Study with me: Scottish History
My notes for questions focusing on Edinburgh.
1. When was the earliest known human habitation around Edinburgh?
Around 8500 BC near Cramond.
2. When was Arthur’s Seat/Castle Rock first inhabited?
3. Where did the name ‘Edinburgh’ come from?
A small fort called Dun Eiden was built by the Gododdins during the Middle Ages, probably on or nearby Castle Rock. In the seventh century, the Angles attacked and invaded the fort. The Angles took the name “Eiden” and joined it to the word “Burh”, an old English word meaning fort. Thus, the name ‘Edinburgh’ was created.
4. When was Edinburgh castle built on Castle Rock?
Around the 12th century AD, probably during the reign of David I. Little is known about the original construction of the castle.
5. What is the oldest standing building in Edinburgh?
St Margaret’s Chapel, built in the 12th century, in Edinburgh Castle
6. Discuss the Burning of Edinburgh.
Occured in 1544 when the English army attacked the town as the first major action during the Scottish/English war known as The Rough Wooing. The English fleet approached by sea and landed on May 3rd, 1544. Henry VIII had ordered the attack due to the revoking of the agreement that his son Edward be married to Mary Queen of Scots.
The English breached Edinburgh’s gate by shooting it with a cannon at close range. While the English took the town fairly easily, the castle was unable to be seized. The town was looted and burned.
7. When and why was the Flodden Wall built?
In 1560. The wall was built in response to the defeat of the Scottish army at the battle of Flodden in 1513. Fears of an English retaliation prompted the construction of a defensive wall to protect the city.
Flodden wall is the reason the famously-high tenement buildings of the Old Town stand so tall. The wall circled 140 acres, but as the population began to increase, the architects of the time could only build upwards as they were restricted by the presence of the wall.
After the Jacobite uprising ended in 1746, the Flodden Wall was left in poor condition and either collapsed or was built over during expansion of the city. Only a few small sections remain standing today.