn up to protest against the interference with the national religion by innovations which were regarded as the harbingers of Popery. The Covenanting Committees drew up a notice which was rapidly circulated throughout the kingdom, calling on the whole body of the supplicants to repair with all expedition to Edinburgh to arrange measures for their common safety and to make an appeal to the King. Charles paid no heed to the demands of the Covenanters, but sent a commissioner, the Marquis of Hamilton, as his representative with instructions to endeavour to bring about a pacification without really withdrawing the innovations com- plained of.
On his arrival at the gates of the city Hamilton found the Castle invested with armed men, and refused to
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of blockade. Although entreated to take up his residence in the royal palace he, after a long meeting and the eventual posting of a proclamation, returned across the border with the result of his mission to Charles, so that he could inform him more fully of the state of the country. Both sides had now buckled on the sword, but neither was willing to take the offensive, especially the Covenanters whose ideals led them rather to act on the defensive. Meantime many Scottish merchants and travellers were arrested in England and Ireland and were kept as prisoners until they disclaimed the Covenant. In 1639 a general attack was planned by the principal Scottish leaders to secure among other strongholds the Castle of Edinburgh. General Alexander Leslie with a picked battalion of one thousand " musketeers ' suddenly appeared before the gates of the Castle, which was then badly provided for and feebly garrisoned. There was a short parley, but the governor obstinately refused to surrender ; whereupon a petard was applied to the outer gate, which was immediately blown open.
A vigorous assault was then made on the inner gate with hammers and axes, but the strength of the metal trellis-work was too much for the assailants, who there- upon rushed forward their scaling-ladders, and mount- ing sword in hand found themselves in less than half an hour in possession of the most important stronghold
of the kingdom without the loss of a single man or
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even of a drop of blood. The governor was permitted to retire and carry the news to the King, while the brave general that night gave the Covenanting lords a banquet in the hall of the Castle and hoisted their blue standard with the motto, " For an oppressed Kirk and a broken Covenant," on the mast of the tower above the royal palace. This ancient banner is still preserved in the Edinburgh antiquarian museum. Lord Traquair's residence at Dalkeith was next sur- prised and captured } here were found secreted the crown, sword, and sceptre, which were at once carried safely back to their proper home in Edinburgh Castle. On King Charles' birthday, November 19, 1640, an unaccountable accident happened. A portion of the curtain wall, one of the oldest pieces of masonry of the Castle, collapsed and fell with a crash over the rock. The Covenanters after a convention with the King disbanded their army, and the Castle was restored to the Royalists, who placed in it a garrison under Sir Patrick Ruthven. The new governor took possession on February 25, 1640, marching through the High Street to the beat of drums. In conse- quence of the magistrates' refusal to supply the incoming garrison with provisions, the soldiers com- menced firing on the town and destroyed a considerable amount of property, besides occasioning loss of life j and on Parliament demanding the discontinuance of hostilities or the surrender of the Castle, the governor treated the demand with contempt.
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Leslie, therefore, was once more ordered to besiege the fortress, and he erected batteries on the Castle Hill, in Greyfriars Churchyard, and at the West Kirk. The ordnance did little damage, however, owing to the lightness of the guns, and little progress was made in the work of destruction.
Ruthven made a stern defence : his guns threatened the whole city ; even the spire of St. Giles' was in danger of being battered to pieces under the ruthless fire of the Royalists. At last the Covenanters sprang a mine and blew up a part of the wall of the Spur Battery, making a breach, whereupon a grand assault was made ; but the Scots were beaten back with con- siderable loss by the heavy fire of the musketeers. Weddal, one of the leaders, who led the attack, was horribly wounded, having both thighs shot through, and out of the numbers that made the assault only thirty-three escaped with their lives. The breach in the wall was speedily closed by the soldiers of Ruthven } and the Covenanters, disheartened by their failure, resolved to turn the siege into a blockade and depend on the gradual approach of starvation to reduce the garrison to surrender.
o
By coincidence the explosion of a gunpowder magazine under the Castle of Dunglas alarmed the inhabitants of the surrounding country to such an extent that beacons were immediately lighted, and soon these warning signals were ablaze on every point of vantage for miles around.
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The beleaguered garrison had been daily expecting relief by the arrival of the English fleet, and mistaking the beacon-fires for an announcement of this happy event, they held a great feast with the remainder of their provisions. The unfortunate mistake was soon discovered. To hold out without provisions was an impossibility, and so the gallant defenders had to surrender. Honourable conditions were allowed them for their bravery, and Ruthven marched out at the head of a remnant of his garrison with but one drum beating, after a blockade of three months, and took ship for England in a King's vessel. Once more the important fortress commanding the capital was in the hands of the patriots.
