Stirling Castle

“ In the midst of the borough rises a crag as lofty as that on which Stirling Castle is built—in Europe, it would most certainly have been crowned with its castle; steep and grassy on one side, and precipitous and rocky on the other, where it overhangs the Bushkill. The college stands on a lofty eminence, overlooking the dwellings and streets, but it is an ugly building, and has not a tree to conceal even in part its ugliness. ”

“ It is not given to many castles to be the object of a battle affecting the destinies of two nations, a battle that must be reckoned as one of the decisive engagements of the world.
Both Edinburgh and Stirling Castles stand out darkly in the annals of the princely House of Douglas. In one king’s reign two chiefs of that great family were suddenly done to death when expecting courteous treatment in their sovereign’s own halls. ”

“ As a water supply within the walls was essential to every medieval castle, the well in many fortresses is the oldest piece of work that has come down to the present day. Stirling Castle possesses two wells, both of them of great antiquity, but the probability is that the one in the Outer Square is older than that in the Nether Bailey. The earliest stronghold doubtless occupied only the higher part of the rock, and when in later times the lower ledge was enclosed the additional well would be made. ”

“ Stirling Castle is a many-sided subject that can be treated in more than one way. The story of the castle might be dealt with in a book divided into sections, each one taking up a special part, such as Military History, Stirling as a Royal Palace, Notable Visitors, etc.; but I have thought it better to set forth the whole of the castle’s history in chronological order, and, after discussing the buildings and their associations, to bring together the salient events connected with the three chief Scottish strongholds, and to record what the poets have said about Stirling. ”

“ You may travel from Stirling to Loch Katrine and from the Trossachs to the Braes of Balquhidder and all the time feel the thrill of the poem, which seems fairly to permeate the atmosphere. It is full of incident, and there is never a dull moment from the beginning of the stag hunt in the solitudes of Glenartney to the final scenes of generosity and gratitude, of love and joyous reunion, in the King's Palace of Stirling Castle. ”

“ At Stirling the much-beloved old castle underwent various changes as the centuries rolled on; and when, with the advance of time, the taste for luxury developed and the Renaissance style of architecture was introduced from France, the fortress, instead of ceasing to be occupied by royalty, was crowned with a richly-carved palace. Until Scotland was forsaken by her ancient line of monarchs Stirling remained as much in favour with the kings and queens as the palaces of Falkland and Linlithgow, which were almost unencumbered with a castle’s fortifications. ”

“ All down the centuries Stirling Castle has been a place of arms, but since royalty ceased to dwell under its roof soldiers have become its most important,196 and almost its only, occupants. After the Union of 1707 the British Parliament followed the Scottish Estates in maintaining a garrison in the fortress, as well as in Edinburgh and Dumbarton, but the statement often made that the Treaty of Union requires this arrangement to be kept up has no foundation in fact. ”

“ After an attempt to flee the country he was thrown into Stirling Castle, where he lay a prisoner till 1693. At first the Earl was somewhat harshly treated, but on his Countess’s petitioning against his want of privacy the Estates agreed to relieve him of the constant attendance of his guards.87
Although Queen Anne never saw Stirling Castle, her name is associated with the fortifications that were constructed outside the gateway which James IV. had built. This addition consists of124 massive embrasured walls with outlook turrets, and an archway bearing the initials A. R. surmounted by a crown. ”

“ The Earl of Arran was appointed Governor of the realm; but in July, 1543, his rival, Cardinal Beaton, rode from Stirling with the Earls of Lennox, Argyll and Huntly, at the head of several thousand men, in order to secure the person of the Queen. Arran, reckoning the troops at his disposal insufficient to enable him to frustrate their designs, sent messengers to treat for peace, and allowed the infant Mary and her mother6769 to be carried to Stirling Castle. The two Queens were placed in the charge of four nobles, the chief of whom was John, Lord Erskine, the constable of the fortress. ”

