By the 11th century there was only one king of Scots, and he ruled over all the south and east of Scotland. In Ireland and Wales Norman knights were strong enough to fight local chiefs on their own. But only the English king with a large army could hope to defeat the Scots. Most English kings did not even try, but Edward I was different.
The Scottish kings were closely connected with England. Since Saxon times marriages had frequently taken place between the Scottish and English royal families. At the same time the Scottish kings wanted to establish strong government and so they offered land to Norman knights from England in return for their loyalty.
In 1290 a crises took place over the succession to the Scottish throne. On a stormy night in 1286 King Alexander of Scotland was riding home along a path by the sea in the dark. His horse took a false step, and the king was thrown from the top of a cliff.
Disputes arose at once among all those who had any claim at all to the Scottish throne. Finally two of the claimants, John de Balliol and Robert Bruce, were left. Scottish nobles wanted to avoid civil war and invited Edward I to settle the matter. Edward had already shown interest in joining Scotland to his kingdom. He wanted his son to marry Margaret, the heir to the Scottish throne, but she had died in a shipwreck. Now he had another chance. He told both men that they must do homage to him, and so accept his overlordship, before he would help settle the question. He then invaded Scotland and put one of them, John de Balliol, on the Scottish throne.
De Balliol’s four years as a king were not a success. First Edward made him provide money and troops for the English army and the Scottish nobles rebelled. They felt that Edward was ruining their country.
Then Edward invaded Scotland again, and captured all the main Scottish castles. During this invasion he stole the sacred Stone of Destiny from Scone Abbey. The legend said that all Scottish kings must sit on it. Edward believed that without the Stone, any Scottish coronation would be meaningless, and that his own possession of the Stone would persuade the Scots to accept him as king. However, neither he nor his successors became kings of Scots, and the Scottish kings managed perfectly well without the stone.
All this led to the creation a popular resistance movement. At first it was led by William Wallace, a Norman-Scottish knight. But after one victory against English army, Wallace’s “people’s army” was itself destroyed by Edward in 1297.
It seemed that Edward had won after all. Wallace was captured and executed. His head was put on a pole on London Bridge. Edward tried to make Scotland a part of England as he had already done with Wales. Some Scottish nobles accepted him, but the people refused to be ruled by the English king. Scottish nationalism was born on the day Wallace died.
A new leader took up the struggle. This was Robert Bruce, who had competed with John de Balliol for the throne. He was able to raise an army and defeat the English army in Scotland. Edward the I gathered another great army and marched against Robert Bruce, but he died on the way north in 1327. On Edward’s grave were written the words “Edward, the Hammer of the Scots”. He had intended to hammer them into the ground and destroy them, but in fact he had hammered them into a nation.
After Edward’s death Bruce had enough time to defeat his Scottish enemies, and make himself accepted as king of the Scots. He then began to win back the castles still held by the English. When the son of his old enemy Edward II invaded Scotland in 1314 Bruce destroyed his army at Bannockburn, near Stirling. Six years later, in 1320, the Scots clergy meeting in Arbroath wrote to the Pope in Rome to tell him that they would never accept English authority: “for as long as even one hundred of us remain alive, we will never consent to subject ourselves to the dominion of the English.”
In the long, bitter struggle for independence, Scotland never capitulated, and when at last it became part of the United Kingdom in 1707 it was by treaty, even if many Scots regarded the Act of Union[6] as a piece of treachery. It is still a land apart, with a very separate culture. Scotland retained its separate legal and ecclesiastical systems, and until well into the 20th century its separate system of free education was the most advanced and generous in Britain. Nowadays, it has its own Parliament.
III. Scotland’s beautiful capital.
1. Introduction
Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. This distinction is partly an accident of Nature, for the city is built upon jumble of hills and valleys; however, during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the natural geography was enhanced by the works of a succession of distinguished Georgian and Victorian architects.
Evidence that Stone Ages settlers lived in Edinburgh has been found on Calton Hill[7], Arthur’s Seat[8] and Castlehill, and the town’s early history centres around Castlehill. Some historians believe that this volcanic hill was a tribal stronghold as early as 600 BC.
One tribe who definitely made their mark were a group of Nothumbrians, whose 7th-century king Edwin[9], is thought to have given his name to the castle and town. “Burgh” is a Scottish word for borough (a small town).
2. Edinburgh’s Castle
The Royal Castle of Edinburgh is the most powerful symbol of Scotland. For centuries, this mighty fortress has dominated its surroundings with a majesty, which has deeply impressed many generations.