During the remaining years of the unfortunate King Charles I he only once visited Edinburgh Castle, when he prayed for the release of the Duke of Montrose, who with his friends Napier, Stirling, and Stewart of Blackshall were all lying imprisoned in its dungeons. When Charles assembled his first Parliament in the Castle he addressed the members with earnestness and simplicity of words and thought, which strongly con- trasted with the oratorical harangues of his father. "It cannot," says Hume, "be alleged against Charles that he preceded the Parliament in the war of words. He courted their affections ; and even in his manner of reception, amidst the dignity of the regal office, studiously showed his exterior respect by the marked
solemnity of their first meeting. As yet uncrowned,
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on the day on which he first addressed his Parliament he wore his crown, and vailed it at the opening, and on the close of his speech ; a circumstance to which the Parliament had not been accustomed. Another ceremony gave still greater solemnity to the meeting; the King would not enter into business till they had united in prayer. He commanded the doors to be closed, and a Bishop to perform the office. The suddenness of this unexpected command disconcerted the Catholic lords, of whom the less rigid knelt, and the moderate stood ; there was one startled Papist who did nothing but cross himself." In 1648 the Marquis of Argyll, the dictator of Scotland, invited Oliver Cromwell to Edinburgh and entertained him at a great banquet in the hall of the Castle, where they discussed the necessity of taking away the life of Charles, for which act Argyll afterwards lost his own head. After the coronation of Charles II at Scone in 1651 Parliament ordered the Castle to be put in a proper state of defence, news having reached Edinburgh of the approach of Cromwell at the head of a formidable army. Colonel Walter Dundas was in command, and at once laid in stores for a long siege. These included 1000 bolls of meal and malt and 1000 tons of coal, with threescore of cannon and the famous Mons Meg, besides 80,000 small arms and a plentiful supply of ammunition. "In a rare old tract of 1650," says Grant, "the
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appearance is recorded of a horrible apparition, which created great alarm in the fortress. On a dark and gloomy night the sentinel, under the shadow of the gloomy half-moon, was alarmed by the beating of a drum upon the esplanade and the tread of marching feet, on which he fired his musket. Colonel Dundas hurried forth, but could see nothing on the bleak expanse, the site of the now demolished Spur. The sentinel was truncheoned and another put in his place, to whom the same thing happened, and he, too, fired his musket, affirming that he heard the tread of soldiers marching to the tuck of drums. To Dundas nothing was visible, nothing audible but the moan of an autumn wind. He took a musket and the post of the sentinel. Anon he heard the old Scots march beaten by an invisible drummer; who came close up to the gate : — then came other sounds- the tramp of many feet and clank of accoutrements ; still nothing was visible, till the whole impalpable array seemed to halt close by Dundas, who was be- wildered with consternation. Again the drum was heard beating the English march, and then the French march, when the alarm ended; but the next drums that were beaten there were those of Oliver Cromwell."
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CHAPTER VIII : Cromwell and the Ministers
CHAPTER VIII : Cromwell and the Ministers
CROMWELL made his raid on Edinburgh and invested the Castle in 1650, two years after he had been the guest of the Marquis of Argyll, who had entertained him in the Banqueting Hall of the fortress. Charles II watched from the ramparts of the Castle the manoeuvres of the troops of the Protector in their endeavours to reach the city, on the occasion when they were beaten at St. Leonards, then a village on the outskirts of Edinburgh. The disastrous result of the defeat at Dunbar a few days later, however, turned the tables, and Edinburgh had to surrender to the Ironsides, with the exception of the fortress, in which most of the clergy had taken refuge. The prisoners who were taken at the battle of Dunbar suffered cruelty unknown to a Christian country. Dr. Taylor says, " It was most dishonourable to Cromwell and the Parliament." They were transported to the English settlements in America, and there sold for slaves. On their journey to England they were treated with the greatest barbarity, as will be seen from a letter of Haselrig (one of Cromwell's commandants) to the Council of State (Parliamentary Hist., vol. xix.).
