STIRLING CASTLE
PUBLISHED BY
JAMES MACLEHOSE AND SONS, GLASGOW,
Publishers to the University.
MACMILLAN AND CO., LTD., LONDON.
_New York_, _The Macmillan Co._
_Toronto_, _The Macmillan Co. of Canada_.
_London_, _Simpkin, Hamilton and Co._
_Cambridge_, _Bowes and Bowes_.
_Edinburgh_, _Douglas and Foulis_.
_Sydney_, _Angus and Robertson_.
MCMXIII.
[Illustration: STIRLING CASTLE.]
STIRLING CASTLE
ITS PLACE IN SCOTTISH HISTORY
BY
ERIC STAIR-KERR
M.A. EDIN. AND OXON., F.S.A. SCOT.
AUTHOR OF “SCOTLAND UNDER JAMES IV”
_WITH EIGHTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS BY
HUGH ARMSTRONG CAMERON_
GLASGOW
JAMES MACLEHOSE AND SONS
PUBLISHERS TO THE UNIVERSITY
1913
PREFACE
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.
With regard to dates, for the sake of simplicity I have adopted the
historical computation; that is to say, the years have been reckoned as
if they had always begun on the 1st of January and not on the 25th of
March, as was the rule in Scotland until 1600. For example, the date of
Prince Henry’s birth is given as February, 1594, although the event
was considered at the time to belong to the year 1593.
I am glad to express here my thanks to my uncle, the Rev. Eric
Robertson, for suggesting that I should undertake this work, and
for valuable hints given from time to time; to Mr. David B. Morris,
Stirling, who has always responded most willingly to any appeal for
help, and who has kindly read the proofs; and to Mr. James Hyslop,
Edinburgh, for guidance in the subject of the buildings of the castle.
To the artist, Mr. Cameron, I am grateful for the whole-hearted
interest which he has taken in my part of the work as well as in his
own.
E. S. K.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. EARLY HISTORY 1
II. THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE 18
III. THE EARLY STEWARTS 36
IV. JAMES V. AND MARY 57
V. JAMES VI. 79
VI. LATER HISTORY 114
VII. THE BUILDINGS, THE PARK, AND THE BRIDGE 133
VIII. THE ASSOCIATIONS OF THE BUILDINGS 161
IX. STIRLING’S POSITION WITH REGARD TO OTHER CASTLES 178
X. STIRLING CASTLE IN POETRY 197
INDEX 214
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Stirling Castle _frontispiece_
The Highlands from Stirling Castle 13
The Abbey Craig and River Forth 21
Stirling Castle from Bannockburn 29
*The Prospect of Stirling Castle 32
_From Engraving by Captain John Slezer, circa 1693._
The Douglas Window 45
James IV.’s Gateway (where Margaret Tudor defied the
Commissioners) 59
The Pass of Ballengeich 67
The Keep and the Prince’s Walk 89
The Chapel Royal 109
*Stirling Castle 112
_From Engraving by Robert Sayer, 1753._
Turret on Queen Anne’s Battery 125
The Old Mint 135
Portcullis in James IV.’s Gateway 139
James V. as the Gudeman o’ Ballengeich 143
*The Prospect of Their Majesties’ Castle of Stirling 144
_From Engraving by Captain John Slezer, 1693._
Stirling Old Bridge 155
The Parliament House 163
Old Entrance from Ballengeich 167
Old Buildings in Upper Square 189
A Chimney of the Palace 193
_All the Illustrations, with the exception of the three marked
with an asterisk, are by Mr. Hugh Armstrong Cameron._
CHAPTER I.
EARLY HISTORY.
For many centuries travellers have been struck by the remarkable
resemblance which Stirling bears to Edinburgh. In each case there is
a castle perched on a precipitous rock, and a town built on a narrow
ridge that slopes from the crag to the plain. That two places so much
alike in situation should be found in Scotland, and but thirty miles
apart, may seem a matter for wonder, but a word or two on the geology
of the district may help to explain how the similarity arose.
