Tantallon Castle
Tantallon Castle is a ruined castle in Scotland. It is located on a high cliff about three miles east of North Berwick across from Bass Rock on the south coast of the Firth of Forth .
history
The castle's history goes back to 1358. Twelve years earlier, William Douglas had returned to Scotland from France and claimed his inheritance. By murdering his godfather, he became the undisputed head of the House of Douglas and made himself the first Earl of Douglas in 1358 . The construction of the castle probably resulted from his newly acquired wealth and status. William died in 1384 and his heir James died in the Battle of Otterburn in 1388 . As a result, the Douglas house was divided into the “red” and the “black” line. The castle belonged to the latter, the Earls of Angus .
In 1491, Tantallon was besieged by the troops of Jacob IV in retaliation for treason. The unsuccessful siege left little damage to the castle. The king's widow, Margaret Tudor , a sister of Henry VIII of England , married Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus, lord of the castle in 1509 . Soon there was turmoil between the spouses and battles over the guardianship of the underage Jacob V. From 1525 to 1528 the Earl ruled and held the young king prisoner to secure his own power. After his fall, he fled to the castle, where Jacob V besieged him. He then went into exile in England from 1529 to 1542, but returned to Scotland after the king's death and initially represented the interests of his brother-in-law Henry VIII, but turned against the English invasion attempts from 1544. In 1557 he died in the castle, after which it was confiscated by Queen Marie de Guise . Angus' nephew James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton , briefly regained the castle; he was embroiled in the turmoil surrounding the tragic Queen Maria Stuart .
The renewed fortifications were not badly damaged until 1650 in the course of the English Civil War , when Oliver Cromwell's troops under George Monck attacked the fortress. Tantallon was left as a ruin after the successful siege. In 1699, James Douglas, 2nd Marquess of Douglas, sold the ruined castle and its lands due to excessive indebtedness. In 1924 it became state property and is now administered by Historic Scotland . The Douglas family, Dukes of Hamilton, now live in Lennoxlove House, several miles south of the castle .
The castle today
Despite the destruction, Tantallon still gives an impression of the former effect. Due to its location on the cliff, the castle is naturally protected on three sides. On the fourth side there is a trench in front of the 15 meter high and 3.5 meter thick circular wall . After the devastating artillery attacks, only remnants are left of the towers . The best preserved tower is the central tower, which contains the gatehouse . It was previously considered a weak point in the castle and was reinforced as part of the modernization measures that Jacob V had initiated in 1528.
literature
- Mike Salter: The Castles of Lothian and the Borders . Folly Publications, Malvern 1997, ISBN 1-871731-20-8 .
- Chris Tabraham, Doreen Grove: Tantallon Castle . Historic Scotland, Edinburgh 1994, ISBN 0-7480-0855-1 .
Web links
- German-language website about Tantallon
- Tantallon Castle on the site of Undiscovered Scotland (English)
Coordinates: 56 ° 3 ′ 23 ″ N , 2 ° 39 ′ 0 ″ W.