Louis XI of France
Louis XI, called "Louis the Prudent", was King of France from 1461 to 1483, the sixth from the House of Valois. He succeeded his father Charles VII. Louis entered into open rebellion against his father in a short-lived revolt known as the Praguerie in 1440; the king forgave his rebellious vassals, including Louis, to whom he entrusted the management of the Dauphiné a province in southeastern France. Louis's ceaseless intrigues, led his father to banish him from court. From the Dauphiné, Louis led his own political establishment and married Charlotte of Savoy, daughter of Louis, Duke of Savoy, against the will of his father. Charles VII sent an army to compel his son to his will, but Louis fled to Burgundy, where he was hosted by Philip the Good, the Duke of Burgundy, Charles' greatest enemy; when Charles VII died in 1461, Louis left the Burgundian court to take possession of his kingdom. His taste for intrigue and his intense diplomatic activity earned him the nicknames "the Cunning" and "the Universal Spider", as his enemies accused him of spinning webs of plots and conspiracies.
In 1472, the subsequent Duke of Burgundy, Charles the Bold, took up arms against his rival Louis. However, Louis was able to isolate Charles from his English allies by signing the Treaty of Picquigny with Edward IV of England; the treaty formally ended the Hundred Years' War. With the death of Charles the Bold at the Battle of Nancy in 1477, the dynasty of the dukes of Burgundy died out. Louis took advantage of the situation to seize numerous Burgundian territories, including Burgundy proper and Picardy. Without direct foreign threats, Louis was able to eliminate his rebellious vassals, expand royal power, strengthen the economic development of his country, he died on 30 August 1483, was succeeded by his minor son Charles VIII. Louis was born in the son of King Charles VII of France. At the time of the Hundred Years War, the English held northern France, including the city of Paris, Charles VII was restricted to the centre and south of the country. Louis was the grandson of Yolande of Aragon, a force in the royal family for driving the English out of France, at a low point in its struggles.
Just a few weeks after Louis's christening at the Cathedral of St. Étienne on 4 July 1423, the French army suffered a crushing defeat by the English at Cravant. Shortly thereafter, a combined Anglo-Burgundian army threatened Bourges itself. During the reign of Louis's grandfather Charles VI, the Duchy of Burgundy was much connected with the French throne, but because the central government lacked any real power, all the duchies of France tended to act independently. Duke Philip II was the reigning Duke of Burgundy. Philip was an uncle of King Charles VI, he served on a council of regents for King Charles; the Dukes of Anjou and Bourbon, all uncles of Charles VI served on this council of regents. All effective power in France lay with this council of dukes. In its position of independence from the French throne, Burgundy had grown in power. By the reign of Louis's father Charles VII, Philip III was reigning as Duke of Burgundy, the duchy had expanded its borders to include all the territory in France from the North Sea in the north to the Jura Mountains in the south and from the Somme River in the west to the Moselle River in the east.
During the Hundred Years War, the Burgundians allied themselves with England against the French crown. Indeed, the Burgundians were responsible for the capture of Joan of Arc and her execution on 31 May 1431. In 1429, young Louis found himself at Loches in the presence of Joan of Arc, fresh from her first victory over the English at the Siege of Orléans, which initiated a turning point for the French in the Hundred Years War. Joan led troops in other victories at the Battle of Jargeau and the Battle of Patay. Although Joan was unable to liberate Paris during her lifetime, the city was liberated after her death, Louis and his father Charles VII were able to ride in triumph into the city on 12 November 1437. Louis grew up aware of the continuing weakness of the French nation, he regarded his father as a weakling, despised him for this. On 24 June 1436, Louis met Margaret of Scotland, daughter of King James I of Scotland, the bride his father had chosen for diplomatic reasons. There are no direct accounts from Louis or his young bride of their first impressions of each other, it is mere speculation whether they had negative feelings for each other.
