Edinburgh Castle

Edinburgh Castle has a history which spans millions of years. Its story begins 340 million of years ago when Castle Rock, the site that later would become Edinburgh Castle, was a volcano and lava flowed and hardened. Sedimentary rock covered the volcano until the end of the Ice Ages when all that was left was the core of the volcano (Tabraham 46). There is evidence of human civilization as early as 900 BC. When the Romans came, there was a tribe living on the Rock and this is where the first mention of it appears in the records. The Romans called it “Din Eidyn” which means “the stronghold of Eidyn” (Tabraham 46). Edinburgh is the name that the Angles gave the rock, and this is the name that it has today.

The next important part of Edinburgh Castle’s history happens centuries later. Around 1093 reference is made to an old version of what today is Edinburgh Castle. This royal castle was known as “Castle of Maidens” (Tabraham 48). At this point Queen Margaret was living at the Castle. It was here that she heard of the devastating news that her husband, Malcolm III, was killed. She died soon after she heard the news (Tabraham 48). Her son, David I, had a chapel built and dedicated it to his mother. St. Margaret’s Chapel is the oldest building in the castle. Margaret was canonized in 1250 (Tabraham 19). St. Margaret's memory lives on in the chapel at Edinburgh Castle.The Castle was established as a fortress under David I and was probably made of stone. However, the English were still able to capture the Castle when Edward I invaded in 1296. Then in 1314, Sir Thomas Randolph overtook the Castle by climbing up the northern side of the Castle, which caught the guards unprepared (Tabraham 50). In order to make the Castle not useful to the English, the Castle was taken down. This is the way the Castle stayed, all taken apart, for twenty years. However, when the English conquered the Edinburgh once more in 1335, another quest was needed in order to win back the Castle (Tabraham 50). This was the undertaking of Sir William Douglas. Pretending to be sailors, he and other Scotsmen were allowed into the Castle. They took hold of the Castle and shortly after, David II was restored as King (Tabraham 51). Finally the Castle was out of the hands of the English.

Edinburgh Castle was established as a palace of residence while the Royal Stewarts were in power. This was mainly due to James III. He decided that Edinburgh Castle was going to be his permanent home and had extensive rebuilding done. This helped establish Edinburgh as the place of government; this was where most of the royal documents were issued (Lynch 136). The Castle saw more improvements when James IV came to power; he completed work on the Great Hall, which was designed to be a place where ceremonies took place (Tabraham 32). At this point the Castle also was where the Honours of Scotland were held, along with the state archives and royal artillery. Although these improvements were made to the Castle, most of the royals didn’t actually like to live there. This is why Holyrood Palace became the new place of residence for the royals, except for when it was made necessary by security to be at Edinburgh Castle (Tabraham 53). Edinburgh Castle had served its time as a royal home, but that time was at an end.Mary Queen of Scots was influential in how events would affect Edinburgh Castle for the next few years. She gave birth there to James VI of Scotland who later became James I of England. A year later she returned to the Castle with the Earl of Bothwell, whom she married a few days after arriving at the Castle. The nobles did not like her choice and decided that change needed to be made so they rebelled against her. She had to flee to England to beg Queen Elizabeth for help. While she was gone, the governor of Edinburgh Castle was holding down the fortress on behalf of Mary’s baby son (Tabraham 55). This siege, known as the Lang Siege, ended when Queen Elizabeth lent the besiegers 20 guns, and they started bombarding the Castle. Many of the buildings inside the Castle were damaged and almost destroyed (Tabraham 55). Mary’s fate also ended sadly; her cousin the Queen of England agreed to sign her death warrant (Hibbert 145).

Edinburgh Castle, after that, went through different hands and had different purposes as time progressed. When Oliver Cromwell took over Edinburgh Castle, it became a garrison fortress (Tabraham 56). The only room not affected by this transformation was the Crown Room, which was sealed up in 1707 when the Treaty of Union between Scotland and England was signed. Edinburgh Castle also saw two attempts made by Jacobites to reclaim the throne. These were easily defeated. Then in 1818, the Honours of Scotland were found by Sir Walter Scott. It was decided to put them up for public display, and this caused and influx of visitors to see Edinburgh Castle. This continued as St. Margaret’s Chapel was recognized and the room where James VI of Scotland was born was opened to visitors. In more recent times, Edinburgh Castle started the Edinburgh Military Tattoo and has become famous for that.

Edinburgh Castle was a delightful place to visit. It was hard to imagine what life would have been like to live there, but I definitely learned a lot while I was there. I especially liked the Military exhibits because I knew little about Scotland’s history in that regard. Also, learning about St. Margaret and knowing that the Chapel is the oldest building in Edinburgh Castle was great. As I was walking through the Castle, I could tell why the Royal Stewarts would have decided to move their place of residence; it was really windy up there. Overall, I truly enjoyed my visit to Edinburgh Castle.

Works Cited

Hibbert, Christopher. The Story of England. London: Phaidon Press Limited, 1992.

Lynch, Michael. Scotland A New History. London: Century Ltd. 1991.

Tabraham, Chris. Edinburgh Castle The Official Souvenir Guide. Historic Scotland. 2008.