A brief history of Edinburgh
Geology
Edinburgh is the castle and the people came to live either on, or around it, for refuge and safety. The Castle is built on top of what is known as a “Crag and Tail”. Millions of years ago there was a volcano which erupted and left a plug of hard igneous rock. When the ice age came a glazier eroded away the softer rock around this plug to leave a tail which slopes down to the east of the castle which we now know as the Royal Mile. Then humans arrived about 8,000 years ago and about 6,000 years later written history arrived in the form of the Romans. You remember them? Julius Cesar, Nero, Caligula, Russell Crowe. The Romans called the people they encountered in Scotland Caledons. Which means “wee smelly hairy people with tattoos running about the heather looking for a fight with anyone.” But in the last 2,000 years we have evolved into different shapes, sizes and colours. From Caledons came the name Caledonia. Edinburgh used to be called Dunedin. The local language used to be Gaelic and the Gaelic word for "Hill" is “Dun” there are lots of places in Scotland beginning with “Dun” - Dundee, Dunfermline, Dunblane, Dunbar. And the word "Edin" means fort. So Dunedin means “Hill Fort”. When the people started to speak English "Dunedin" became "Edinburgh".
Why did the Romans not come up and conquer Scotland like the rest of Britain? Well we Scots love to believe that the local tribes were just too fierce and independent to be conquered. And we love to believe that we are descendants of them. There is even evidence of a legion of Roman soldiers who ventured up into the hills and were never seen or heard of again. The truth may have been different. The Romans were in Scotland for about 70 years and there was a battle in Scotland - Mons Grapius - at which the Roman General Agricola defeated the local tribes, but the reason the emperor Hadrian built a wall may have been because Scotland wasn’t worth it. There is no gold and silver in the hills like there was in Wales and they didn’t use the land to grow and export grain like they did in southern Britain. The lost legion of Roman soldiers may have been a clerical error. The questions also remain: Was Hadrian’s wall built to keep the tribes out or in? Or was it better used as a road for communications?
The Dark Ages - The Saltire
The period after the Romans left Britain in the 4th. century AD was known as the dark ages. Not because the sun was stuck behind the clouds for long periods of times, but because the history books are a bit vague for those times. Christianity was beginning to advance across Europe and it came to Scotland led by St. Columba in the 7th. Century. The year 832 was significant in Scottish History because that was the year of the Saltire and the legend of Angus MacFergus. The Story is of the Battle of Athelstaneford. And remember: He who wins the Battle writes the history. King Angus MacFergus was the leader of a combined force of Picts and Scots who were confronted by a much larger force of Angles and Saxons from the south. He had gone on a raid into Northumberland and was being pursued by some angry warriors.
On the evening before the battle King Angus prayed for a victory and promised to make St. Andrew the patron saint of Scotland. He said, “I promise not to make malicious comments about my mother-in-law again. I’ll pay back the money I owe the bishop. I’ll brush my teeth everyday. And I’ll never leave the toilet seat up again when the wife has visitors over for her Tupperware party.” St. Andrew was crucified on a diagonal cross and the legend says that his bones were brought over to the town that is now known as St. Andrews in Fife.
The next day the clouds appeared in the shape of a diagonal cross. The blue azure represents the sky. The soldiers following King Angus were heartened and went on to win The Battle of Athelstaneford in the belief that god was on their side. From then on the Saltire became the national flag of Scotland. It is the oldest national flag still in use in the world.
The Mercat Cross/The Lion Rampant
The Mercat Cross was mainly a place for public meetings, Royal announcements and the occasional hanging. In the days when kings and knights wore armour you couldn’t see their faces because of the visor so they painted symbols on their shields and chests. The red lion was chosen by William the first of Scotland (He himself was supposed to have a been a fiery red headed man) and the outside is the fleur de lis - which comes from France and symbolises the alliance of Scotland and France. The Lion rampant is the symbol of the monarchy in Scotland. Whenever the queen is in residence at Holyrood House this flag is flying.
In Edinburgh castle and Stirling Castle there are places known as The Lions Den. It is fair to say that all the kings of Scotland kept Lions. At the top of the Mercat Cross is the unicorn protecting the monarchy. The Unicorn symbolises honesty and bravery.
