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.
