CHAPTER XIV EDINBURGH CASTLE

Stands upon a great rock rising abruptly from low-lying ground.
Its history stretches back to the dim time of legends.

Edinburgh Castle has a history that stretches far back till it is lost in the misty realm of legend. The great rock upon which it is built could not fail to have appealed to all the successive rulers of the land as of great strategic importance. It rises abruptly from the low-lying land, and dominates the country for many miles around, from the Forth on the north to the Pentland Hills on the south. Its Celtic name of Maidun, meaning the fort of the plain, became corrupted [pg 73] in later times to Maiden's Castle, the name being responsible for the tradition that the castle was used by the royal Princesses, during times of great danger.

Edinburgh Castle, from the North.

Though Edwin, the King of Northumbria, is the reputed founder of the town whose name is commonly derived from him, the clear light of history only begins to shine upon it in the days of Malcolm Canmore and his sainted Queen. At that time a Celtic Castle stood upon the rock, of which there are no remains except St. Margaret's Chapel, a little Norman building, named after Malcolm Canmore's English wife. Malcolm, the Big Head, a brave but illiterate Prince, was so devoted to his beautiful wife, that through her teaching he learned religion, and used to take part with her in the religious services of which she was so fond. Unable to read himself, he caused her prayer-books and missals to be splendidly bound, and would listen to her while she read to him, submitting at the same time to refinements in dress and table customs which were quite innovations in the rude northern Court. Queen Margaret was in the castle in 1093, when her warlike husband and her eldest son went off with a large army to fight the English. She was lying very ill when the news came to her that both husband and son had been slain, the shock causing her death. As there was [pg 74] considerable disaffection in the country, her body was carried with great secrecy across the Forth to Dunfermline, a miraculous mist kindly enveloping the party, so that no one saw them escape.

Another Queen Margaret, also an English Princess, a century and a half later, came as a girl-wife to the grim castle on the rock. She was the daughter of Henry III. of England, and had been married to Alexander III., a mere boy, with great splendour at York, her father hoping by the marriage to gain more influence over Scotland.

All the troubles of the War of Independence during the fourteenth century arose from King Alexander III. leaving no male heir. His two sons had died before him, and his grand-daughter, the Maid of Norway, was his only heir. Disasters came thick upon Scotland soon after the death of Alexander III., who had fallen over a cliff on the coast of Fife when riding too near the edge on a very dark and stormy night. For the next fifty years Edinburgh Castle was constantly being taken by the English and recaptured by the Scottish people. Everyone knows the story of how Sir Thomas Randolph surprised the English garrison in the castle, by climbing up the precipitous side of the rock with a party of thirty bold men. After this capture, Robert Bruce, according to his usual policy, destroyed the castle, so that it should no longer serve as a stronghold for the English. But when Edward III. obtained it again in 1334 he rebuilt it.

It was not until the early Stuart Kings, that Edinburgh Castle really became a palace, in the more peaceful sense of the word. When James I. returned to Scotland after his long captivity in England, he spent a considerable amount of money on building the Parliament House, [pg 75] (now used as the armoury), and many of the private apartments. He had doubtless, during his residence at Windsor and Westminster, learnt to enjoy the greater beauty and dignity of the English palaces. His son, James II., continued his work of rebuilding.

During the minority of James II., a time when several parties in the State were endeavouring to capture their young monarch and to rule in his name, a great tragedy took place within the castle. William, Earl of Douglas, a lad of about eighteen, was then the head of the most wealthy and powerful family in Scotland, and being of royal descent, might even make a claim to the throne.

As he did not join himself to either the party of Sir William Crichton or that of Sir Alexander Livingstone, these two leaders, usually at deadly enmity with one another, united to destroy the young Earl. In the year 1440, the Earl and his brother David were invited to the castle, on the pretext that the young King wanted their congenial company. Accompanied by their aged tutor, Sir Malcolm Fleming, the two boys came to Edinburgh, where they were received with real pleasure by James II., and with false hospitality by Crichton and Livingstone. But the real purpose of the visit was evident when a black bull's head was placed upon the dinner-table, in Scotland as much a symbol of death as the Judge's black cap in a modern trial. Taken unawares, the unfortunate boys were hurried to the castle walls, where, after a mock trial, they were beheaded, Fleming also suffering a similar fate.

After the time of Flodden Field, the monarchs very seldom used the castle for anything but a stronghold against their enemies, Holyrood Palace becoming their favourite residence. The last Prince to be born in the [pg 76] castle was James VI., his mother, Mary Queen of Scots, having chosen to be within the protection of its strong walls. The small room in which he was born can still be seen, a memorable room, for the infant Prince was to bring peace to his realm, putting an end at last to centuries of conflict, not indeed by any wisdom or foresight of his own, but by succeeding to the throne of England.