Several historians think. But it is universally agreed that Louis entered the ceremony and the marriage itself dutifully, as evidenced by his formal embrace of Margaret upon their first meeting. Louis's marriage with Margaret resulted from the nature of medieval royal diplomacy and the precarious position of the French monarchy at the time; the wedding ceremony—very plain by the standards of the time—took place in the chapel of the castle of Tours on the afternoon of 25 June 1436, was presided over by Renaud of Chartres, the Archbishop of Reims. The 13-year-old Louis looked more mature than his 11-year-old bride, said to resemble a beautiful doll, was treated as such by her in-laws. Charles wore "grey riding pants" and "did not bother to remove his spurs"; the Scottish guests were hustled out after the wedding reception, as the French royal court was quite impoverished at this time. They could not afford an extravagant ceremony or to host their Scottish guests for any longer than they did; the Scots, saw this b
St Andrews
St Andrews is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, 10 miles southeast of Dundee and 30 miles northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews has a recorded population of 16,800 in 2011, making it Fife's fourth largest settlement and 45th most populous settlement in Scotland; the town is home to the University of St Andrews, the third oldest university in the English-speaking world and the oldest in Scotland. According to some rankings, it is ranked as the third best university in the United Kingdom, behind Oxbridge; the University is an integral part of the burgh and during term time students make up one third of the town's population. The town is named after Saint Andrew the Apostle. There has been an important church in St Andrews since at least the 747 AD when it was mentioned in the Annals of Tigernach, a bishopric since at least the 11th century; the settlement grew to the west of St Andrews cathedral with the southern side of the Scores to the north and the Kinness burn to the south. The burgh soon became the ecclesiastical capital of Scotland, a position, held until the Scottish Reformation.
The famous cathedral, the largest in Scotland, now lies in ruins. St Andrews is known worldwide as the "home of golf"; this is in part because The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, founded in 1754, which until 2004 exercised legislative authority over the game worldwide. It is because the famous St Andrews Links are the most frequent venue for The Open Championship, the oldest of golf's four major championships. Visitors travel to St Andrews in great numbers for several courses ranked amongst the finest in the world, as well as for the sandy beaches; the Martyrs Memorial, erected to the honour of Patrick Hamilton, George Wishart, other martyrs of the Reformation epoch, stands at the west end of the Scores on a cliff overlooking the sea. The civil parish has a population of 18,421; the town contains numerous museums, a botanic garden and an aquarium. The earliest recorded name of the area is Cennrígmonaid; this is Old Gaelic and composed of the elements ríg and monaid. This was Scoticised to Kilrymont.
The modern Gaelic spelling is Cill Rìmhinn. The name St Andrews derives from the town's claim to be the resting place of bones of the apostle Andrew. According to legend, St Regulus brought the relics to Kilrymont, where a shrine was established for their safekeeping and veneration while Kilrymont was renamed in honour of the saint; this is the origin of a third name for the town Kilrule. The first inhabitants who settled on the estuary fringes of the rivers Tay and Eden during the mesolithic came from the plains in Northern Europe between 10,000 and 5,000 BCE; this was followed by the nomadic people who settled around the modern town around 4,500 BCE as farmers clearing the area of woodland and building monuments. In the mid-eighth century a monastery was established by the Pictish king Oengus I, traditionally associated with the relics of Saint Andrew, a number of bones supposed to be the saints's arm, three fingers and a tooth believed to have been brought to the town by St Regulus. In AD 877, king Causantín mac Cináeda built a new church for the Culdees at St Andrews and the same year was captured and executed after defending against Viking raiders.
In AD 906, the town became the seat of the bishop of Alba, with the boundaries of the see being extended to include land between the River Forth and River Tweed. In 940 Constantine III took the position of abbot of the monastery of St Andrews; the establishment of the present town began around 1140 by Bishop Robert on an L-shaped vill on the site of the ruined St Andrews Castle. According to a charter of 1170, the new burgh was built to the west of the Cathedral precinct, along Castle Street and as far as what is now known as North Street; this means that the lay-out may have led to the creation of two new streets from the foundations of the new St Andrews Cathedral filling the area inside a two-sided triangle at its apex. The northern boundary of the burgh was the southern side of the Scores with the southern by the Kinness Burn and the western by the West Port; the burgh of St Andrews was first represented at the great council at Scone Palace in 1357. St Andrews, in particular the large cathedral built in 1160, was the most important centre of pilgrimage in medieval Scotland and one of the most important in Europe.
