Stirling is perched on top of a hill and between the start of the twelfth century and the Union of the Crowns in 1603 every Scottish monarch lived here at one time or another. The oldest parts of the castle date from the time of Robert II and I am not lingering on the Scottish Wars of Independence in this post and besides which the castle as it can be viewed today was the work of James IV and James V. And like everywhere else I’ve been in the last week, it’s featured on Outlander.
I guess the start of my particular story is when James II arrives at the castle, aged 6, for safety after the murder of his father in 1437. It commences the tradition of young Scottish monarchs and heirs being both protected and educated here.
James II, who was known for his somewhat irascible temper, threw his enemy, William 8th Earl of Douglas, out of a window into the garden beneath in 1452 having first murdered the lord.
James IV saw himself as a Renaissance Prince and it was he who began the transformation of the medieval fortification into something more comfortable as well as encouraging scholars and artists to visit him. He was particularly interested in alchemy and instituted a research laboratory at the castle. His alchemist, John Damian, was something of a favourite with the king from about 1501 onwards. He was employed as the king’s doctor, tried to turn base metals into gold and wanted to fly. In September 1507 he made himself a pair of wings from bird’s feathers and announced that he would fly from Stirling to France. It was a short-lived project saved from total disaster by crash landing into a dung-hill at the foot of the castle’s walls. The laboratory and its experiments concluded in 1513 with the death of James IV and accession of James V, whose regent was his mother Margaret Tudor.
James V sent for French masons to continue his father’s work. Like his English brother-in-law he wanted to be seen as a Renaissance Prince. He might also have wanted to impress his French bride. There are six rooms dating from this period – three for the king and three for the queen and the most notable thing about them is the ceiling in the king’s audience chamber which contains the Stirling Heads carved from oak. The originals were taken down in 1777 and can be seen elsewhere in the castle. Throughout the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries there were various building projects which turned Stirling into a Renaissance Palace.
James VI was born at Edinburgh Castle but quickly moved for his own safety to Stirling where he was baptised in a ceremony costing £12,000. He would be crowned at the nearby Church of the Holy Rude. His mother, Mary Queen of Scots, was crowned in the chapel in the castle and she spent most of her Scottish childhood there, out of reach of the English. Her son would also spend his childhood at Stirling. Come to think of it James V, who was born at Linlithgow, was also crowned at Stirling after the death of his father at Flodden.
It was only when James’ wife, Anne of Denmark, became pregnant that James VI returned and gave orders for the castle to be modernised. James VI had the medieval chapel torn down and a new far grander chapel royal built for the baptism of his heir Prince Henry in 1594. The outline of the medieval building can be seen in the cobbles of the courtyard.
The feast celebrating Henry’s baptism, which took place in James IV’s Great Hall (completed in 1503) included a fish course served in a full size boat that came accompanied by cannons that fired and some mermaids. The Great Hall is, apparently, the largest medieval hall in Scotland and had five fireplaces. As well as providing fine dining for Scotland’s nobility and other honoured guests, parliament used to occasionally sit there. After James moved to England in 1603 the castle ceased to be so important.
In 1746 Bonnie Prince Charlie tried and failed to capture the castle. It was the last of the castle’s eight sieges and given that it is protected on three sides by steep drops it’s reputation for security is perhaps not surprising.
Castle Wynd leading up the hill to the castle from the town contains houses with their own links to the Stewart/Stuart dynasty. Argyll’s Lodging dates from the sixteenth century but was extended in the seventeenth century, and is best known as the Stirling home of the 1st Earl of Stirling. It was owned for a time by Adam Erskine the administrator for Cambuskenneth Abbey and one of the players in the life of the young James VI. He originally supported Morton, tried to win favour with the king and in 1578 gained the pos of keeper of Stirling Castle having persuaded his cousin, the 2nd Earl of Mar, that he had a hereditary right to be the king’s guardian. There was something of a dispute that caused the king much distress. Later Adam would support the Earl of Gowrie who held the king at Ruthven Castle. After the collapse of Gowrie’s regime, Adam was banished and his properties forfeited to the crown.
In 1629 – by which time the royal family were ensconced in England- the property was sold to Sir William Alexander who was one of Prince Henry Stuart’s tutors during his life time. He went with the royal household to London in 1603 and by 1626 was appointed Secretary for Scotland. In 1630 he became Earl of Stirling. Stirling had the house on Castle Wynd remodelled when Charles I was going to visit Stirling for his Scottish coronation. Below the castle garden, known as the King’s Knot and the Queen’s Knot, were created to celebrate the occasion and the Chapel Royal in the Castle was also given a new paint job. In the event the king and court only stayed a few days but the frieze painted by Valentine Jenkin in the chapel can still be seen.
The coat of arms above the courtyard doorway at Argyll’s Lodging shows a mermaid and an Indigenous American. Alexander is principally remembered of this settlement of Nova Scotia. And why is it called Argyll’s lodging I hear you ask? Well Stirling died deeply in debt in 1640 – the town fathers claimed the house and then, during the 1660s, sold it to the Duke of Argyll.
Mar’s Wark, on the opposite side of the road, was the townhouse of John Erskine who built the house during the 1560s/1570s when he was regent for James VI. When Anne of Denmark first arrived in Stirling she moved into Mar’s Wark while work on the castle was completed. The facade is all that remains today and both buildings are in the hands of workmen at present – so photos are littered with scaffolding and bright orange safety barriers. Oh well.
Tomorrow? The bookshops of St Andrews await along with the cathedral of course and some of the towns award winning fish and chips!