During the Great Ice Age, when the physical features of Scotland were
moulded into almost their present form, the extensive plain of the
River Forth was filled by a giant glacier, which swept down from the
Highland hills to the lower land on the south and east, clearing the
softer rocks from its path and exposing the hard basalt of igneous
sheets and old volcanic necks. These great eruptive obstructions
withstood the pressure of the eastward-moving mass of ice, and so
prevented the ground on their lee sides from being subjected to the
scouring action that hollowed out the land on the north and west and
south. Numerous examples of this “crag and tail” formation are to be
found in the track of the ancient glacier, but two of the rocks stand
out with striking prominence; on one is built the Castle of Edinburgh,
on the other that of Stirling.
It is strange that of such natural strongholds early history has so
little to say, for these fortresses were afterwards to have their
names writ large on almost every page of Scotland’s romantic story.
The third sister castle, Dumbarton, came earlier to the front. It was
a stronghold of renown in the days of the Strathclyde Britons; but as
time wore on its importance diminished, and the place which it had held
in the principality of Strathclyde was taken by Stirling and Edinburgh
in the consolidated Kingdom of Scotland.
On the Gowan Hills, to the north of Stirling Castle, traces of an
ancient fort show that the Britons considered it more important to
defend the rising ground overlooking the River Forth than to occupy
the crag, with its precipitous south-west face. When the Romans under
Agricola attempted the conquest of northern Britain they constructed
a chain of forts across the country, between the Firths of Forth and
Clyde. The untrustworthy Boece asserts that Stirling was fortified
at the time of those campaigns, but no real traces of their work have
been discovered to prove that the Romans occupied the castle rock under
Agricola in A.D. 81-82, or when Lollius Urbicus, Governor of Britain
for Antoninus Pius, erected the wall on the line of the earlier forts.
Near the Pass of Ballengeich is the so-called Roman Stone, with its
indistinct, almost unintelligible letters. Antiquaries of a former
day--Camden, Sibbald and Horsley--considered the inscription genuine,
but recent scholars are of opinion that the letters were carved many
centuries after the departure of the legions from Britain. Again, the
existence of a Roman causeway has not yet been proved. The natural
supposition that a military road, connecting the camp at Ardoch with
the south, passed near Stirling led to the belief that the highway
crossed the Forth at Kildean, or higher up at the Ferry of Drip. No
vestiges of a causeway of undoubted Roman origin have, however, been
discovered either at the river or on the Field of Bannockburn, through
which it was thought to have passed on its way to the station of
Camelon.
After the withdrawal of the Roman legions, Stirling Castle dimly
appears in the haze of half-real history. King Arthur is claimed as
a local prince in Brittany, Cornwall, Wales and Cumberland, but
southern Scotland seems to have, on the whole, the best right to the
hero of romance. His tenth battle, it would seem, was fought in the
neighbourhood of Stirling, and his victory over the Saxons gave him
possession of the fortress. Tradition has always associated his name
with the Round Table, which afterwards became the King’s Knot, and
William of Worcester, who flourished in the fifteenth century, wrote
that King Arthur preserved the Round Table in the Castle of Stirling or
Snowden.[1]
A less famous, though not a less real, person than the great British
warrior chief was Monenna or Modwenna, a high-born saint of Ireland. At
least two women bearing this name devoted themselves to the religious
life, and some confusion has arisen as to which of them it was who
became connected with Stirling. The Monenna who lived in the ninth
century, however, apparently visited both England and Scotland, and she
seems to have been the one who built, among other churches, the chapel
in Stirling Castle.[2]
Perhaps because the fortress was so obviously a place of strength the
early chroniclers have associated with it events which possibly never
took place. Boece mentions that Kenneth MacAlpine laid siege to the
castle during the Pictish wars; and the same historian asserts that
King Osbert of Northumbria occupied Stirling for a number of years, and
established a mint in the fortress. A “cunyie-house” at one time did
exist in the castle, but the oldest coins known to have been struck at
Stirling date from the reign of Alexander III. A site so favourable
for a stronghold, however, must have been the scene of many unrecorded
fights, so that “the place of striving,” which was formerly thought to
have been the meaning of the citadel’s name, would be no inappropriate
appellation. “Stirling” is now held to be a corruption of the Welsh
_Ystre Felyn_, signifying “The dwelling of Velin,” old forms of the
name being _Estrevelyn_, _Striviling_ and _Struelin_.[3] The more
poetic “Snowdon” or “Snawdoun,” a corruption perhaps of some Celtic
appellation, or else meaning merely the “snowy hill,” was the name
given to Stirling by some of the old chroniclers, as well as by Sir
David Lyndsay in _The Testament of the Papingo_.