Robert the Bruce and William Wallace
It is a great story. At the main entrance to Edinburgh Castle there are statues on either side of Robert the Bruce and William Wallace (other wise known as "Connery and Gibson") These statues are from 1929, but Bruce and Wallace actually lived 700 years ago. Scotland did not have a king to unite the country after Alexander the III fell of his horse and died at the cliffs in Kinghorn in Fife, and there were many who came forward to claim the crown. At the same time Scotland’s nearest neighbour England was being led by a very forceful, powerful and dynamic King - Edward the 1st. Who had many more resources and was able to call upon the biggest army in Europe. This was an unfortunate time for Scotland.
Robert the Bruce and William Wallace are two of the most famous figures in Scottish history. They both fought for the same cause of Scottish Independence in the latter part of the 13th. and early 14th. century, but it is unlikely that they were ever friends. Robert the Bruce eventually won what was known as Scotland’s Wars of Independence though not without using his own fare share of treachery. After Edward 1st. Died Bruce made his bid for the crown by killing off one of his rivals John Comyn. He did this by stabbing him to death at the alter in Blackfriars church in Dumfries. Then he managed to get Wallace out of the picture with the help of his friend and ally John Menteith. Bruce’s Defining moment was The Battle of Bannockburn in 1314.
There is also a theory that The Knights Templar were involved at Bannockburn. In the historical fiction, The Davinci Code, by Dan Brown, it states the keepers of the Holy Grail where The Knights Templar and they kept it at Roslyn Chapel, about 10 miles south of Edinburgh. They were driven out of France in 1314 and excommunicated by Rome and came to Scotland. Robert the Bruce was also excommunicated because of his murder of John Comyn at in the Church and so gave them refuge.
The Battle of Bannockburn lasted two days. On the second day, at the cusp of the battle, the official record is that the camp followers (those who followed the Scottish army and helped out with the cooking and cleaning) came over the hill in a charge. The English believed them to be re-enforcements and fled in terror which led to a rout. The other theory is that it was actually the most feared warriors in all of Christendom hired by King Robert, The Knights Templar, who came over the hill.
Flodden/The Flodden Wall
James the IV was Scotland’s first Renaissance king and he died at The Battle of Flodden on 9th. September 1513. Scotland had an alliance with France - The Auld Alliance - and in the summer of that year Henry VIII of England invaded France to try and gain the French crown. The French sent money and some soldiers to advise the Scots and encouraged them to fight and King James IV seemed all too willing.
It was a disaster for the Scots. They had massive guns that were used to smash the walls of Norham Castle as their army marched into the north of England, but these guns were not suited to the battle and badly positioned on the top of a hill. This meant that the cannon balls landed into the ground causing little damage and they took a longer time to reload than the smaller English guns that reloaded every two or three minutes and shot straight into the ranks of the Scots.
Both armies were evenly matched (about 22,000 to 25,000 each) but the infantry had different weapons. The Scots had long pikes and had been advised by the French to fight in the same style as the Swiss, which was disciplined and very effective in other wars in Europe at that time. The English had smaller weapons known as bills. The Scots had won the initial part of the battle and had routed the flank of the English before being driven back by the English Cavalry, but the main part of their army had to advance because of the artillery fire - straight into a small stream in front of the English ranks - which made them stumble and become disorganised. The English hacked into them and managed to get around the side causing much carnage.
It was the Scottish custom of the day that the king and noble lords would lead their men into battle to give them encouragement. That is why so many high ranking Scottish noblemen died at Flodden. Scarcely any noble family in Scotland did not have at least one member of their household perish at Flodden.
It is this authors belief that Flodden is not highly mentioned in Scottish or English history: The Scots because we would like to highlight the battles we won and The English because Henry VIII wasn’t there, it was the Earl of Surrey, and his achievements were arguably greater than his king’s . Henry VIII was in France spending a million pounds of his treasury on a largely fruitless campaign which gained two French towns and fought the battle of Spurs, where incidentally, he wasn’t at either. The English did not follow up their victory at Flodden with a full scale invasion of Scotland because they were skint.
Henry VIII seemed to have been reluctant to bestow honours on his lords who fought at Flodden because it may have outshone his own rather pathetic achievements in France. English history emphasises his 6 wives (Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard and Katherine Parr) and his switch to the protestant faith.
