Inverness Castle
| Inverness Castle | ||
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 Inverness Castle |
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| Creation time : | 1836 | |
| Castle type : | Hilltop castle | |
| Conservation status: | Well | |
| Standing position : | Scottish royalty | |
| Construction: | red sandstone | |
| Place: | Inverness | |
| Geographical location | 57 ° 28 '34.8 " N , 4 ° 13' 31.9" W | |
| Height: | 21 m ASLTemplate: height / unknown reference | |
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Inverness Castle ( Scottish Gaelic : Caisteal Inbhir Nis ) is a hilltop castle on a cliff above the River Ness in the city of Inverness in the Highland administrative district of Scotland . The red sandstone building that can be seen today was built in 1836 by the architect William Burn on the site of an 11th century fortress. Today the Sheriff Court of Inverness is housed there. There was a castle on this site for many centuries. The castle itself is currently not open to the public, but an initiative recently led to the establishment of a working group to examine the extent to which this will be possible in the future. In April 2017, the north tower was opened to the public as a lookout point. At the moment only this tower and the castle grounds can be visited.
history
middle Ages
Since 1057 there have been several castles one after the other at this point.
The first castle at this point is said to be King Malcolm III. after he had the castle in which King Macbeth Malcolm's father, Duncan I , murdered, according to a saga that came into being much later, and which stood on a hill about 1 km northeast, pulled down to the foundation walls. The first Inverness Castle was partially destroyed by King Robert the Bruce .
In 1428, King James I gathered fifty clan chiefs for a conference at Inverness Castle to bring the Highlanders to reason. But "when parliament was seated, one by one on the orders of the king they were arrested, beaten in iron and locked in different cells so that they had no contact with each other or with their followers". Several chiefs were executed on the spot. Those in prison included Alexander , 3rd Lord of the Isles , and his mother, Mary Leslie, 9th Countess of Ross . Lord Alexander spent 12 months in prison; after his release he returned to Inverness with 10,000 men and burned the city down, but could not take the castle.
During the raid on Ross in 1491, the castle was taken.
Maria Stuart
In 1548, George Gordon, 4th Earl of Huntly (1514–1562), had another castle with a tower completed at this point. He was constable of the castle until 1562. Later this castle was taken by Clan Munro and Clan Fraser , who supported Maria Stuart during the siege of Inverness in 1562. Robert Mor Munro, 15th Baron of Foulis , the Munros clan chief, was a staunch supporter and loyal friend of Maria Stuart and was consequently given to her son, King James VI. Treated courteously.
George Buchanan states that when the unfortunate princess came to Inverness in 1562 and the castle gates slammed in her face, “a great number of the noblest Scots invaded around her when they heard of the danger to their sovereign, especially the Frasers and Munros, who were among the bravest of the clans that inhabited that northern land ”. These two clans took Inverness Castle, which the Queen had refused to accept, for them. The queen later hung the governor, a Gordon who had denied her entry.
George Buchanan's original words are:
"Audito Principis periculo magna Priscorun Scotorum multitudo partim excita partim sua spoute afferit, imprimis Fraserie et Munoroii hominum fortissimorum in illis gentibus familiae."
More sieges
Inverness Castle was besieged several times, in 1562, 1649, 1650, 1715 and 1746.
New building
Today's Inverness Castle was built in 1836 in place of the original. To improve comfort, connections for gas, electricity and water were later installed.
£ 50 notes
A picture of the castle can be seen on the back of the £ 50 note issued by the Royal Bank of Scotland from 2005 onwards.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Inverness Castle's tourism potential to be explored . In: BBC News . BBC. August 15, 2014. Retrieved September 19, 2017.
- ↑ Alexander Mackenzie: History of the Mackenzies . 1894. Retrieved September 19, 2017.
- ↑ Richard D. Oram (editor): The Lordship of the Isles . Brill. 2014. Retrieved September 19, 2017.
- ↑ `` Munro ''. Electric Scotland. Retrieved September 19, 2017.
- ↑ George Buchanan (1506–1582): History of Scotland . 1579, published 1582.
- ^ Current Banknotes: Royal Bank of Scotland . The Committee of Scottish Clearing Bankers. Retrieved September 19, 2017.