Pilgrims from all over Scotland came in large numbers hoping to be blessed, in many cases to be cured, at the shrine of Saint Andrew. The presence of the pilgrims brought about increased development. Recognised as the ecclesiastical capital of Scotland, the town now had vast economic and political influence within Europe as a cosmopolitan town. In 1559, the town fell into decay after the violent Scottish Reformation and the Wars of the Three Kingdoms losing the status of ecclesiastical capital of Scotland; the University of St Andrews was considering relocating to Perth around 1697 and 1698. Under the authorisation of the bishop of St Andrews, the town was made a burgh of barony in 1614. Royal Burgh was granted as a charter by King James VI in 1620. In the 18th century, the town was still in decline, but despite this the town was becoming known for having links'well known to golfers'. By the 19th century, the town began to expand beyond the original medieval boundaries with streets of new houses and town vi
Holyrood Abbey
Holyrood Abbey is a ruined abbey of the Canons Regular in Edinburgh, Scotland. The abbey was founded in 1128 by King David I. During the 15th century, the abbey guesthouse was developed into a royal residence, after the Scottish Reformation the Palace of Holyroodhouse was expanded further; the abbey church was used as a parish church until the 17th century, has been ruined since the 18th century. The remaining walls of the abbey lie adjacent to the palace, at the eastern end of Edinburgh's Royal Mile; the site of the abbey is protected as a scheduled monument. Rood is an old word for the cross. Legend relates that in 1127, while King David I was hunting in the forests to the east of Edinburgh during the Feast of the Cross, he was thrown from his horse after it had been startled by a hart. According to variations of the story, the king was saved from being gored by the charging animal when it was startled either by the miraculous appearance of a holy cross descending from the skies, or by sunlight reflected from a crucifix which appeared between the hart's antlers while the king attempted to grasp them in self-defence.
As an act of thanksgiving for his escape, David I founded Holyrood Abbey on the site in 1128. In the church was preserved, in a golden reliquary, an object said to be a fragment of the True Cross brought by David's mother, St. Margaret, from Waltham Abbey, known thereafter as the Black Rood of Scotland. At the battle of Neville's Cross, in 1346, this precious relic fell into the hands of the English, it was placed in Durham Cathedral, from where it disappeared at the Reformation; the abbey was served by a community of Augustinian Canons Regular from Merton Priory. The layout of the original church at Holyrood, now known only from excavations came from the 1125 church at the priory. In 1177 the papal legate Vivian held council here. In 1189 the nobles and prelates of Scotland met here to discuss raising a ransom for William the Lion; the original abbey church of Holyrood was reconstructed between 1195 and 1230. The completed building consisted of a six-bay aisled choir, three-bay transepts with a central tower above, an eight-bay aisled nave with twin towers at its west front.
Some scholars believe the high vaults to be sexpartite. Such a design was archaic in that period, difficult to execute or maintain. Evidence of the construction qualities of the stonemasons has remained on the S aisle vaults, which are set on an square plan of 4.4 m, but built roughly, with thin flagstones and not much attention to keeping the vertices straight. They were plastered, with exposed thin ribs. Among the chief benefactors of Holyrood during the four centuries of its existence as a religious house were Kings David I and II; the Parliament of Scotland met at the abbey in 1256, 1285, 1327, 1366, 1384, 1389 and 1410. In 1326 Robert the Bruce held parliament here, there is evidence that Holyrood was being used as a royal residence by 1329; the Treaty of Edinburgh–Northampton, which ended the First War of Scottish Independence, was signed by Robert I in the "King's Chamber" at Holyrood in March 1328. The abbey's position close to Edinburgh Castle meant that it was visited by Scotland's kings, who were lodged in the guest house situated to the west of the abbey cloister.
In the mid-15th century, with the emergence of Edinburgh as the main seat of the royal court and the chief city in the kingdom, the Kings of Scots used the accommodation at Holyrood for secular purposes. James II and his twin brother Alexander, Duke of Rothesay, were born there in October 1430. James was crowned at Holyrood in 1437 and building works were carried out before his marriage there in 1449. Between 1498 and 1501, James IV constructed a royal palace at Holyrood, adjacent to the abbey cloister. Royal influence over the abbey further increased when in 1538 Robert Stewart, the infant, illegitimate son of James V, was appointed as commendator of Holyrood. During the War of the Rough Wooing, the invading English armies of the Earl of Hertford inflicted structural damage on Holyrood Abbey in 1544 and 1547. Lead was stripped from the roof, the bells were removed, the contents of the abbey were plundered. In 1559, during the Scottish Reformation, the abbey suffered further damage when a mob destroyed the altars and looted the rest of the church.