“ The tide of Scottish history long flowed towards and around Stirling Castle. The time when it was not a place of strength and of strife is lost in the mists of antiquity. Early, too, it became the seat of kings; and the Castle, and the little burgh upon the slope behind, have witnessed many a stirring sight. Scottish Parliaments were held here, or in the Abbey of Cambuskenneth, whose ruined tower rises, on a “link of Forth,” opposite what is now the railway station. ”

“ The Regent garrisoned the fortress with one hundred and forty men, and gave the charge of it, with the custody of the princes, to the Earl Marischal and Lords Fleming and Borthwick.29 Queen Margaret, after a brief stay in Edinburgh, returned to her native land, but finding it impossible to relinquish Scottish politics, she recrossed the Border in 1517. Her most memorable residence in Stirling Castle after her reappearance was during the winter of 1522–3, when an attack of smallpox injured her beauty and nearly put an end to her inglorious career. ”

“ When at last the King threw down his truncheon as a signal for the conflict to cease, the marshals of the field laid hold of the struggling champions and compelled them to disengage. Neither side could claim a decisive victory, though the advantage, on the whole, lay with the foreign knights. King James, however, praised the valour of each individual, and before the Burgundians returned to their own country, he entertained them sumptuously in Stirling Castle and loaded them with gifts. ”

“ It is not until the latter half of the fifteenth century that the Royal Gardens at Stirling become important enough to demand attention. In earlier days there was probably a piece of ground set apart for horticultural purposes on the top of the castle rock, but not before the reign of James III. do gardens on an extensive scale appear to have been laid out. In the Exchequer Rolls of that King’s time there are numerous entries of payments to James Wilson, the keeper of the garden at Stirling Castle ”

“ During the wars with England, in the period of the Stewart sovereigns, the Borders and the neighbourhood of Edinburgh were the principal scenes of operations; but Stirling Castle was the centre of hostilities in the stirring days of Wallace and Bruce. Edinburgh, though an important fortress and town, was not the capital of the country at the time of the War of Independence. In later years, the armies of England did not need to advance any further than Lothian. The heart of Scotland lay south of the Firth of Forth; a blow struck there was felt throughout the kingdom. ”

“ On June 23rd, 1314, Edward II., with his vast feudal host, amounting, perhaps, to fifty thousand men, came in sight of Stirling Castle, but between him and his goal lay Bruce’s Scottish troops, relying not upon their numbers but upon their valour and the skill of their commanders. The main body of the English army apparently kept to the low ground near the Forth, while the advanced guard marched on the higher land to the south, and encountered the Scots on the border of the New Park. ”

“ The scene of the sixth canto is laid in Stirling Castle, while in the earlier parts of the poem the shadow of the fortress is made, as it were, to fall across the country of Clan Alpine. The Highlanders of the Lennox and Menteith could never quite forget the royal stronghold on the Forth. Its far-away outline was a warning and a check even to the restless Macgregors. Had the clans been able to join their forces they might have ventured211 to defy the castle ”

“ Stirling more often than the other two castles has been sought by kings as a tower of refuge. When the party of the Comyns, in Alexander III.’s minority, stealthily carried the King from Kinross, it was to the fortress above the Links of Forth that they bore their rescued charge. The faction favouring England, from whose power the sovereign was snatched, did not attempt a counter-surprise; but although the walls of the castle secured Alexander’s person, for a number of nights he must have quivered in his bed lest his former guardians should attempt to storm the fort. ”

“ As a fortress Stirling possesses a history which places it first among the castles of Scotland; as a palace its record entitles it to rank above Dumbarton and Edinburgh. Its double use as stronghold and as dwelling-place of kings gives it a unique position among the royal houses, for Falkland and Linlithgow were pleasure palaces erected upon the sites of ancient castles, and Holyrood was built as a kind of extension to a defenceless, low-lying abbey. ”