Flodden was significant to Edinburgh because after the battle they built a wall around the town known as Flodden Wall. Some parts of it still exist today. The wall meant that the buildings of Edinburgh did not expand outwards as the population grew, but upwards. This led to the world’s first skyscrapers as described by Robert Louise Stevenson in his novel Kidnapped: “The huge height of the buildings, running up to ten and fifteen storeys, the narrow arched entries that continually vomited passengers…”
That was the end of the reign of James IV. By most accounts he was a well respected confident monarch. Many could not believe it when he died and stories circulated as to where he was; like he had gone off the holly land to fight the crusades. (Authors note: I felt the same way when Scotland got beat 3- 1 by Peru in the 1978 World Cup in Argentina. The hype leading up to the game was immense, and the next day I kept reading the Sunday Post over and over again to see if it really was true.) It took a long time for Scotland to gain back its confidence with many subjects reluctant to take up arms again.
However, 500 years later the Tartan Army exacted revenge for the defeat at Flodden when they took the train down to Wembley and stole the English goal posts - 4th. June 1977.
The Glorious Revolution
The year of 1688 was the year of the Glorious Revolution. A new king came over the water from The Netherlands known as King William of Orange. The Old King was King James and the people with power wanted him out ostensibly for religious reasons. Those who supported King William were known as Wiliamites and those who supported King James were known as Jacobites; The Hebrew word for James is Jacob and so we have the word "Jacobite".
On the Castle Esplanade there was a regiment formed to the beat of a drum who became known as the Kings Own Scottish Borderers. They were Williamites. Here in Scotland opinion was divided as to whom they should support so in Edinburgh the people with power and influence held a convention. Most were in favour of King William but one man remained loyal to King James. He we was John Graham Claverhouse of Dundee: Otherwise known as Bonnie Dundee. Fearing for his life, because of his loyalty to King James, Bonnie Dundee travelled north where he knew he would find an army. As Bonnie Dundee came back south he met another army of Williamites going north which included the Kings Own Scottish Borderers. They were led by General Hugh Mackay. Both armies met at the Pass of Killiecrankie. On this occasion the Jacobites won but Bonnie Dundee was killed by a stray bullet.
The Tolbooth Gaol/Porteous Riots
If you are standing on the Royal Mile near the road to the west of St. Giles Catherdral you will be able to see copper sets in the ground which outline a gaol which stood for 400 years. It was demolished in 1817 to widen the road. Originally it was the site of the council chambers and the Scottish parliament and the court. This was also the site of public executions.
Once upon a time there was man called Captain Porteous. He was the Captain of the city guard (The local police) in the year of 1736. And one day there was an execution of a local smuggler called Andrew Wilson. Now many people in Edinburgh didn’t like Captain Porteous very much because they said he was a hard man who treated the people badly. Andrew Wilson was a criminal, but well liked by the citizens of Edinburgh because he had helped another man escape from the tolbooth. Andrew Wilson was caught himself and sentenced to hang. On the day of the execution there was much agitation and a riot broke out. Captain Porteous and his guards were keeping order and the people got so exited he ordered his men to fire their guns at the people.
Captain Porteous was put into the gaol himself and sentenced to hang for murder, but at the last minute he was given a pardon. When the people of Edinburgh heard of this they got very angry and before Captain Porteous was released an angry mob stormed the tolbooth, grabbed Captain Potreous and hanged him themselves down in The Grassmarket. They must not have like him very much.
Deacon Brodie
This is the story of Deacon Brodie. William Brodie was a man who lived two lives. By day he was a well respected married man about town. By night he was a thief and a scoundrel with two mistresses and 5 illegitimate children.
It was Deacon Brodie’s father who built up the family business as a cabinet maker and lock smith. William Brodie Junior followed in his father’s footsteps to become an upstanding pillar of the community. Or so it seemed. To help pay of his gambling debts and the costs of his mistresses William Brodie formed a small gang of a 3 criminals. He would fix the doors of clients and make wax copies of the keys only to return later and rob them.
The end to this campaign of crime came with a bungled attempt to rob the tax office. One of his gang was apprehended and spilled the beans, and Brodie fled to Amsterdam where he was eventually brought back to Edinburgh face trial. In October 1788 he was sentence to death by hanging, but there are still many different beliefs as to what eventually became of Deacon Brodie.