With the reformation and the end of monastic services, the east end of the abbey church became redundant. In 1569, Adam Bothwell, the commendator of Holyrood, informed the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland that the east end was in such a state of disrepair that the choir and transept should be demolished; this was done the following year, retaining only the nave, which by was serving as the parish church of the burgh of Canongate. Between 1570 and 1573 an east gable was erected, closing the east end of the former nave, all but two of the windows in the nave were blocked up, the royal tombs were removed to a new royal burial vault in the south aisle and the old east end was demolished; the abbey was extensively remodelled in 1633 for the coronation of Charles I. In 1686, James VII established a Jesuit college within Holyrood Palace; the following year, the Protestant congregation was moved to the new Kirk of the Canongate, the abbey was converted into a Roman Catholic Chapel Royal and the chapel of the Order of the Thistle.
The abbey church was remodelled according to the plans of James Smith, was fitted with elaborate thrones and stalls for the individual Knights of
William Douglas, 6th Earl of Douglas
William, 6th Earl of Douglas was a short-lived Scottish nobleman. In addition to his Earldom of Douglas, he was Earl of Wigtown, Lord of Galloway, Lord of Bothwell and Ettrick Forest, Eskdale and Annandale in Scotland, de jure Duke of Touraine, Count of Longueville, Lord of Dun-le-roi in France, he was the eldest son of 5th Earl of Douglas and Lady Eupheme Graham. He married Lady Janet Lindsay, daughter of David, Earl of Crawford, succeeded to the earldom on the death of his father, who had served as regent of James II. Following Archibald Douglas's death, Sir William Crichton, Sir Alexander Livingston of Callendar, James Douglas, Earl of Avondale shared power. Together they conspired to break the power of the late Archibald Douglas's family, summoned William and his younger brother David to Edinburgh Castle; the so-called'Black Dinner' which followed saw the two boys summarily beheaded on trumped-up charges, over the protests of the young King James II. The lordships of Annandale and Bothwell fell to the crown.
S. R. Crockett based The Black Douglas on the death of William, his death at the "Black Dinner" served as the basis for "The Red Wedding" in George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire; this article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed.. "Douglas". Encyclopædia Britannica. 8. Cambridge University Press. Thepeerage.com
Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Castle is a historic fortress which dominates the skyline of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland from its position on the Castle Rock. Archaeologists have established human occupation of the rock since at least the Iron Age, although the nature of the early settlement is unclear. There has been a royal castle on the rock since at least the reign of David I in the 12th century, the site continued to be a royal residence until 1633. From the 15th century the castle's residential role declined, by the 17th century it was principally used as military barracks with a large garrison, its importance as a part of Scotland's national heritage was recognised from the early 19th century onwards, various restoration programmes have been carried out over the past century and a half. As one of the most important strongholds in the Kingdom of Scotland, Edinburgh Castle was involved in many historical conflicts from the Wars of Scottish Independence in the 14th century to the Jacobite rising of 1745.
Research undertaken in 2014 identified 26 sieges in its 1100-year-old history, giving it a claim to having been "the most besieged place in Great Britain and one of the most attacked in the world". Few of the present buildings pre-date the Lang Siege of the 16th century, when the medieval defences were destroyed by artillery bombardment; the most notable exceptions are St Margaret's Chapel from the early 12th century, regarded as the oldest building in Edinburgh, the Royal Palace and the early-16th-century Great Hall, although the interiors have been much altered from the mid-Victorian period onwards. The castle houses the Scottish regalia, known as the Honours of Scotland and is the site of the Scottish National War Memorial and the National War Museum of Scotland; the British Army is still responsible for some parts of the castle, although its presence is now ceremonial and administrative. Some of the castle buildings house regimental museums which contribute to its presentation as a tourist attraction.
