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Old and New Edinburgh Vol. I

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Leaving his queen in the then solitary Castle, Grime (who, according to Buchanan, began his reign in the year 996) often pursued the pleasures of the chase among the wilds of Polmood, in the probably a remnant of Edwin's departed power, and from this period begins the authentic history of Edinburgh and its castle, as from that time it continued to be almost permanently the Bertha, her aged father, and infant son, and, burying them in one grave, heaped above it a rough tumulus, which still marks the spot. Full of remorse and fear, the queen died before the return of Grime, who, after defeating the Danes, and destroying their galleys, hastened to this invests the solemn event with a peculiar charm. The grand-niece of Edward the Confessor, she had fled from her own country on the usurpation of Harold, but was wrecked on the Forth, at the place still called Queensferry. She and her retinue were hospitably entertained by Malcolm III., who successor, was deserted in battle by his warriors, taken captive, and, after having his eyes put out, died in grief and misery in the eighth year of his reign. He was succeeded, in 1004, by Maicolm II., who had Lothian formally ceded to him by Eadulf- Cudel, Earl of Northumberland, who had pre- Viously exercised some right of vassalage over it, wife, of Malcolm, in the lines spoken hy Macduff, Macbeth, Act iv., scene 3 :- " The queen that bore thee, Oftener upon her knees than on her feet, Died every day she lived." In 1091 William Rufus made war on Scotland, and, taking the castle of Alnwick by surprise, wantonly put its garrison to the sword. Malcolm. coat of arms
Volume 1 Page 16
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