Dunbar Castle
| Dunbar Castle | ||
|---|---|---|
 Dunbar Harbor and Castle Ruins |
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| Creation time : | 7th century | |
| Castle type : | Niederungsburg | |
| Conservation status: | ruin | |
| Standing position : | Scottish nobility | |
| Construction: | Quarry stone | |
| Place: | Dunbar | |
| Geographical location | 56 ° 0 '21.5 " N , 2 ° 31' 1.7" W | |
| Height: | 5 m ASLTemplate: height / unknown reference | |
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Dunbar Castle is the ruin of a Niederungsburg ( ring wall castle ) over the port of Dunbar in the Scottish administrative unit East Lothian . The castle was once the strongest fortress in Scotland.
Early history
The Wotadini or Gododdin were probably the first to build a defensive structure at this point, as the original British name of the city was “Dyn Barr” (English: fort on the headland). In the 7th century, Dunbar Castle was a central defensive position for the kings of Bernicia , an Anglic kingdom that succeeded the Old British Kingdom of Britonia .
Northumbria
In the early Middle Ages , Dunbar Castle belonged to an Ealdorman who owed homage either to the kings of Bamburgh Castle or later to the kings of Jórvik . In 678, Saint Wilfrid was imprisoned at Dunbar Castle after being evicted from his bishopric in York by Ecgfrith of Northumbria .
Dunbar Castle is said to have been burned down by the troops of the Scottish King Kenneth MacAlpin . What is certain is that he owned the castle.
Kingdom of the Scots
In the 10th and 11th centuries the Norsemen invaded Scotland and in 1005 it is recorded that a Patrick de Dunbar under King Malcolm II campaigned against the Norse conquerors in the north of Murthlake , a city of Marr . He was massacred there along with Kenneth , Thane of the Isles , and Grim , Thane of Strathearn .
The first stone castle will at the behest of Gospatric, Earl of Northumbria , have been built after it after that of William the Conqueror carried out harrying of the North of England had fled and King Malcolm III. had given him shelter at his court. Gospatric was a powerful landowner in both kingdoms and was able to gather many men around him, which led King Malcolm to give him even more lands in East Lothian , The Merse and Lauderdale to replace those lost further south against his loyalty that was customary in the feudal system . Sir Walter Scott states that "Cospatric" or "Gospatrick" is a contraction of the Latin Comes Patricus . Anyway, from King Malcolm III. recorded that this lent the manor of Dunbar to "the expatriate Earl of Northumberland".
construction
The area occupied by buildings was more than 165 feet (50 meters) in an east-west direction and sometimes up to 210 feet (63 meters) in a north-south direction. The South Battery , which Grose believes must have been the Citadel or Donjon , rests on a free-standing upright rock, accessible only from one side, 72 feet (21.6 meters) high, and is with the The remainder of the castle is connected by a brick walkway that is 69 feet (20.7 meters) long. The interior dimensions of the citadel are 54 feet (16.2 meters) by 60 feet (18 meters). Your floor plan is octagonal. Five of the loopholes have been preserved. They measure 4 feet (1.2 meters) at the top and only 16 "(40.6 centimeters) below. The buildings are arched and extend 8 feet (2.4 meters) from the outer walls; they look to an open courtyard from where they get their light.
In the middle of the fortress a part of the wall has been preserved, through which a gateway led, over which coats of arms were placed. The gate seems to have led to the lord's apartment. In the middle is the coat of arms of George I, 10th Earl of Dunbar , who succeeded his father in 1369 and who, in addition to the Earldoms of Dunbar and March, also the reigns of Annandale and the Isle of Man from his heroic aunt, Black Agnes of Dunbar , inherited. The coat of arms must have been placed there after his successor, as he was the first to use these chiseled coats of arms: in particular a triangular shield and on it a leaping lion with a border with eight roses. The shield is decorated with a helmet with a bridled horse's head as a helmet jewel . To the right of this is the coat of arms of the Bruces and on the left that of the Isle of Man.
The castle towers were connected to the sea and in many places extend far down. To the northeast of the castle front is a natural cave, mostly made of black stone, that looks like the mouth of the Acheron . This place is believed to have been part of the prison where the prisoners were sentenced, such as B. Gavin Douglas , Bishop of Dunkeld , who was imprisoned here in 1515. But there is also a dark side gate that leads to a rocky inlet , and it seems likely that Sir Alexander Ramsay of Dalhousie and his followers came in there in 1338 with supplies for the besieged.
For a long time the castle was thought to be impregnable, possibly because of the many sieges it survived. The castle was built from red sandstone like the one found in the quarries near Garvald . Large parts of the wall that have collapsed today appear to have been glazed or caked. The northwest portion of the ruins is a dwelling approximately 12 × 12 feet (4 × 4 meters) and almost inaccessible. A legend says that this was Maria Stuart's apartment .