As Rutherglen is known as Ruglen, as Anstruther is called Anster,
so Striviling throughout the ages has been spoken of as Stirling.
Scots have always had a tendency to elide a syllable or to soften any
harshness in their place-names, and the metathesis of the letter _r_
and its vowel is common in the English language, as in the case of
_three_, _third_ and _hundred_, which used to be sounded as _hunderd_.
In modern times the spelling of the name has been fixed to suit the
pronunciation, but that in James IV.’s reign the place was called
Stirling is seen from the rhyming lines of one of Dunbar’s poems:
“Cum hame and dwell no moir in Striuilling;
Frome hiddouss hell cum hame and dwell,
Quhair fische to sell is non bot spirling;
Cum hame and dwell no moir in Striuilling.”[4]
In the poems of Barbour and Wyntoun the scansion seems to require the
name to be pronounced as a word of two syllables, and in Sir David
Lyndsay’s _Complaynt_ the following lines occur:
“Quhen his Grace cumis to fair Sterling
There sall he se ane dayis derling.”
Definite though meagre history associated with Stirling begins with
the reign of Alexander I., who occupied the Scottish throne from
1107 till 1124. This monarch, known as “The Fierce,” because of his
swift vengeance on the rebellious subjects who rose to attack him
at Invergowrie, seems to have frequently resided in the castle. He
apparently built a new chapel on the rock, for during the reign of his
brother David a document, drawn up at Edinburgh to settle a dispute
concerning tithes, refers to the dedication by King Alexander of the
Chapel of Stirling Castle:
“Hec est concordia que facta fuit apud Castellum Puellarum, coram rege
Dauid et filio eius et baronibus eorum, inter R. episcopum Sancti
Andree et G. abbatem de Dunfermelyn, de ecclesia parochiali de Eccles
et Capella Castelli de Striuelin: Recordati fuerunt barones regis,
et in hac recordacione omnes concordati sunt, quod ea die que Rex
Alexander facit Capellam dedicare supra dictam, donauit et concessit
eidem Capelle decimas dominiorum suorum in soca de Striuelin; que eadem
die fuerunt domina sua siue acreuerunt siue decreuerunt....”[5]
The above may be rendered as follows in English:
“This is the agreement that was made at the Castle of the Maidens
[Edinburgh] in the presence of King David, his son Henry and their
barons, between Robert, Bishop of St. Andrews, and Galfrid, Abbot of
Dunfermline, regarding the parish church of Eccles and the chapel of
Stirling Castle. The King’s barons remembered, and in that remembrance
all agreed, that on the day on which King Alexander dedicated the
aforesaid chapel, he gave and granted to it the tithes of his domains
in the jurisdiction of Stirling, which domains were his at the time,
whether they increased or decreased.”
Although given the name of “The Fierce” by his subjects, Alexander was
not of an irreligious temperament. From Queen Margaret, his mother, he
inherited an interest in ecclesiastical affairs, and although he was
not such a lavish patron of the clergy as was his brother David, he to
some extent remodelled the Scottish Church. Alexander died in Stirling
Castle, leaving the crown and a prosperous realm to David I., who made
the fortress one of his chief residences, many of his charters being
dated at “Striuelin.” During the reign of the “sair sanct for the
Croun,” as David was called by his descendant, James I., the castle did
not conspicuously figure in history; not till the time of William the
Lion did it appear as a place of national importance. Then, however,
its name became prominent in the convention that brought Scotland’s
pride to a fall.