The castle, in the care of Historic Environment Scotland, is Scotland's most-visited paid tourist attraction, with over 2 million visitors in 2017 and over 70 percent of leisure visitors to Edinburgh visiting the castle. As the backdrop to the Edinburgh Military Tattoo during the annual Edinburgh Festival the castle has become a recognisable symbol of Edinburgh and of Scotland; the castle stands upon the plug of an extinct volcano, estimated to have risen about 350 million years ago during the lower Carboniferous period. The Castle Rock is the remains of a volcanic pipe, which cut through the surrounding sedimentary rock before cooling to form hard dolerite, a type of basalt. Subsequent glacial erosion was resisted by the dolerite, which protected the softer rock to the east, leaving a crag and tail formation; the summit of the Castle Rock is 130 metres above sea level, with rocky cliffs to the south and north, rising to a height of 80 metres above the surrounding landscape. This means that the only accessible route to the castle lies to the east, where the ridge slopes more gently.
The defensive advantage of such a site is self-evident, but the geology of the rock presents difficulties, since basalt is impermeable. Providing water to the Upper Ward of the castle was problematic, despite the sinking of a 28-metre deep well, the water supply ran out during drought or siege, for example during the Lang Siege in 1573. Archaeological investigation has yet to establish when the Castle Rock was first used as a place of human habitation. There is no record of any Roman interest in the location during General Agricola's invasion of northern Britain near the end of the 1st century AD. Ptolemy's map of the 2nd century AD shows a settlement in the territory of the Votadini named "Alauna", meaning "rock place", making this the earliest known name for the Castle Rock; this could, refer to another of the tribe's hill forts in the area. The Orygynale Cronykil of Andrew of Wyntoun, an early source for Scottish history, names "Ebrawce", a legendary King of the Britons, as having "byggyd Edynburgh".
According to the earlier chronicler, Geoffrey of Monmouth, Ebraucus had fifty children by his twenty wives, was the founder of "Kaerebrauc", "Alclud" and the "Maidens' Castle". The 16th-century English writer John Stow, credited Ebraucus with building "the Castell of Maidens called Edenbrough" in 989 BC; the name "Maidens' Castle" occurs up until the 16th century. It appears in charters of his successors, although the reason for it is not known. William Camden's survey of Britain, records that "the Britans called Castle Myned Agned, the Scots, the Maidens Castle and the Virgins Castle, of certaine young maidens of the Picts roiall bloud who were kept there in old time". According to the 17th-century antiquarian Father Richard Hay, the "maidens" were a group of nuns, who were ejected from the castle and replaced by canons, considered "fitter to live among soldiers". However, this story was considered "apocryphal" by the 19th-century antiquarian Daniel Wilson and has been ignored by historians since.
The name may have been derived from a "Cult of the Nine Maidens" type of legend. Arthurian legends suggest that the site once held a shrine to one of nine sisters. St Monenna, said to be one of nine companions, reputedly invested a church at Edinburgh, as well as at Dumbarton and other places. Similar names are shared by many other Iron Age hillforts and may have described a castl
Mary of Guelders
Mary of Guelders was the queen consort of Scotland by marriage to King James II of Scotland. She served as regent of Scotland from 1460 to 1463, she was the daughter of Arnold, Duke of Guelders, Catherine of Cleves. She was a great-niece of Duke of Burgundy. Philip and his wife Isabella of Portugal at first planned to have Mary betrothed to Charles, Count of Maine, but her father could not pay the dowry. Mary stayed on at the Burgundian court, where Isabella paid for her expenses. Mary attended Isabella's daughter-in-law Catherine of France, while she herself was attended upon by ten people; the duke and duchess started negotiations for a Scottish marriage. Philip promised to pay her dowry. William Crichton came to the Burgundian court to escort her back to Scotland. Mary landed in Scotland in June 1449 and both nobles and the common people came to see her as she made her way to Holyrood Abbey in Edinburgh. Mary married James II, King of Scots, at Holyrood Abbey on 3 July 1449, was crowned Queen Consort by Abbot Patrick.