Later story
The castle remained the fortress of the Earls of Dunbar until it was forfeited to the Crown by George II, Earl of March , in 1457 and the castle was partially razed to prevent it from falling into the hands of the English. Later in the 15th century, King James IV returned it to the family. Dunbar Castle came under the control of the Duke of Albany , and it was during this time that the bulwark to the west was built. It may have been designed by Antoine d'Arces , who was appointed administrator of the castle in December 1514. The Duke of Albany organized further repairs and improvements in July 1527. An Italian drawing for a fortification from this time by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger , which was referred to as the plan for "il Duca d'Albania", was associated with Dunbar Castle.
The castle was burned down by troops of the Earl of Shrewsbury during a punitive expedition during Rough Wooing in 1548 . Further fortifications were carried out in the same year under the aegis of Piero Strozzi and Migliorino Ubaldini . The English soldier Thomas Holcroft described the activities of Peter Landstedt , a lieutenant to the German mercenary Courtpennick ( Konrad Pennick ) on September 24, 1549:
“Despite cannon fire from the castle, Landstedt was able to stay in a house in Dunbar and used its furniture to start a fire in the city. Landstedt planned to dig a trench in front of the castle and place his guns there; he thought that the walls of the castle near the city were very old and low and only patched with earth, while these old walls were made of stone and anchored on the natural rock. He thought that the old, high walls of the inner castle could be broken with bombardment, since they were the first walls of the castle. But these plans were not carried out. "
In May 1560, an Italian engineer was working on important improvements for the French garrison. This work was overseen by Robert Hamilton in Briggs , the keeper of Linlithgow Palace and Master of the Royal Artillery , and by Robert Montgomery in July 1560 for the Lords of the Congregation , who reported that it was “more than twice its size ”And 500 more soldiers could be accommodated there. The new buildings were immediately razed as a precondition for the Edinburgh Treaty . Local landowners were tasked with demolishing parts of the wall with a trench and contrescarpe and a large artillery platform. But the French commandant of the castle, Corbeyan de Sarlabous , had the cavern on the site that was intended for destruction re-equipped.
The castle remained under the command of Sarlabous until September 1561 with a French garrison of 60 men. In August 1565, during a rebellion against Mary Queen of Scots called the Chaseabout Raid , she ordered the repair of the gun platforms and artillery, and the procurement of hand tools to rebuild the ramparts during a siege.
Dunbar Castle was finally dragged on the orders of the Scottish Parliament in December 1567, following the debacle at the Battle of Carberry Hill and a siege in September to drive out the Earl of Bothwell's followers and relatives . Dunbar Castle and the fortress on Inchkeith Island were to be " pulled down to the ground and destroyed, so that no foundation whatsoever could be used to build on it in the times ahead." reused the coast of Leith .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c James Miller: The History of Dunbar . Dunbar 1830. p. 8.
- ↑ a b c d James Miller: The History of Dunbar . Dunbar 1830. pp. 2-6.
- ↑ Chris Tabraham: Scotland's Castles . Batsford, 1997. ISBN 0-7134-8147-1 . P. 100.
- ^ State Papers Henry VIII . Volume 1. 1830, p. 211: Knighte to Wolsey, 10 July 1527 .
- ^ Iain MacIvor: Fortified Frontier . Tempus, 2001. p. 69 (refers to Migliorino Ubaldini: Christoph Luitpold Frommel: The Architectural Drawings of Antonio Da Sangallo the Younger and His Circle: Fortifications, machines, and festival architecture . 1994, p. 193).
- ^ Martin Coventry: The Castles of Scotland . Goblinshead, Musselburgh 2001. ISBN 1-899874-26-7 . P. 188.
- ↑ Marcus Merriman: The Rough Wooings . Tuckwell, 2000. pp. 327-330.
- ^ Joseph Stevenson (editor): Selections from unpublished manuscripts in the College of Arms and the British Museum illustrating the reign of Mary Queen of Scotland . Pp. 43-44. 1837. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
- ^ Samuel Haynes (editor): A Collection of State Papers . 1740. p. 314.
- ^ Calendar State Papers Foreign Elizabeth . Volume 3. 1865. No. 409.
- ^ Calendar State Papers Scotland . Volume 1. 1898. pp. 862, 452, 454.
- ^ John Hill Burton (editor): Register of the Privy Seal of Scotland . Volume 1. 1887, p. 360.
- ^ John Hill Burton (editor): Register of the Privy Seal of Scotland . Volume 1. 1887. pp. 524, 565, 572-573.
- ^ Records of the Parliaments of Scotland to 1707 . University of St Andrews. Retrieved February 20, 2018.
- ^ JD Marwick (editor): Extracts from Edinburgh Records, 1557–1571 . 1875.
