for, a matrimonial alliance having been concluded
between Ermengarde de Beaumont (cousin of
Henry) and King VJilliam, the Castle was thriftily
given up as part of her dowry, after having had an
English garrison for nearly twelve years.
Alexander II., their son, convened his first
parliament in Edinburgh in 1215. Alexander III.,
son of the preceding, having been betrothed to
Margaret daughter of Henry 111. of England
nine years before their nuptials were celebrated
at York in 1242, the queen, according to Amot,
had Edinburgh Castle appointed as her residence;
but it would seem to have been more
of a stronghold than a palace, as she complained
to her father that it was a ?? sad and solitary place,
without verdure, and, by reason of its vicinity to
the sea, unwholesome;? and ?that she was not
permitted to make excursions through the kingdom,
nor to choose her female attendants.? She was in
her sixteenth year.
Walter Earl of Menteith was at this time
governor of the fortress, and all the offices of the
city and of the nation itself were in the hands of
his powerful family. Many Englishmen of rank accompanied
the young queen-consort, and between
these southern intruders and the jealous Scottish
nobles there soon arose disputes that were both
hot and bitter. As usual, the kingdom was rent
into two powerful factions-one secretly favouring
Henry, who artfully wished to have Scotland under
his own dominion; another headed by Walter
Comyn, John de Baliol, and others, who kept
possession of Edinburgh, and with it the persons
of the young monarch and his bride. These
patriotically resisted the ambitious attempts of the
King of England, whose emissaries, 0; being joined
by the Earls of Carrick, Dunbar, and Strathearn,
and Alan Dureward, High Justiciary, while theiI
rivals were preparing to hold a parliament at
Stirling, took the Castle of Edinburgh by surprise,
and liberated the royal pair, who were triumphantly
conducted to a magnificent bridal chamber, and
afterwards had an interview with Henry at Wark,
in Northumberland.
During the remainder of the long and prosperous
reign of Alexander 111. the fortress continued to
be the chief place of the royal residence, and foI
holding his courts for the transaction of judicial
affairs, and much of the public business is said tc
have been transacted in St. Maxgaret?s chamber.
In 1278 William of Kinghorn was governor;
and about this period the Castle was repaired and
strengthened. It was then the safe deposit of the
principal records and the regalia of the kingdom.
And now we approach the darkest and bloodiesl
.
portion of the Scottish annals ; when on the death
of the Maid of Norway (the little Queen Margaret)
came the contested succession to the crown between
Bruce, Baliol, and others ; and an opportunity was
given to Edward I. of England of advancing a
claim to the Scottish crown as absurd as it was
baseless, but which that ferocious prince prosecuted
to the last hour of his life with unexampled barbarity
and treachery.
On the 11th of June, 1291, the Castle?of Edinburgh
and all the strongholds in the Lowlands were
unwisely and unwarily put into the hands of the
crafty Plantagenet by the grasping and numerous
claimants, on the ridiculous pretence that the subject
in dispute should be placed in the power of
the umpire ; and the governors of the various fortresses,
on finding that the four nobles who had been
appointed .guardians of the realm till the dispute
was adjusted had basely abandoned Scotland to
her fate, they, too, quietly gave up their trusts to
Edward, who (according to Prynne?s ? History ?)
appointed Sir Radulf Basset de Drayton governor
of Edinburgh Castle, with a garrison of English
soldiers. According to Holinshed he personally
took this Castle after a fifteen days? siege with his
warlike engines.
On the vigil of St. Bartholomew a list was
drawn up of the contents of the Treasury in the
Castra de Edrir6ut-g; and among other religious
regalia we find mentioned the Black Rood of
Scotland, which St. Margaret venerated so much. .
By Edward?s order some of the records were left
in the Castle under the care of Basset, but all the
most valuable documents were removed to England,
where those that showed too clearly the
ancient independence of Scotland were carefully
destroyed, or tampered with, and others were left
to moulder in the Tower of London.
On the 8th of July, 1292, we find Edward again
at Edinburgh, where, as self-styled Lord Paramount,
he received within the chapel of St. Margaret the
enforced oath of fealty from Adam, Abbot of Holyrood;
John, Abbot of Newbattle ; Sir Brim le Jay,
Preceptor of the Scottish Templars; the Prior of
St. John of Jerusalem ; and Christina, Prioress of
Emanuel, in Stirlingshire.
Bnice having refused to accept a crown shorn
of its rank, Edward declared in favour of the
pitiful Baliol, after which orders were issued to
the captains of the Scottish castles to deliver
them up to John, King of Scotland. Shame at last
filled the heart of the latter; he took the field, and
lost the battle of Dunbar. Edward, reinforced by
fifteen thousand Welsh and a horde of Scottish
traitors, appeared before Edinburgh Castle; the