The volcanic castle rock in Edinburgh was born over 340 million years ago following a violent eruption deep in the earth’s crust. Its story as a place of human habitation stretches back a mere 3,000 years, to the late Bronze Age. It was evidently a thriving hill-top settlement when Roman soldiers marched by in the first century AD.
The place had become an important royal fortress by the time of Queen Margaret’s[10] death there in November 1093. Throughout the Middle Ages Edinburgh Castle ranked as one of the major castles of the kingdom and its story is very much the story of Scotland. But within the building of the Palace of Holyroodhouse in the early 16th century, the castle was used less and less as a royal residence, though it remained symbolically the heart of the kingdom.
Edinburgh Castle is the home of the Scottish Crown Jewels, the oldest Royal Regalia in Britain. The Honours of Scotland – the Crown, Sword and Sceptre – were shaped in Italy and Scotland during the reigns of King James IV and king James V and were first used together as coronation regalia in 1543.
After the 1707 Treaty of Union between Scotland and England, the Honours were locked away in the Crown Room and the doors were walled up. 111 years later, the Honours were rediscovered and immediately displayed to the public. Displayed with the Crown Jewels is the Stone of Destiny, returned to Scotland after 700 years in England.
Edinburgh Castle boasts having the giant siege gun Mons Meg in its military collection. Mons Meg (or simply “Mons”) was made at Mons (in present-day Belgium) in 1449. It was at the leading edge of artillery technology at the time: it weighs 6040 kilogrammes and its firing gunstones weigh 150 kilogrammes. It soon saw action against the English. But it great weigh made it ponderously slow to drag around – it could only make 5 kilometres a day. By the middle of the 16th century it was retired from military service and restricted to firing salutes from the castle ramparts. It was returned to the castle in 1829.
3. The Military Tattoo
For many visitors the castle means nothing without the Edinburgh Military Tattoo[11] which is taking place at the Castle Esplanade. The esplanade had been a narrow rocky ridge until the middle of the 18th century when the present platform was created as a parade ground.
The signal (Tattoo) indicated that soldiers should return to their quarters and that the beer in the taverns should be turned off. This signal was transmitted by drum beat each evening. Eventually this developed into a ceremonial performance of military music by massed bands.
It began when the city held its first International Festival in the summer of 1947. The Army staged an evening military display on the Esplanade. The march and counter-march of the pipes and drums which was held near one of the most dramatic places anywhere in the world made it an immediate success. The Tattoo has been repeated every summer since on the same site. Each Tattoo closes with another “tradition”- the appearance of the lone piper on the battlements of the castle.
4. St. Giles’ Cathedral
If Edinburgh Castle has been at the centre of Scottish life for 9 centuries, St. Giles’ Cathedral, the High Kirk of Edinburgh, has been the religious heart of Scotland for even longer.
In 854 there was a church. It belonged to Lindisfarne, where Columba’s monks first brought the Gospel from Iona. In 1150, the monks of St. Giles’ were farming lands round about and a bigger church was built by the end of the century. The first parish church of Edinburgh was dedicated to St. Giles, a saint popular in France. It was probably due to the Auld Alliance of Scotland and France against the common enemy of England.
St Giles’Cathedral is one of the most historic and romantic buildings in Scotland. Founded in 1100s, this church has witnessed executions, riots and celebrations. Its famous crown spire has dominated Edinburgh’s skyline for over 500 years. Scotland was a Catholic nation until the Reformation in the mid-16th century.
John Knox[12], the fiery “Trumpeter of God”, who preached against Popery, brought St. Giles into great prominence. Knox’s aim was to create a reformed Church of Scotland, to banish “popery”, to strengthen democracy and to set up a system of comprehensive education. The religious transition was to take 130 years of struggle to achieve.
Many of the famous Scots are commemorated in the church, including R. Burns and R. L. Stevenson.
The Giles is famous for its Thistle Chapel, which is home to the Order of the Thistle[13] and honours some of the greatest Scots of the last 300 years. This exquisite little room will take one’s breath away. Its magnificent carvings and stonework evoke the ancient origins of the order and will amaze anyone with a wealth of details associated with Scotland, for example, the angel that plays the bagpipe.
5. Edinburgh’s museums.
In the field of arts, Edinburgh has a host of outstanding attractions for different tastes and interests. The Scottish National Portrait Gallery provides a unique visual history of Scotland, told through portraits of the figures who shaped it: royals and rebels, poets and philosophers, heroes and villains. All the portraits are of Scots, but not all are by Scots. The collection also holds works by great English, European and American masters. Since the Gallery first opened its doors, the collection has grown steadily to form a kaleidoscope of Scottish life and history. Among the most famous portraits are Mary, Queen of Scots, Ramsay’s portrait of philosopher David Hume, Nasmyth’s portrait of Robert Burns, and Raeburn’s Sir Walter Scott. In addition to paintings, it displays sculptures, miniatures, coins, medallions, drawings, watercolours and photographs.
