stirling-1963-vol-1/05_217

Transcription

No. 192 -- CASTLES AND TOWER-HOUSES -- No. 192
covered with sods ("flaghturfs"). But much of the
building was in stone, and called for the employment of
masons. Thus walls and turrets were erected and
defective portions of the walls and foundations were
repaired, operations which necessitated an inspection of
the old collapsed wall, and of the sewer, and the removal
of debris; a new wall 150 ft. long by 20 ft. high was
above the drawbridge and at each side of the gateway,
and a new gaol. The masons also made missiles for the
war-engines, while the smith who had charge of the
artillery turned out parts for the engines, tools for the
masons, and fittings such as bands, keys and hinges for
doors, gates and windows. In addition the carpenters
constructed a peel within the inner bailey, said to have
been on the N. side of the Castle, for its protection in
that quarter. This peel was a palisaded enclosure, a
construction of posts, beams and planks, which were
daubed with mortar to protect them from fire. At the
top of the palisade there was a bretasche on which the
defenders stood protected by a parapet, and hurled
missiles at an attacking force, particularly on those
attempting to undermine the wall. Finally, two wells are
mentioned, one in the Castle itself and the other in the
outer bailey; both were cleaned out and deepened.
At this time Rokeby headed a garrison which numbered
three knights, a clerk of victuals, eighty esquires, eighty
archers and twenty-two sentinels. ¹ By 1341, when the
garrison was weaker, the Castle was being besieged by
the Scots under Robert the Steward, later Robert II. On
10th April 1342 Rokeby was forced by want of victuals to
surrender on terms. ² Having regained the Castle, the
Scots entrusted its custody to Maurice Murray, lord of
Clydesdale. ³ In the previous year (1341) David II and
his queen had returned from France, after an absence of
seven years. Five years later he was taken prisoner at the
battle of Neville's Cross, and it was only after his release
from captivity in 1357 that work was resumed on the
Castle of Stirling. At first only minor repairs come on
record, but in the decade 1380-90 some major con-
structions were undertaken - for example, in 1380 a fore-
work called the Barvicane; in 1381 a forework and a N.
gate, the latter probably still recognisable at the outer
end of the transe below the building now called The
Mint ⁴ and in 1390 a new tower called Wal. ⁵ In 1402
there is word of a new prison, and repairs are also effected
on some of the houses within the enceinte. Two years
later a new drawbridge was constructed, followed by a
new mill-house which was of wood. ⁶ The chapel, which
was dedicated to St. Michael ⁷, was rebuilt in 1412, ⁸ and
two new chambers were made in 1415. ⁹
During the 15th century the Castle was beginning to
be recognised as a suitable residence for people of
importance. In 1419 the "Mammet of Scotland", main-
tained for many years in Scotland on the supposition
that he was Richard II, ex-king of England, died there ¹⁰
and was buried in the church of the Dominicans at
the other end of the burgh. In 1420 Robert, Duke of
Albany, also died in the Castle, and was buried at
Dunfermline. After the assassination of James I at
Perth in 1437, his widowed queen, Joan Beaufort, is said
by Boece to have carried off her son James II in a chest
from Edinburgh to Stirling, though the story is open to
doubt; it is true, however, that in March 1439 Sir
Alexander Livingstone had the young king in his
custody in the Castle. The Castle seems to have been a
jointure-house of Queen Joan, as it was of later queens
(p. 183) and, after her second marriage, to Sir James
Stewart, Livingstone, accompanied by his son and
brother, broke into the Queen's chamber, seized her
person and imprisoned her in another part of the Castle,
her new husband and his brother being placed in fetters.
As a result of this treatment, Queen Joan on 3rd Sept-
ember 1439 concluded an agreement with Livingstone
and his kinsmen committing the young king to Sir
Alexander's keeping during his minority and lending her
Castle of Stirling as a residence for the Royal children. ¹¹
Towards the middle of the 15th century the names of
various apartments in the Castle appear on record. In
1434 there is mention of the king's and lords' chambers. ¹²
The king's chamber had glazed windows, but for the
four windows of the hall, ¹³ and for the windows of the
queen's chamber, cloth was considered good enough as
late as 1458. ¹⁴ In that same year some of the offices -
the cook-house, the little larder, the brewhouse and
the bakehouse - were repaired. ¹⁵ The year 1463 saw the
construction of a gate in a building described as the
White Tower, ¹⁶ while part of the wall was rebuilt in
1467. ¹⁷ By 1475 James Nory was casting guns in the
Castle; these were kept in the domus bumbardie. ¹⁸ It was
not until towards the end of this century, however, that
Stirling Castle began to assume its present appearance.
James III, according to Pitscottie, "tuik sic plesour to
duall thair that he left all wther castellis and touns in
Scottland because he thocht it maist pleasentest duelling
thair because he foundit ane colledge witht in the said
castell callit the chapell ryall and also he bigit the great
hall of Stirling". ¹⁹ His favourite, Thomas Cochrane, of
whose career very little is known, is by tradition the

1 Ibid., No. 1241.
2 Ibid., No. 1383.
3 Liber Pluscardensis, Historians of Scotland Series, i, 288.
4 For this and the other existing buildings in the Castle, as
mentioned below, reference should be made to Fig. 86.
5 Excheq. Rolls, ii (1359-79), 85, 113, 306, 477, 524, 551,
621; iii (1379-1406), 64, 80, 244, 667, 676. "Wal" was pre-
sumably a well-tower.
6 Ibid., iii (1379-1406), 609, 621; iv (1406-36), 5.
7 Ibid., i (1264-1359), 577.
8 Ibid., iv (1406-36), 164.
9 Ibid., 216.
10 Scotichronicon, ii, 459.
11 Acts Parl. Scot., ii, 54.
12 Excheq. Rolls, iv (1406-36), 593.
13 Not the Great Hall, for that was not yet built.
14 Excheq. Rolls, vi (1455-60), 415.
15 Ibid.
16 Ibid., vii (1460-9) 189.
17 Ibid., 452.
18 Excheq. Rolls, viii (14770-9), 275.
19 Lindsay of Pitscottie, The Historie and Cronicles of Scot-
land, S.T.S. ed., i, 200. In fact, however, the Chapel Royal
was not erected into a collegiate church until about 1501 (cf.
p. 183).

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