EDINBURGH 



2796 



EDINBURGH 



Edinburgh. 



Map of the environs of the Scottish capital, including part of the 

 Pentland Hills 



appears, even in tradition, until 

 after the conquest of Lothian by 

 Eadwine, Saxon king of Deira 

 (Yorkshire) and Northurabria, in 

 the 7th century. It appears from 

 King David's foundation charter 

 of Holy rood in 1 128, and Simeon of 

 Durham's chronicle written in the 

 same century, that King Eadwine 

 was thus early regarded as the 

 eponymus, for in both of these writ- 

 ings the place is called Edwines- 

 burch. The Gaelic branch of the 

 Celts called it Dunedin ; among the 

 Welsh population of Strathclyde it 

 was known as Dineiddyn orMynyd- 

 agneid. the latter name appearing 

 to signify the mount of the Painted 

 People or Picts. According to the 

 Pictish Chronicle the Saxons held 

 Oppidum Eden till they surren- 

 dered it *& Indulf , son of Constantin 

 king of Scots (954-962) ; but all is 

 misty and vague until Malcolm III 

 was persuaded by Queen Margaret 

 to remove his seat of government 

 from Dunfermline to Edinburgh, 

 about 1060. 



In 1128 David I founded the 

 abbey of Holyrood, and em- 

 powered the convent to form the 

 burgh of Canongate, which re 

 tained its separate jurisdiction 

 until 1856, when it was united to 

 the corporation of Edinburgh. The 

 date of the erection of Edinburgh 

 into a royal burgh is unknown. 

 Doubtless it had already received 

 a charter before David I (1124-53) 

 made it his principal residence, but 

 many years had to run before it 

 was recognized as the capital of 

 Scotland. The strategic import- 

 ance of Edinburgh having been 



enhanced by the loss of Berwick 

 in 1296 and Roxburgh in 1368, 

 it became recognized as the most 

 important town in Scotland, and 

 increased steadily in population 

 and commerce. 



City and castle were taken by 

 Edward III of England in 1335, 

 but were recovered to the Scots by 

 a clever stratagem in 1341. To the 

 parliament summoned in 1357 for 

 the special purpose of raising 

 100,000 marks for the ransom of 

 David II, Edinburgh returned 

 three burgesses, and appeared for 

 the first time in precedence over 

 all other burghs. It was sacked 



and burnt by Richard II in 1385 

 and besieged by Henry IV in 1400, 

 but the castle held out until Henry 

 had to raise the siege in order to 

 deal with Glendower's rebellion. 



From this period onward Edin- 

 burgh, in common with the whole 

 of Scotland, suffered from the arbi- 

 trary power of the great barons, 

 who made full use for selfish ends 

 of the opportunities afforded by 

 the imprisonment in England of 

 David II and James I, and by the 

 frequency with which the succes- 

 sion to the throne devolved on an 

 infant, the average age of seven 

 successive sovereigns from 1406- 

 1567 on their accession being but 

 six years. Thus the 4th earl of 

 Douglas, keeper of Edinburgh 

 Castle, and a number of other 

 nobles and officials, not only re- 

 fused to pay the duties leviable 

 upon wool and hides which they 

 exported, but did not scruple to 

 appropriate money which the 

 customs officer had collected. In 

 consequence, the gross customs of 

 the city, which amounted to 2,047 

 in 1416, had fallen to 1,098 5s. 4d. 

 in 1418, though the volume of 

 trade was considerably greater. 

 Bitter complaints of oppression 

 were continually made to the 

 government ; Livingstone, guard- 

 ian of the boy king James II, and 

 Chancellor Crichton made these 

 serve as excuse for ridding them- 

 selves of a dangerous rival, the 

 6th earl of Douglas, a lad of 17, 

 whom, with his brother David, 

 they lured to a banquet in Edin- 

 burgh Castle and had them both 

 butchered in the king's presence. 



In 1448 the Town Council, taking 

 advantage of the respite of English 

 invasion during the wars of the 



Edinburgh Plan of the central part of the city. The valley spanned 

 North Bridge separates the Old Town on the S. from the New Town on 



