Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 2

EDINBURGH
EDINBURGH
town was burnt in cruel manner ; during the which
time their horsemen did great hurt in the country,
spoiling and burning sundry places thereabout, and in
special all the Castle and place of Craigmillar, where
the most part of the whole riches of Edinburgh was put
by the merchants of the town in keeping, which not
without fraud of the keepers, as was reported, was be-
trayed to the English men for a part of the booty and
spoil thereof.'
After the battle of Pinkie in 1547 the city was again
troubled and pillaged by an English force, and in 1548
was garrisoned by a French corps of 6000 men, sent by
Henry II. of France to facilitate the intrigues of the
queen-dowager, Mary of Guise, in procuring the mar-
riage of the infant Queen Mary to the Dauphin of France.
In 1551, the city gave a great reception to the queen-
dowager, on her return from the court of Henry II. ,
after witnessing there the marriage of Queen Mary to
the Dauphin Francis. John Knox arrived in Edinburgh
in 1555, and by his impressive discourses to large and
excited audiences, soon attracted many zealous adherents,
and speedily gained for the principles of the Reformation
general and popular acceptance. He retired for a time
to Geneva, but returning in 1559, found his partisans
in an attitude of open resistance to the suppressive
measures of the queen regent. Multitudes of the Re-
former's party organised themselves into an army at
Perth, under the name of the Army of the Congregation,
and, marching triumphantly to Edinburgh, took posses-
sion of the mint and other offices of government, and
presented a front of open hostility to the royal forces.
Leith, which was then put in a fortified condition,
became the headquarters of the Romish or government
party, who were aided by the opportune arrival of an
auxiliary force from France. Edinburgh was the head-
quarters of the Reform party, and entirely in their pos-
session, whilst the plain which stretches between the
Calton Hill and Leith became the scene of frequent
skirmishes and resolute onslaughts. The irregular
troops of the Reformers could ill cope with the well-
disciplined auxiliaries from France ; but eventually,
aided by a force sent by Elizabeth of England, they suc-
ceeded about the middle of 1560 in expelling the queen
regent's forces from the kingdom. They then dismantled
Leith, and removed every hindrance to the ascendency
and civil establishment of the principles for which they
contended. A parliament immediately assembled in
the city, and enacted laws for the abolition of Popery
and the establishment of the Presbyterian form of wor-
ship.
Queen Mary, after the death of her husband Francis,
sailed from France, and made a public entrance into
Edinburgh in Aug. 1561. The Ettrick Shepherd in-
dulges a poetic licence in the Queen's Wake, when de-
scribing Queen Mary's progress from Leith to Holyrood,
after her return from France : —
* Slowly she ambled on her way,
Amid her lords and ladies gay.
Priest, abbot, layman, all were there,
And presbyter with look severe.
' There rode the lords of France and Spain,
Of England, Flanders, and Lorraine ;
While serried thousands round them stood
From shore of Leith to Holyrood.'
Mary set up her government at Holyrood, where she
gave formal countenance publicly, but not privately, to
the settlement of the Reformation, and the city, with
Enox for its minister, and the general assembly for its
most influential court, now gave tone to the whole
country, sought to make an end of the very remnants of
Popery, and kept a keen and observant watch on the
religious predilections and social manners of the court.
General displeasure soon showed itself at Mary's fond-
ness for the Romish ritual, and her disregard of the Re-
former's rigid notions of morality. Riotous crowds again
and again assembled beneath her palace windows ; Rizzio,
her favourite, was slain at her feet ; and on the death of
her second husband, Lord Darnley, and her subsequent
marriage to Bothwell, the popular indignation burst into
fury, the people pursuing her and Bothwell from the city,
and taking possession of the seat and powers of govern-
ment. Mary was brought back a captive from Carberry
Hill, and conducted through the streets amid the jeers
and insult of the citizens to the house of Sir Simon
Preston, the provost, and sent off a prisoner next day to
Loch Leven Castle. All these portentous events were
crowded into the space of one year, 1567. Four succes-
sive regents, thence till 1573, failed either to bring
peace to the metropolis, or a cessation of hostilities be-
tween the two great conflicting parties of King's men
and Queen's men, as the respective partisans of Mary
and her son, James VI., styled themselves. The city,
at the time of Mary's escape from Loch Leven in 1568,
was both desolated with pestilence and bristling with
arms ; and, after the assassination of Regent Moray at
Linlithgow in 1570, suddenly passed under the military
ascendency of the Queen's party. Kirkcaldy of Grange,
provost of the city, and governor of the Castle, and one
of the ablest soldiers of the period, ordered all opponents
of the Queen to leave the city within six hours, planted
a battery on the roof of St Giles' Church, strengthened
the City Walls, and provoked a long and disastrous strife.
Two parliaments sat in the city in May 1571 — the one
on the Queen's part in the Tolbooth, the other for King
James in Canongate, and while they fulminated for-
feitures at each other, their respective partisans main-
tained a continuous conflict with frequent skirmishes in
the streets and lanes of the harassed city. The Castle
was held for the Queen with great superiority of ad-
vantage ; Calton Hill, overlooking and protecting Holy-
rood, maintained a front of bravery for the young King,
till an army sent by Queen Elizabeth in 1573 from
Berwick eventually brought victory to the followers of
the King, and forced the Castle to surrender.
On the coming of age of King James, the city was the
scene of a succession of excitements — a magnificent public
entrance was made by James into Holyrood, when
he was escorted by a cavalcade of about two thousand
horsemen ; the Abbey received his parliaments, which
sat there in great style ; and there the King made a
struggle for his personal liberties and royal prerogatives
against factions of the nobility. Costly entertainments
were also given to ambassadors and other notables in
Holyrood at the city's expense, till at length he pro-
voked antipathy and insurrection by his greed and
continuous encroachments on public rights. At times
James would be on good terms with the citizens, re-
ceiving from them gifts of money and public services ;
while again, as at the beginning of 1579, lie was so in-
furiated at them that he left the city, removed all the
offices of national administration, threatening to utterly
destroy the city, and cherished such an intense resent-
ment that nothing short of the intercession of Queen
Elizabeth could induce him to abate his anger. After
various negotiations, James was pleased to revoke his
declarations of hostility, and made another pompous
ceremonial entrance into Edinburgh, amid great demon-
strations of loyalty ; but in 1599 he came once more
into collision with the city, this time, however, with-
out any great disturbance of the public tranquillity.
He delivered a formal valedictory address in St Giles'
Church in 1603, on the eve of his departure to assume
the English crown, and, after a lapse of fifteen years,
visited the city again, when he was greeted with great
demonstrations of joy and much servile adulation, and
presented with a large sum of money.
Charles I. in 1633 was crowned King of Scotland
with great splendour at Holyrood, and held in the city,
two days after, his first Scottish parliament ; but shortly
after, by his proceedings against Presbyterianism and
attempted introduction of a liturgy and bishopric, on
23 July 1637, excited strong disaffection to his govern-
ment throughout the country, and kindled a resent-
ment which lasted more or less till the end of his
dynasty. In all this Edinburgh, as the seat of executive
government, had an extensive and distressing share.
The citizens were organised and trained, under direc-
tion of the town council, to resist the King's measures
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