The Treaty of Falaise is the most humiliating document in the records
of Scottish history. It proclaims the feudal subjection of Scotland
to Henry II. of England. The circumstances leading to this unhappy
situation may be briefly stated. Young Henry of England rebelled
against his father, and procured the assistance of William the Lion
by offering him Northumberland. The King of Scots accordingly swept
across the Border, but was captured under the walls of Alnwick in
1174. The royal prisoner was taken by the English King to the Castle
of Falaise in Normandy, where he lay in chains for several months till
conditions of peace were arranged.
The terms of the treaty were that he, his brother, his barons and his
clergy were to be vassals of Henry II., that the English Church was
to exercise the rights which it was wont to claim over the Scottish
Church, and, in order to ensure the fulfilment of the conditions, the
castles of Roxburgh, Berwick, Jedburgh, Edinburgh and Stirling were to
be garrisoned by English soldiers.[6] Henry, however, seems to have
been satisfied with the occupation of Roxburgh, Berwick and Edinburgh,
for when Richard I. fifteen years later acknowledged the independence
of Scotland, he handed over only the two Tweedside fortresses, and made
no mention of Jedburgh and Stirling. Edinburgh Castle was restored
a few years earlier as the dower of Ermengarde de Beaumont, who, in
compliance with the wishes of Henry II., married King William the Lion.
It is to the credit of the King of Scots that he adhered to the
convention made at Falaise. When summoned he attended his suzerain’s
court, and even journeyed to Normandy to meet his lord. The terms of
a treaty, although signed under compulsion, were held by William to be
sacred, and his behaviour is in striking contrast to the conduct of
the chivalry-loving Francis I. of France, who, when placed in similar
circumstances three and a half centuries later, broke his oath to the
Emperor Charles V. and renounced the Treaty of Madrid on the ground
that a promise could not be binding when extorted from a reluctant
prisoner.
King William added to the amenity of Stirling Castle by forming a royal
park on the table-land to the south-west of the rock. In causing this
enclosure to be made, he unwittingly trespassed on property belonging
to the monks of Dunfermline, and the following deed of excambion shows
the King’s acknowledgment of the mistake and his readiness to give
compensation to the abbey:
“Willelmus Rex Scottorum omnibus probis hominibus tocius terre sue,
clericis laicis, salutem. Sciatis me concessisse et dedisse et hac
carta me confirmasse Deo et ecclesie Sancte Trinitatis de Dunfermelyn
et monachis ibidem Deo seruientibus et Capelle Castelli mei de
Striuelin in excambium terre sue quam primum clausi in parco meo quando
parcum meum primum clausi, terram que est inter terram suam quam habent
extra parcum et diuisas terre de Kirketun et ex alia parte terram que
est inter Cambusbarun terram Petri de Striuelin et terram Rogeri filii
Odonis, sicut magna strata uadit ad Cuiltedouenald, sicut Ricardus
de Moreuilla, constabularius, et Robertus Auenel, justiciarius, et
Radulphus vicecomes, et Petrus de Striuelin perambulaverunt: Tenendam
in perpetuam elemosinam ita libere et quiete, sicut alias elemosinas
suas tenent: Testibus, Ricardo de Moruilla, constabulario, Roberto
Auenel, justiciario, Alano filio dapiferi, Adamo filio Thome, Rogero de
Voloniis, Radulpho vicecomite de Striuelin, Petro de Striuelin, Waltero
de Berkelai; Ricardo clerico apud Striuelin.”[7]
In English this runs as follows:
“William King of Scots to all good men of his whole realm greeting.
Know that I have granted and given and by this charter have confirmed
to God and the Church of the Holy Trinity at Dunfermline and the
monks there serving God and to the Chapel of my Castle of Stirling in
exchange for their land which I formerly included in my park, when I
first enclosed my park, the land which is between their land which
they have outside the park and the boundary of the land of Kirkton,
and on the other side the land which is between Cambusbarron--the
land of Peter of Stirling--and the land of Roger, son of Odo, as the
highway leads to Cuiltedouenald, as Richard Morville, the constable,
Robert Avenel, the justiciar, Ralph the sheriff and Peter of Stirling
have marked it out: to be held in perpetual alms. Witnessed by Richard
de Morville, constable, Robert Avenel, justiciar, Alan, son of the
Steward, Adam, son of Thomas, Roger de Voloniis, Ralph, Sheriff of
Stirling, Peter of Stirling, Walter de Berkeley, Richard the clerk, At
Stirling.”
