Tag Archives: Stirling Castle

Stirling Castle, Argyl’s Lodging and Mar’s Wark

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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!

The early difficulties of James VI and his regents

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Mary Queen of Scots was raised in France and preferred to read, write and speak the language of her adopted land. She was also Catholic and although she promised not to interfere in religious matters when she returned to Scotland following the death her husband, Francis II, in August 1561 it wasn’t long before she became embroiled in difficulties. The birth of her heir, by her second husband Henry Stewart, confirmed the Stuart dynasty and enhanced her claim to the English throne.

James was baptised at Stirling on 17 December 1566. Elizabeth I was one of his godmothers. She sent the Earl of Bedford, with a gold font for the boy to be received into the church. But Mary intended that her son would be a prince of the Catholic Church rather than the Presbyterian one of John Knox. It was the Archbishop of St Andrews who baptised the boy before he was proclaimed to the world by his full titles. The Earl of Bedford, having dropped off the font waited outside the Chapel Royal along with the earls of Moray, Huntly and Bothwell who were all reformers and deeply involved with the political shinanigans that bedevilled Mary’s rule. Jane Stewart, the Countess of Argyle held the baby, as Elizabeth I’s proxy, while he was baptised but was required to do penance later for participating in a papist ritual.

Nor were those the only difficulties. Mary’s relationship with her husband, Henry, Lord Darnley was strained since the murder of her secretary, David Rizzio and he still resented the fact that he wasn’t king. He was present in Stirling but refused to attend the baptism or the festivities that followed because he knew the English delegation would call him Lord Darnley rather than King Henry.

Things went from bad to worse for Mary while James remained in his nursery at Stirling where she herself had been raised during her early years as had James V. The murder of Darnley and Mary’s third marriage to the Earl of Bothwell resulted in civil conflict and her enforced abdication after an armed confrontation at Carberry Hill. On 29 July 1567 James was carried to the parish church at Stirling and was crowned King James V according to Protestant rites. John Knox preached the sermon on that occasion.

Mary’s departure from the throne did not end Scotland’s troubles. James grew up in one of Scotland’s most turbulent periods of civil unrest. Before he reached the age of five, his rule had been managed by three regents. James Stewart, Earl of Moray, the queen’s half brother, was murdered in 1570 at Linlithgow. James’ own grandfather, Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox became regent in Moray’s stead. He was fatally shot during an attack on Stirling Castle by men who supported Mary in 1571. James’ guardian John Erskine, 1st Earl of Mar, was chosen to be the next regent. One of his first acts was to have the men who killed his predecessor executed by being broken on the wheel. He died in October 1572 in his own bed at Stirling after a short illness – even so, the job of regent wasn’t one which came with a long life expectancy, especially as the civil war continued unabated.

James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton had helped Lord Darnley plan the murder of David Rizzio. He ended the civil war but faced continuing resentment from his peers who plotted to bring about his downfall. He resigned in 1578 and 11-year-old King James decided that he needed no more regents even though Morton retained much of his power as well as the favour of Queen Elizabeth I in England. A month later, in April, Morton regained control of the king, the council and Stirling Castle. As James’ nobles and the Scottish Church jockeyed for power, Morton was finally accused of being part of the plot to murder Henry Lord Darnley in 1567. He was arrested and tried in 1581 before being executed on 2 June by an early form of the guillotine known as ‘The Maiden’ – which was said to be modelled on the ‘Halifax gibbet.’ He was buried in Greyfriars.

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Lady Katherine Gordon – Mrs Perkin Warbeck

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ch23_Warbek.jpgThe Beauforts get everywhere during the Wars of the Roses and Tudor history as well, so lets just get the Beaufort link out of the way at the start. Katherine Gordon’s grandma was supposed to be Joan Beaufort who was, of course, the daughter of John Beaufort, Earl of Somerset making John of Gaunt Joan’s granddad…possibly. History being what it is there are other sources, including the coat of arms above Katherine’s monument in Swansea, which identifies clearly in her coat of arms that her mother was actually the third wife of George Gordon, Elizabeth Hay.  This removes the Beauforts from the picture entirely but who am I to interrupt a good story not that Lady Katherine Gordon’s story needs spicing up.

 

Lady Katherine Gordon met Richard,‘Duke of York‘ in 1495, pictured at the start of this post, when he arrived in Scotland having decamped from Ireland where he’d failed to convince the citizens of Waterford of his identity. He’d spent years wandering around Europe garnering support from crowned heads who wanted to irritate Henry VII.

 

The Duke, who I shall refer to from now on as Warbeck because that’s the name history knows him by (nor am I delving into the depths to investigate whether he might have been the youngest of the two Princes in the Tower), was welcomed with full honours as a prince by King James IV to Stirling Castle.

 

Apparently Warbeck’s marriage to the beautiful Lady Katherine in January 1496 was a love match but it also meant that James was able to demonstrate to Henry Tudor that he was serous in his support for Warbeck because he’d given him the hand of his cousin. James’ support extended to a raid on behalf of Warbeck. Unfortunately the attack on England only lasted three days on account of the fact that the people of Northumberland did not rise up in support of the so-called Duke of York. After that Warbeck and, sadly for her, his wife began to wear out their welcome at the Scottish court.

