EARLIEST TRADITIONS. 5
having been concluded between Ermengarde de Beaumont, cousin to King Henry, Edinburgh
Castle was gallantly restored as a dowry to the Queen, after having been held by
an English garrison for nearly twelve years.
In the year 1215, Alexander II., the son and successor of William, convened his first
Parliament at Edinburgh ; and during the same reign, still further importance was given
to the rising city, by a Provincial Synod being held in it by Cardinal l’Aleran, legate from
Pope Gregory IX. The revenues of Alexander could not rival the costly foundations of
his great-grandfather, David I. ; but he founded eight monasteries of the Mendicant Order,
in different parts of Scotland; one of which, the monastery of Blackfriars, stood nearly on
the same spot as the Royal Infirmary now occupies ; near which was the Collegiate Church
of St Mary-in-the-Field, better known as the Kirk-0’-Field, occupying the site of the
College-all vestiges of which have long since disappeared. But of these we shall treat
more at large in their proper place. His son and successor, Alexander III,, having been
betrothed to Margaret, daughter of Henry 111. of England, nine years before, their nuptials
were celebrated at York, in the year 1242, Arnot tells us “ the young Queen had Edinburgh
Castle appointed for her residence ; ” but it would seem to have been more in the character
of a stronghold than a palace ; for, whereas the sumptuousness of her namesake, Queen of
Malcolm Canmore, the future St Margaret of Scotland, while residing there, excited discontent
in the minds of her rude subjects, she describes it as “ a sad and solitary place,
without verdure, and by reason of its vicinity to the sea, unwholesome ; that she was not
permitted to make excursions through the kingdom, nor to chose her female attendanta ;
and lastly, that she was excluded from all conjugal intercourse with her husband, who by
this time had completed his fourteenth year.” “ Redress of her last grievance,” Dalrymple
adds, ‘‘ was instantly procured, redress of her other grievances was promised.”
Shortly after, the Castle was surprisedbp Alan Dureward, Patrick Earl of March, and other
leaders, while their rivals were engaged in preparation for holding a Parliament at Stirling ;
and the royal pair being liberated from their durance, we shortly afterwards find them holding
an interview with Henry, at Werk Castle, Northumberland. During the remainder of
the long and prosperous reign of Alexander III., the Castle of Edinburgh continued to be
the chief place of the royal residence, as well as for holding his courts for the transaction
of judicial affairs ; it was also during his reign the safe depository of the principal records,
and of the regalia of the kingdom.’
From this time onward, through the disastrous wars that ultimately settled the Bruce
on the throne, and established the independence of Scotland, Edinburgh experienced
its full share of the national sderings and temporary humiliation; in June 1291, the
town and Castle were surrendered into the hands of Edward I. Holinshed relatea that
he came to Edinburgh, where “ he planted his siege about the Castell, and raised engines
which cast stones against and over the walls, sore beating and bruising the buildings within
; so that it surrendered by force of siege to the King of England’s use, on the 15 daie
after he had first laid his siege about it.”3 He was here also again on 8th July 1292, and
again on the 29th of the same month; and here, in May 1296, he received within the
church in the Castle, the unwilling submission of many magnates of the kingdom, acknowledging
him as Lord Paramount; and on the 28th of August following, William de
Caledonia, vol. ii. p. 586. = Ibid., p. 687. ’ Chronicles, 1586, vol. iii. p. 300.