In the later years of William the Lion war with England seemed likely
to break out. The Scottish King would not relinquish his claim to
Northumberland, for which he had offered Richard Cœur de Lion the sum
of 15,000 merks, and John repeatedly declined to come to an agreement
regarding the disputed territory. More than once William prepared for
war, and in 1209 he met his Great Council in Stirling Castle for the
purpose of sending a deputation to lay the case once more before the
English King. The result of this embassy was that the armies of both
countries advanced towards the Border; but negotiations were again
entered into before any fighting took place, so that peace was with
difficulty preserved.
[Illustration: THE HIGHLANDS FROM STIRLING CASTLE.]
After reigning for nearly fifty years William the Lion began to realise
that his powers were beginning to fail. During an expedition into the
district of Moray his health completely broke down, but he felt that
he might recover his strength if he were to breathe the invigorating
air of Stirling. Slowly he made his journey southward, and succeeded
in reaching his favourite seat, but the breezes of the Forth were no
more restorative than the winds of the Spey or the Findhorn.[8] The
aged monarch expired in the castle in December, 1214, bequeathing an
independent kingdom to the youthful Alexander II., his only son by
Ermengarde de Beaumont.
Under the new King Stirling continued to benefit by the presence of the
Court, and although no stirring history connected with the castle falls
to be recorded of this prosperous reign, it should be mentioned that
the King more than once held his Council or Parliament at Stirling, and
doubtless the assembly met in a hall of the royal castle. Alexander
III. followed his predecessors in making the lofty fortress one of his
chosen homes, and once indeed, in the troubles of his early reign, he
was compelled to take up residence within its walls. That incident
occurred in 1257, during Alexander’s minority, when two hostile
parties of nobles struggled to obtain the control of the state. The
Comyns--more patriotic than their opponents, who were ruling in the
English interest--resolved to effect a change of government for their
country’s sake and their own. Seizing the young King in his bedchamber
at Kinross, they carried him to Stirling Castle, whereupon the
unpopular Anglophile lords, having lost possession of the sovereign,
broke up and sought refuge in flight.[9]
Alexander showed his predilection for Stirling by laying out an
extensive pleasure-ground, known as the New Park, and by setting
in order the older royal chase, which apparently had suffered from
neglect.[10] Just about this time, however, more serious affairs
claimed attention. King Haakon of Norway in 1263 set sail with his
Viking Armada in order to oppose Alexander’s designs of annexing the
western islands. The fury of the autumn winds and the opposition of the
Scots at Largs broke the Norse King’s power; but the devastation of
the Lennox was sufficient warning that the invaders might carry their
depredations further inland; consequently Stirling Castle was provided
with a special garrison till King Haakon had withdrawn his shattered
fleet from the Clyde.[11] This is the only instance in historical times
of the stronghold’s being prepared for defence against a foe that had
come across the sea.
The last of the Celtic Kings of Scots was not to draw his final breath
in the castle beloved by his line, where Alexander I. and William
the Lion had laid themselves down to die. The third Alexander’s fall
from the cliff near Kinghorn in 1286 was followed by years of grievous
distress, in sad contrast to the flourishing days which had suddenly
come to an end. Yet in the time of national prosperity, the King’s own
later years were clouded by misfortune. His Queen, the sister of Edward
I., died unexpectedly in 1275, his daughter Margaret predeceased him,
as did his two sons, Alexander and David, the latter of whom expired
in Stirling Castle at the early age of ten. Four years after the
King’s fatal ride, his granddaughter, the Maid of Norway, passed away,
her death giving rise to the disputed succession and the subsequent
struggle with England.
Had this infant princess survived, she would have become the wife of
the King of England’s heir; and the Union of the Crowns would thus have
taken place more than three hundred years before it actually occurred.
The death of the Maid of Norway ruined the plans of Edward I.; he had
now to devise a less straightforward scheme for bringing Scotland under
his control.