 

The little family; Warbeck, Lady Katherine and their son Richard boarded a boat at Ayr and headed to Ireland where Warbeck met with resounding indifference. He decided to try his luck in Cornwall where the locals were up in arms about Henry VII’s taxes.

 

When Warbeck invaded Cornwall and marched north to Bodmin and from there to Exeter Lady Katherine initially remained at St Michael’s Mount. As it became apparent that their venture was unlikely to succeed Warbeck moved his wife to St Buryan which was rather bleak but had the benefits of sanctuary.

 

After Warbeck’s 3000 men had finally melted away and he’d been taken captive Henry VII sent for Katherine. On the morning of October 7th 1497  the Earl of Shrewsbury arrived at St Buryan to find her in mourning. Historians think that she had lost a second child, brother to young Richard who was alive at this time. Henry VII provided her with a complete travelling outfit of black. She travelled slowly to Exeter and from there to Sheen. Polydore Vergil notes that Henry fell in love with Lady Katherine Gordon – how his wife felt about that is not recorded.

 

Andre’s account of the meeting between Henry, Warbeck and Lady Katherine Gordon spells out that Katherine was to be regarded as the victim of an abduction or rape on account of the deception that had been perpetrated. In Andre’s account Katherine reviles Warbeck and turns to Henry VII as the personification of kingly heroism. From that time on she is referred to as Lady Katherine Huntly. She reverted once more in official documents to being her father’s daughter yet there was no divorce and assorted ambassadors reported that the couple remained a couple even though they were not permitted to cohabit. No doubt Henry had no desire for more little Warbecks to muddy the waters of his security, not to mention his knightly passion for the fair Lady Katherine.

 

Katherine was sent to live with Elizabeth of York – how strange a meeting that must have been. She was after all married to the man who had claimed to be Elizabeth’s brother.  No public or recorded meeting ever took place between Elizabeth and Warbeck.  As for Katherine she was descended from kings and held a high place at court. It must have been an odd half-life for Lady Katherine who must also have been mourning her son Richard who came to London with her but who disappears very quickly after that into obscurity. Wroe records that a family on the Gower claim descent from one Richard Perkins, son of Perkin Warbeck. Co-incidentally when Katherine lived in Wales with her third husband she lived eight miles from Reynoldston where it is just possible that her son grew up.

 

On 23 Nov 1499 Lady Katherine was made a widow when Warbeck was hanged at Tyburn. He’d been convicted of plotting with Edward, Earl of Warwick to burn down the Tower, flee to Flanders and set Warwick up as a claimant to the throne. Katherine continued to live in England. She was no longer a prisoner. Henry not known for his generosity paid for her wardrobe and made her several presents over the years. She was the chief mourner at Elizabeth of York’s funeral in 1503. Henry VIII granted her lands in Berkshire which had once been owned by John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln on the proviso she didn’t travel abroad without royal licence. She remained at court. In Scotland the chronicler Adam Bell speculated that Katherine was married to Henry. The reality as Wroe considers must have been much more complicated. In 1510 she became an English citizen.

 

Katherine married several times although she remained a widow for eleven years after Warbeck’s death. There was James Strangeways; Matthew Craddock – a Welshman so licence had to be granted for her to travel to Wales; finally there was Christopher Ashton. She died in 1537 and is buried in Fyfield Church.

 

Many of Perkin Warbeck’s confessions survive. It was after all in Henry VII’s best interest that they should exist and evidence suggests that he kept picking at the story of the pretender like a scab that wouldn’t heal.  The problem was that he could find no reference to Warbeck before the age of nine.  Much more poignant  is Perkin’s letter to Lady Katherine:

 

“Most noble lady, it is not without reason that all turn their eyes to you; that all admire love and obey you. For they see your two-fold virtues by which you are so much distinguished above all other mortals. Whilst on the one hand, they admire your riches and immutable prosperity, which secure to you the nobility of your lineage and the loftiness of your rank, they are, on the other hand, struck by your rather divine than human beauty, and believe that you are not born in our days but descended from Heaven.

 All look at your face so bright and serene that it gives splendour to the cloudy sky; all look at your eyes so brilliant as stars which make all pain to be forgotten, and turn despair into delight; all look at your neck which outshines pearls; all look at your fine forehead. Your purple light of youth, your fair hair; in one word at the splendid perfection of your person:—and looking at they cannot choose but admire you; admiring they cannot choose love but you; loving they cannot choose but obey you.

 I shall, perhaps, be the happiest of all your admirers, and the happiest man on earth, since I have reason to hope you will think me worthy of your love. If I represent to my mind all your perfections, I am not only compelled to love, to adore and to worship you, but love makes me your slave. Whether I was waking or sleeping I cannot find rest or happiness except in your affection. All my hopes rest in you, and in you alone.

 Most noble lady, my soul, look mercifully down upon me your slave, who has ever been devoted to you from the first hour he saw you, Love is not an earthly thing, it is heaven born. Do not think it below yourself to obey love’s dictates. Not only kings, but also gods and goddesses have bent their necks beneath its yoke.

 I beseech you most noble lady to accept for ever one who in all things will cheerfully do as your will as long as his days shall last. Farewell, my soul and consolation. You, the brightest ornament in Scotland, farewell, farewell.”

Wroe, Ann. (2003). Perkin A Story of Deception London: Jonathan CapeÂ