" When they came to Morpeth, the prisoners being put into a large walled garden, they ate up raw cabbages, leaves, and roots, so many, as the very seed and labour at ^d per day was valued at ^9, which cabbage
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(they having fasted, as they themselves said, near eight days) poisoned their bodies ; for as they were coming from thence to Newcastle, some died by the wayside. When they came to Newcastle, I put them into the greatest church in the town ; and the next morning when I sent them to Durham, about 140 were sick and not able to march ; three died that night, and some fell down in their march from New- castle to Durham, and died. I having sent my lieutenant-colonel and my major with a strong guard both of horse and foot, they being there told into the great cathedral church, were counted to no more than 3000, although Colonel Fenwick wrote to me that there were about 3500. But I believe they were not told at Berwick, and as to most of those that were lost, it was in Scotland ; for I heard that the officers who marched with them to Berwick, were necessitated to kill about thirty, fearing the loss of them all, for they fell down in great numbers, and said they were not able to march, and they brought them far in the night, so that doubtless many ran away. Notwithstanding all this many of them died, and few of any other disease than the flux [dysentery] ; some were killed by themselves, for they were exceeding cruel one towards another. If any man were perceived to have any money, it was two to one lest he was killed before morning and robbed ; and if any had good cloaths, he that wanted, if he was able, would
strangle the other and put on his cloaths.
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" You cannot but think strange of this long preamble, and wonder what the matter will be. In short, it is this : out of the 3000 prisoners that my officers told into the cathedral church at Durham, only 600 are in health, and who are in all probability Highlanders, they being hardier than the rest ; but we have no means to distinguish them."
Cromwell offered the ministers who were shut up in the Castle liberty to preach in the city churches $ but this offer they declined, and a lengthy correspondence took place between them and the pious Protector respecting the violation of the Covenant and the abuse of unlicensed persons interfering with the work of the ministry, for not only lay preachers but even soldiers held forth to great congregations from the vacant pulpits.
For the Honourable the Governor of the Castle of
Edinburgh
EDINBURGH, September 9, 1650 SIR,
I received command from my lord general to desire you to let the ministers of Edinburgh, now in the Castle with you, know that they have free liberty granted them, if they please to take the pains, to preach in their several churches ; and that my lord hath given special command both to officers and soldiers, that they shall not in the least be molested.
I am, Sir,
Your most humble servant,
EDWARD WHALLEY s '37
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To Commissary General W^halley
EDINBURGH CASTLE, September 9, 1650 SIR,
I have communicated the desire of your letter to such of the ministers of Edinburgh as are with me, who have desired me to return this for answer. That though they are ready to be spent in their Master's service, and to refuse no suffering so they may fulfil their ministry with joy, yet, perceiving the persecution to be personal by the practice of your party upon the ministers of Christ in England and Ireland, and in the kingdom of Scotland since your unjust invasion thereof ; and finding nothing expressed in yours where- upon to build any security for their persons while they are there, and for their return hither ; they are resolved to reserve themselves for better times, and to wait upon Him who hath hidden His face for a while from the sons of Jacob. This is all I have to say, but that
I am, Sir,
Your most humble servant,
W. DUNDAS
For the Honourable the Governor of the Castle of Edinburgh^ these
EDINBURGH, September 9, 1650 SIR,
The kindness offered to the ministers with you was done with ingenuity, thinking it might have met with the like ; but I am satisfied to tell those with you, that, if their Master's service (as they call it) were
chiefly in their eye, imagination of suffering would not r38
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have caused such a return ; much less would the prac- tice of our party, as they are pleased to say, upon the ministers of Christ in England have been an argument of personal persecution. The ministers of England are supported, and have liberty to preach the Gospel, though not to rail, nor, under the pretence thereof, to overtop the civil power, or debase it as they please. No man hath been troubled in Ireland for preaching the Gospel ; nor hath any minister been molested in Scotland since the coming of the army hither. The speaking of truth becomes the ministers of Christ. When ministers pretend to a Glorious Reformation, and lay the foundation thereof in getting to themselves worldly power ; and can make worldly mixtures to accomplish the same, such as their late agreement with their King ; and hope by him to carry on their design, they may know that the Sion promised will not be built by such untempered mortar.
As for the unjust invasion they mention, time was when an army of Scotland came into England, not called by the supreme authority. We have said in our papers with what hearts and upon what accounts we come ; and the Lord has heard us, though you would not, upon as solemn an appeal as any experience can parallel.
