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.
6 MEMORIALS OF EDINBURGH.
Dederyk, Alderman of Edinburgh, with the whole community of the town, swore fealty to
the usurper.
Immediately after the final triumph of the Bruce, few occurrences of importance, in connection
with Edinburgh, are recorded ; though here, on the 8th March 1327, his Parliament
held its sittings in the Abbey of Holyrood,' and here also his sixteenth and last Parliament
assembled in March 1328. From the glimpses we are able to obtain from time to
time, it may be inferred that it still occupied a very secondary station among the towns
of Scotland; and while the Cast,le was always an object of importance with every rival
power, its situation was much too accessible from the English border to be permanently
chosen as the royal reaidence. In the interregnum, for example, after the death of Margaret,
the Maid of Norway, we find, in 1304, when a general Parliament was summoned
by Edward to be held at Perth, for the settlement of Scotland, sheriffs are appointed for
each of twenty-one burghs named, while Edinburgh is grouped with Haddington and
Linlithgow, under '' Ive de Adeburgh ; " and the recapture of the Castle, on two successive
occasions, by Edward, obtains but a passing notice, amid the stirring interest of the
campaigns d Bruce.
Towards the close of 1312, when the persevering valour of Bruce, and the imbecility of
Edward II., had combined to free nearly every stronghold of Scotland from English garrisons,
we find the Castle of Edinburgh held for the English by Piers Leland, a Gascon
knight; but when Randolph, the nephew of the Bruce, laid it under strict blockade, the
garrison, suspecting his fidelity, thrust him into a dungeon, and prepared, under a newly
chosen commander, to hold out to the last. Matters were in this state, when a romantic
incident restored this important fortress to the Scottish arms. William Frank, a soldier,
who had previously formed one of the Scottish garrison, volunteered to guide the besiegers
by a steep and intricate path up the cliff, by which he had been accustomed in former years
to escape during the night from military durance, to enjoy the society of a fair maiden
of the neighbouring city, of whom he was enamoured. Frequent use had made him familiar
with the perilous ascent ; and, under his guida,nce, Randolph, with thirty men, scaled
the Castle walls at midnight; and after a determined resistance, the garrison was overpowered.
Leland, the imprisoned governor, entered the Scottish service on his release,
and, according to Barbour, was created by the King Viscount of Edinburgh ; but afterwards,
headds, he thought that he had an English heart, and made him to be Aangit and
dramen.'
Acta of Parliament of Scotland, vol. i. fol. Hailes' Annals, vol. i. p. 285.
Ibid., vol. ii. p. 38.
VIGNETTE-Ancient atone from Edinburgh Castle, now in the Antiquarian Museum.