A sumptuous banquet was given. After the marriage ceremony, she was dressed in purple robes and crowned queen, it had been agreed. Queen Mary was granted several castles and the income from many lands from James, which made her independently wealthy. In May 1454, she was present at the siege of Blackness Castle, when it resulted in the victory of the king, he gave it to her as a gift, she made several donations to charity, such as when she founded a hospital just outside Edinburgh for the indigent. After her husband's death, Mary acted as regent for their son James III of Scotland until her own death three years later. Mary was drawn into the Wars of the Roses taking place in England at this time, she appointed Bishop James Kennedy as her chief advisor. While Mary was still mourning the death of King James II, the Lancastrian Queen Margaret of Anjou fled north across the border seeking refuge from the Yorkists. Mary sympathetically aided Margaret and took Edward of Westminster into her household to keep them out of Yorkist hands.
Mary's dealings with Margaret were to provide aid to the deposed queen. Mary gave a number of Scottish troops to help the Lancastrian cause. Mary and Margaret organised a betrothal between Margaret's son Edward and Mary's daughter Margaret in 1461. In return for her support, Mary asked for the town of Berwick on the Anglo-Scottish border, which Margaret was willing to give up. Relations between the two women deteriorated, with the friendly alliance between King Edward IV of England and Duke Philip of Burgundy. Any support by Mary for Margaret, Edward's enemy, threatened the alliance that Duke Philip wanted with King Edward IV against the French King Louis XI. Edward IV tried to put a stop to Mary's support of Margaret by proposing marriage to the widowed queen, which Mary rejected. Mary's uncle, Duke Philip, pressured her to call off the betrothal of her daughter and Prince Edward, to Margaret's disappointment. In 1462, she paid the Lancastrian royals to leave Scotland and made peace with Edward IV.
She hinted at the possibility of a marriage between herself and the new English king. Mary had several affairs during her period as regent, notably one with the Lord Hailes. Mary went ahead with James II's plan to build a castle on land at Ravenscraig, designed to withstand the use of artillery, lived in it while it was under construction until her death. Mary founded; the church, located in the area now known as Edinburgh's Old Town, was demolished in 1848 to make way for Waverley station, although it was reconstructed on a different site in 1870 under the name Trinity Apse. Mary was buried in the church, her coffin was moved to Holyrood Abbey in 1848. James and Mary had seven children together: An unnamed son.. James III of Scotland. Mary, who married first Thomas Boyd, 1st Earl of Arran, secondly James Hamilton, 1st Lord Hamilton, she became the mother of 1st Earl of Arran. Alexander Stewart, Duke of Albany. Margaret, who married William Crichton, 3rd Lord Crichton of Auchingoul, she became mother-in-law of George Leslie, 4th Earl of Rothes.
David Stewart, Earl of Moray. He was created Earl of Moray on 12 February 1456. John Stewart, 1st Earl of Mar and Garioch. Haeger, Skotsk krönika, Stockholm, ISBN 91-20-06736-4 Thomas Finlayson Henderson. "Mary". In Lee, Sidney. Dictionary of National Biography. 36. London: Smith, Elder & Co. Marshall, Rosalind Kay, Scottish Queens, 1034–1714, Tuckwell, ISBN 9781862322714 Weir, Alison and York: The War of the Roses, London, ISBN 978-0-09-954017-5 Richard Oram: The Kings and Queens of Scotland Timothy Venning: The Kings and Queens of Scotland Mike Ashley: British Kings and Queens Elizabeth Ewan, Sue Innes and Sian Reynolds: The Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women Biography Mary of Guelders at Find a Grave
Dunbar Castle
Dunbar Castle is the remnants of one of the strongest fortresses in Scotland, situated in a prominent position overlooking the harbour of the town of Dunbar, in East Lothian. The Votadini or Gododdin are thought to have been the first to defend this site as its original Brythonic name, dyn barr, means'the fort of the point'. By the 7th century, Dunbar Castle was a central defensive position of the Kings of Bernicia, an Anglian kingdom that took over from the British Kingdom of Bryneich. During the Early Middle Ages, Dunbar Castle was held by an Ealdorman owing homage to either the Kings at Bamburgh Castle, or latterly the Kings of York. In 678 Saint Wilfrid was imprisoned at Dunbar, following his expulsion from his see of York by Ecgfrith of Northumbria. Dunbar was said to have been burnt by Kenneth MacAlpin, King of the Scots, he is on record in possession of the castle. In the 10th and early 11th centuries, the Norsemen made increasing inroads in Scotland and in 1005 a record exists of a Patrick de Dunbar, under Malcolm II, engaged against the Norse invaders in the north at Murthlake a town of Marr where alongside Kenneth, Thane of the Isles, Grim, Thane of Strathearn, he was slain.