And although they seem to comfort themselves with being sons of Jacob, from whom (they say) God hath hid His face for a time, yet it is no wonder when the Lord hath lifted up His hand so eminently against a family as He hath done so against this, and men will not see His hand — it is no wonder if the Lord will hide His face from such, putting them to shame both for it and their hatred of His people, as it is this day. When they purely trust to the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God, which is powerful to bring down strong- holds and every imagination that exalts itself — which
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alone is able to square and fit the stones for the New Jerusalem — then, and not before, and by that means and no other, shall Jerusalem, the city of the Lord, which is to be the praise of the whole earth, be built; the Sion of the Holy One of Israel. I have nothing to say, but that
I am, Sir,
Your humble servant,
OLIVER CROMWELL
To the Right Honourable the Lord Cromwell^ Commander-in-Chief of the English Army
EDINBURGH CASTLE, September 9, 1650 MY LORD,
Yours I have communicated to those with me whom it concerned, who desire me to return this answer : That their ingenuity in prosecuting the ends of the Covenant, according to their vocation and place, and in adhering to their first principles, is well known ; and one of their greatest regrets is that they have not been met with the like. That when ministers of the Gospel have been imprisoned, deprived of their bene- fices, sequestrated, forced to flee from their dwellings and bitterly threatened for their faithful declaring the will of God against the godless and wicked proceedings of men, it cannot be accounted an imaginary fear of suffering in such as are resolved to follow the like freedom and faithfulness in discharge of their Master's message. That it savours not of ingenuity to promise liberty of preaching the Gospel, and to limit the preachers thereof, that they must not speak against the sins and enormities of civil powers ; since their commission carrieth them to speak the Word of the 140
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Lord unto, and to reprove the sins of persons of all ranks, from the highest to the lowest. That to impose the name of c railing ' upon such faithful freedom, was the old practice of malignants against the ministers of the Gospel, who laid open to the people the wicked- ness of their ways, lest men should be ensnared thereby. That their consciences bear them record, and all their hearers do know, that they meddle not with civil affairs farther than to hold forth the rule of the Word, by which the straightness and crookedness of men's actions are made evident. But they are sorry they have such cause to regret that men of mere civil place and em- ployment should usurp the calling and employment of the ministry to the scandal of the Reformed Kirks, and particularly in Scotland contrary to the government and discipline therein established — to the maintenance whereof you are bound by Solemn League and Covenant.
Thus far they have thought fit to vindicate their return to the offer in Colonel Whalley's letter. The other part of yours which concerns the public as well as them, they conceive hath all been answered sufficiently in the public papers of the State and Kirk. Only to that of the success upon your < solemn appeal,' they say again what was said to it before, That they have not so learned Christ as to hang the equity of their cause upon events, but desire to have their hearts estab- lished in the love of the truth in all the tribulations that befall them. I do only add that
I am, my lord,
Your most humble servant,
W. DUNDAS
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For the Governor of the Edinburgh Castle^ these
EDINBURGH, September 12, 1650 SIR,
Because I am at reasonable good leisure, I cannot let such gross mistakes and unconsequential reasonings pass without some notice taken of them. And first, their ingenuity in relation to the Covenant for which they commend themselves doth no more justify their want of ingenuity in answer to Colonel Whalley's Christian offer, concerning which my letter charged them with guiltiness and deficiency, than their bearing witness to themselves of their adhering to their first principles, and ingenuity in persecuting the ends of the Covenant, justifies them so to have done merely because they say so. They must give more leave henceforwards, for Christ will have it so — nill they, will they — and they must have patience to have the truth of their doctrines and sayings tried by the sure touchstone of the Word of God.
But if these gentlemen do assume to themselves to be the infallible expositors of the Covenant, as they do too much to their auditories to be the infallible expo- sitors of the Scriptures also, counting a different sense and judgment from theirs — breach of Covenant and heresy — no marvel they judge of others so authori- tatively and severely. But we have not so learned Christ. We look at ministers as helpers of, not lords over, God's people. I appeal to their consciences, whether any person trying their doctrines and dissenting shall not incur the censure of sectary ? And what is this but to deny Christians their liberty, and assume the Infallible Chair ? What doth he whom we would not be likened unto [the Pope] do more than this ? . . . 142
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But it will be found that these reprovers do not only make themselves the judges and determiners of sin, that so they may reprove ; but they also took liberty to stir up the people to blood and arms, and would have brought a war upon England, as hath been upon Scot- land, had not God prevented it. And if such severity as hath been expressed toward them be worthy of the name of ' personal persecution,' let all uninterested men judge; and whether the calling of the practice ' railing ' be to be paralleled