The Royal Museum and the Museum of Scotland are two museums under one roof. The Royal Museum is Scotland’s premier museum and international treasure-house. It contains material from all over the world. A vast and varied range of objects are on display – from the endangered Giant Panda to working scale models of British steam engines. The Museum of Scotland tells the remarkable story of a remarkable country from the geological dawn of time to modern-day life in Scotland. The variety and richness of Scotland’s long and vibrant history, is brought to life by the fascinating stories each object and every gallery has to tell.
At the heart of the museum is the Kingdom of the Scots. This is the story of Scotland’s emergence as a distinctive nation able to take its place on the European stage. Here are the icons of Scotland’s past – objects connected with some of the most famous events and best-known figures in Scottish history, from the Declaration of Arbroath[14] to Mary, Queen of Scots.
Described as “the noisiest museum in the world”, the Museum of Childhood is a favourite with adults and children alike. It is a treasure house, full of objects telling of childhood, past and present. The museum has five public galleries. A list of their contents makes it sound like a magical department store. There are riding toys, push and pull toys, doll’s prams, yachts and boats, slot machines, a punch and judy, a nickelodeon, a carousel horse, dolls’ houses, toy animals, zoos, farms and circuses, trains, soldiers, optical toys, marionettes, soft toys, games and much, much more.
In addition, the museum features a time tunnel (with reconstructions of a school room, street scene, fancy dress party and nursery from the days of our grandparents) an activity area, and video presentations. The museum opened in 1955 was the first museum in the world to specialize in the history of childhood. It also helps to find out how children have been brought up, dressed and educated in decades gone by.
“The People’s Story” is a museum with a difference. As the name implies, it uses oral history, reminiscence, and written sources to tell the story of the lives, work and leisure of te ordinary people of Edinburgh, from the late 18th century to the present day. The museum is filled with the sounds, sights and smells of the past – a prison cell, town crier, reform parade, cooper’s workshop, fishwife, servant at work, dressmaker, 1940s kitchen, a wash-house, pub and tea-room.
These reconstructions are complimented by displays of photographs, everyday objects and rare artifacts, such as the museum’s outstanding collections of trade union banners and friendly society regalia.
6. Where life is one long festival.
Edinburgh may be called the Athens of the North, but from mid-August to early September that’s probably because it’s hot, noisy and overpriced – and crawling with foreign students.
Over the next three weeks the population will double as half a million visitors invade Britain’s most majestic city.
If you are a theatre buff or a comedy fan, Edinburgh at Festival time[15] will be your idea of heaven. But the city is a centre for culture all year round.
In the run-up to Christmas there are hundreds of shows, including Noel Coward’s Relative Values at the King’s Theatre and the Anatomy Performance Company’s dance theatre at the Traverse. Romeo and Juliet is at the Traverse, Les Miserables at the Playhouse and The Recruiting Officer at the Lyceum. And outside Festival time, you’ll find it a lot easier to get tickets.
As for the visual arts, Edinburgh’s museums more than match any of the special exhibitions mounted during the Festival.
Most attractive is the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, in a stately home on the outskirts of the city. Here you can find unbeatable masterpieces created by Picasso, Matisse and Hockney.
If shopping is more your stile, Jenners[16], on Princes Street, is Edinburgh’s answer to Harrods. And the Scottish Gallery on George Street is a happy hunting ground for collectors of fine art. Edinburgh is full of good hotels but its dramatic sky-line is dominated by two enormous hostelries at either end of Princes Street. The Caledonian and the Balmoral (formerly the North British) were built by rival railway companies in the days when competing steam trains raced from London.
You can also have a look at the Gothic monument to Sir Walter Scott, which stands in East Princes Street Gardens and was begun in 1840. It is rather high, and narrow staircase (a total of 287 steps in several stages) offers spectacular views of the city. Not far from the monument in Princes Street Gardens one can find the oldest Floral Clock in the world, built in 1903, consisting of about 25,000 flowers and plants.
Like all the best capitals, Edinburgh boasts cosmopolitan influences. Asian shopkeepers sell Samosas and Scotch (mutton) pies in the same thick Scots brogue, and the city is littered with Italian restaurants.
The city has three universities: the University of Edinburgh (1583), Herriot-Watt[17] (established in 1885; received university status in 1966) and Napier[18] University.
Edinburgh is also an industrial centre. Its industries include printing, publishing, banking, insurance, chemical manufacture, electronics, distilling, brewing.
Conclusion.