“ After the death of the Bruce, Stirling Castle was captured, in succession, by Edward Balliol and for King David. When the House of Stuart had evolved from a family of Norman barons, emigrants from Shropshire to improve their fortunes, and, acting as stewards in the new land, had reached royalty, Stirling Castle became the king’s dwelling-place. For centuries afterward, it was their favorite residence and the place of coronation of the Scottish kings. Here James II and James V were born and here James VI of Scotland and I of England was baptized. ”

“ The custody of the perilous castle of Stirling was entrusted to the chivalrous knight, Sir William Oliphant. He must have almost daily expected his hour of trial to be at hand; but not until 1304 was the stronghold besieged by King Edward, for on two previous occasions when he journeyed past Stirling, the King was not prepared to attack the strongest castle in Scotland. In that year, however, every effort was made to secure the fortress for England. ”

“ As Stirling presides over the “Links of Forth,” and the upper courses of the river, Edinburgh Rock with its Castle appears the Guardian Genius of the Firth. Round the base of this “Bass Rock upon land,” the masses of buildings seem to swirl and surge like a tide-race of human life, and to climb, in broken wave upon wave, crested by the spires and roofs of the Old Town, and overhung by the murky spray of its proverbial “reek,” all up the steep slope to the battlements of the Castle. Stirling itself is scarcely its peer for dignity of situation or for renown. ”

“ From Stirling Castle we had seen
The mazy Forth unravell'd;
Had trod the banks of Clyde, and Tay,
And with the Tweed had travell'd;
And, when we came to Clovenford,
Then said my 'winsome Marrow',
"Whate'er betide, we'll turn aside,
And see the Braes of Yarrow." ”

“ The great battle that established the freedom of Scotland was fought almost under Stirling rock. Indeed, to reach the castle itself was the object of the English invasion. The events leading up to the conflict are well known. In the spring of 1313, Edward Bruce, brother of King Robert, invested Stirling, but growing impatient with the long-protracted siege, he imprudently agreed to the one-sided bargain which Mowbray audaciously proposed. The compact was that the fortress should surrender if not relieved by June 24th, Saint John the Baptist’s Day, in the following year. ”

“ Once within the same building as the King, the Earl was now as powerful as before. He managed to arrange the formation of a new Council, with himself in the principal place, and he persuaded the King to order the Parliament, which had been summoned to meet at Edinburgh, to assemble in the hall of Stirling Castle. The opponents of Morton, naturally objecting to the Estates being convened within the walls of a fortress, were determined not to appear without a protest, so they sent the Earl of Montrose and Lord Lindsay of the Byres to lay their remonstrances before the King. ”

“ Coming events do not always cast their shadows before. As the heir-presumptive to the British throne walked round the castle with Mar he did not foresee that soon, as King, he would curtail the privileges which the Earl enjoyed as governor of Stirling, and that the hereditary office would be fully restored by the supporters of the man who was to tear his crown from his brow. Nor could he picture to himself his grandson, a disinherited prince, striving to recover this bulwark of the north from the servants of an alien sovereign. ”

“ He was educated at Stirling Castle in company with King James, who was seven years his junior, under George Buchanan. King James called him familiarly ‘Jocky O'Sclaittis’ (slates) . On 3 March 1572–3 he was served heir of his father ‘in toto et integro comitatu de Mar,’ his uncle, Sir Alexander Erskine of Gogar, being appointed guardian of his estate and keeper of Stirling Castle during his minority. Soon after he came of age he was persuaded by the Earl of Morton, then in forced retirement at Lochleven, to assert his claim to the government of Stirling Castle and the guardianship of the king. ”

“ Blind Harry, who collected traditions about Wallace and wove them into a poem in the days of James III., could not help referring to Stirling Castle; but his lines on the subject are not more interesting than Barbour’s, and his work as a whole is inferior to that of his predecessor in the field of patriotic poetry.
It is difficult to believe that a Scottish poet could use hard words when writing of Stirling; yet when it suited him, William Dunbar could pen vindictive lines on the place. ”