The first stone castle is thought to have been built by Gospatric, Earl of Northumbria, after his exile from England, following the Harrowing of the North, by William the Conqueror after Gospatric took refuge at the court of Malcolm III of Scotland. Gospatric was a powerful landowner in both kingdoms and could summon many men, which encouraged Malcolm to give him more lands in East Lothian, the Merse and Lauderdale, as recompense for those lost further south and in return for loyalty as is usual under the feudal system. Sir Walter Scott argued that Gospatrick was a contraction of Comes Patricius. In any case, King Malcolm III is recorded as bestowing the manor of Dunbar &c. on "the expatriated Earl of Northumberland". The body of buildings measured in excess of one hundred and sixty five feet from east to west, in some places up to two hundred and ten feet from north to south; the South Battery, which Grose supposes to have been the citadel or keep, is situated on a detached perpendicular rock, only accessible on one side, seventy two feet high, is connected to the main part of the castle by a passage of masonry measuring sixty nine feet.
The interior of the citadel measures fifty four feet by sixty within the walls. Its shape is octagonal. Five of the gun-ports remain, which are called the'arrow-holes', they measure four feet at only sixteen inches at the other end. The buildings are arched and extend eight feet from the outer walls, look into an open court, whence they derive their light. About the middle of the fortress, part of a wall remains, through which there is a gateway, surmounted with armorial bearings. Ths gate seems to have led to the principal apartments. In the centre, are the arms of George, 10th Earl of Dunbar, who succeeded his father in 1369, who besides the earldom of Dunbar and March, inherited the Lordship of Annandale and the Isle of Man from his heroic aunt, Black Agnes of Dunbar They must have been placed there after his succession, as he was the first who assumed those sculptured Arms: viz, a large triangular shield, thereon a lion rampant, within a bordure charged with eight roses; the shield is adorned with a helmet, carrying a crest: a horse's head bridled.
On the right are the Arms of the Bruces, on the left those of the Isle of Man. The castle towers had communication with the sea, dip low in many places. North-east from the front of the castle is a large natural cavern, chiefly of black stone, which looks like the mouth of the Acheron – a place that leads to melancholy streams; this spot is supposed to have formed part of the dungeon where prisoners were confined, such as Gavin Douglas, Bishop of Dunkeld, a prisoner here in 1515. There is, however a dark postern which gives access to a rocky inlet from the sea, it seems probable that it was through this that Sir Alexander Ramsay and his followers entered with a supply of provisions to the besieged in 1338, it was long said the castle was invulnerable because of the many sieges it sustained. The castle was built with a red stone similar to that found in the quarries near Garvald. Large masses of walls, which have fallen beneath the weight of time, appear to be vitrified or run together. In the north-west part of the ruins is an apartment about twelve feet square, nearly inaccessible, which tradition states was the apartment of Mary, Queen of Scots.
The Castle remained the stronghold of the Earls of Dunbar until the forfeiture of George, Earl of March, in 1457, when the Castle was dismantled to prevent its occupation by the English. It was restored by James IV in the century; the castle came under the control of the Duke of Albany and it was during this period that the bulwark to the west was built. It may have been designed by Antoine d'Arces, Sieur de la Bastie, placed in charge of the castle in December 1514. Albany organised further repairs and amendments in July 1527. An Italian drawing for a fortification of this period by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, marked as an opinion for "il Duca D'Albania," has been associated with Dunbar; the castle was burnt by the Earl of Shrewsbury on a punitive raid during the Rough wooing in 1548. Further re-fortifications in 1548 were directed by Migliorino Ubaldini; the English soldier Thomas Holcroft described the activities of Peter Landstedt, a lieutenant of the German mercenary Courtpennick, on 24 September 1549.
Despite cannon fire from the castle, Landstedt got a foothold in a house in Dunbar, used the furniture to start fires in the town. Landstedt planned to make an entrenchment in front of the castle to place his guns