There are some who say he bribed the hangman and was allowed to wear a steel collar around his neck and a lead pipe in his throat. After he was hanged his body was quickly taken away by his friends to who tried to revive him and he was buried in an unmarked grave. Some believe he was seen walking the streets of Paris, and some believe he did eventually make it to America to live out the rest of his double life.
Robert Burns/Makars Court
Makars Court is near the top of The Royal Mile to the south the Lawnmarket, "Makar" is an old Scottish word for Poet. There is a plaque which says “Robert Burns stayed here on his first visit to Edinburgh in 1786.” In Makars court there is The Writers Museum (Free entry - There are about 5 free museums in the centre of Edinburgh) and in the court yard there are flag stomes with inscriptions and quotations by well known Scottish writers, and undoubtedly the most famous Scottish poet of them all is Robert Burns.
I would say he has a very lucky birthday which has added to his popularity;The 25th. January is a very good excuse to have a cosy mid-winter celebration. All over the world this happens. Only Christopher Columbus has been sculpted more frequently. Only Happy birthday is sang more often than Auld land Syne. His work is respected and well loved not only in Scotland, but world wide.
Bodies
In the early days of science, teachers needed dead bodies to illustrate to their pupils how the anatomy worked. How does this heart work? How does this tummy work? How does this bum work? What's inside this skull? "Ah yes wee hairy men. Just like I thought." In 1505 the law in Scotland permitted the use of "One condemned man after he be dead." In 1694 the law was changed to anyone who "died in the correction house, foundlings, suicides or those put to death by order of the magistrate."
Bringing in dead bodies to the surgeons was at the university was a good way of making extra cash for those willing to take the risks or use creative means. In 1742 there is an account of a two sedan chairmen found to have a passenger whose spirit had previously departed this earth. They were taking the body up to surgeons hall. The chairmen were banished from the city.
There was a great demand for bodies and sometimes, after a burial, when night fell, some grave robbers would come along and dig up the newly buried body and pass it on for some drinking money. Grave robbers were given the slightly more wholly name of resurrectionists. Dead people used to be good business. And this brings us to the most famous dead body money makers of Edinburgh, William Burke and William Hare.
Burke and Hare
Burke and Hare’s names are misunderstood because they were never grave robbers or resurrectionists at all but quite simply cold blooded murderers. The way it all got started for them was that William Hare lived in a lodging house with a woman called Margaret Laird. It was her lodging house and they lived together as if they were married. One day there was a man called Donald who died in the Lodging house owing William Hare £4. So on the day of the funeral, with the help of William Burke, the two men removed the body of Donald form the coffin and put it in a barrel. And they filled the coffin up with tree bark. They sealed up the coffin and sent it to the funeral. Then they took the body of Donald in a barrel up to Doctor Knox at Edinburgh University.
The University, at the time, was one of the most respected places in the world for training doctors, and by all accounts Doctor Knox was a very ambitious man always looking for new bodies for dissection to impress his pupils and peers. The deal they reached with Doctor Knox was £10. From then on their activities seemed to escalate. They got carried away. Mostly they would pick on the most vulnerable people. People with no close family. Those who came to Edinburgh for looking for work and friendship. They would be weak physically and emotionally. Burke and Hare would befriend them, “Come on have a wee drink with us now, We’re all pals here in Edinburgh.” Burke and Hare would get them drunk, take them home, and smother them.
The process of smothering was effective because the body would be undamaged, therefore it would fetch a better price. This practice later became known by the students as "Burking."
In total Burke and Hare were responsible for 13 deaths, but there have been estimates of as many as 30 people who met their fate at the hands of these murderers. How do we know what happened? Well all the evidence came out at the trial of William Burke. Only William Burke was found guilty of these murders, because the bungling authorities had to get Hare to “turns kings evidence.” That means Hare snitched on Burke in order to be released free of charge. William Burke was hanged on the 28th. January 1829 on George IV Bridge.
Burke and Hare’s killing spree lasted about a year. Hare escaped almost certain death at the hands of the Edinburgh mob and Doctor Knox also escaped. The final ironic twist to the tale is that William Burke was sent up to be dissected. His skeleton is still on display at Edinburgh University.