Monday, July 13, 2009
Monday, July 13--Stirling Castle & Church of the Holy Rude
Woke up feeling better, so we headed north to Stirling Castle. Stirling is one of the largest and most important castles, both historically and architecturally. Its strategic location, guarding what was, until the 1930s, the farthest downstream crossing of the River Forth, has made it an important fortification from the earliest times.
During a long and bloody history Stirling Castle has been attacked or besieged at least 16 times. Three battles have been fought in its immediate vicinity, two of which were turning points in Scottish history: and a fourth equally important battle took place just a few miles to the north. A number of Scottish Kings and Queens have been baptised, or crowned, or died within or near Stirling Castle. At least one King was murdered nearby: while another committed murder within its walls.
The first record of Stirling Castle dates from around 1110, when King Alexander I dedicated a chapel here, but the earliest structures remaining are from the 1300s. Several Scottish Kings and Queens have been crowned at Stirling, including Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1543. There have been at least eight sieges of the castle, including several during the Wars of Scottish Independence. The last of these was in 1746, when Bonnie Prince Charlie unsuccessfully tried to take the castle.
James V’s infant daughter, Mary, Queen of Scots, was brought to Stirling Castle for safety, and crowned in the chapel royal on 9 September 1543. She was brought up here, until she was sent to Inchmahome Priory and then to France in 1548. Queen Mary returned to Scotland in 1561, and visited Stirling Castle frequently. She nursedHenry Stuart, Lord Darnley, through an illness here in 1565, and the two were soon married. Their son, James VI, was baptised here the following year. Mary was travelling from Stirling when she was abducted by the Earl of Bothwell, beginning the chain of events that led to her forced abdication, and her flight to England.
The young King James was crowned in the Church of the Holy Rude near the castle, and grew up within the castle walls. Frequently used as a pawn in the struggles between his regents and the supporters of Mary, the young king was closely guarded. Stirling became the base for James' supporters, while those nobles who wished to see Queen Mary restored gathered at Edinburgh.
At one point in history, it became clear that Queen Elizabeth of England was not going to produce an heir and James VI of Scotland was her obvious successor. James' wife, Anne of Denmark, gave birth to their son, Prince Henry, on 19 February 1594. James wanted a venue suitable for the christening of the boy born to inherit the unified crowns of Scotland and England. The present Chapel Royal was constructed for his baptism. Perhaps the most spectacular event seen in the Great Hall here at Stirling was the banquet following the christening of Prince Henry in the new chapel. The highlight of the banquet was a wooden ship, 18ft long with masts 40ft high. From it, seafood was served to the guests. The ship came complete with 36 brass cannons that fired a salute to the Prince.
Since January 2002, there have been weavers working on a recreation of The Hunt of the Unicorn tapestries, which will be hung in the restored Queen's Presence Chamber in the Royal Palace—we didn’t get to see the palace because of the other restorations being done on it. But we did get to watch two of the weavers working. It was amazing, how quickly they wove the threads into the delicate patterns. I could’ve stood and watched them for hours.
At the entrance to the castle stands a statue of Robert I, King of the Scots, usually known as Robert the Bruce. Off in the distance atop a hill is the Wallace Monument, commemorating Sir William Wallace, the 13th century Scottish hero. It stands on the Abbey Craig from which Wallace was said to have watched the gathering of the army of English king Edward I, just before the Battle of Stirling Bridge.
We also visited Argyll's Lodging just down the hill. This is the most complete surviving example of a seventeenth century town house in Scotland. The house sits behind a screen wall and comprises a collection of buildings built in two phases and in three ranges around an enclosed courtyard. We entered through an archway from the road into the courtyard. This is much as it would have been in the 1670s. A grand staircase may have been the first one of its kind in Scotland—not the usual spiral staircase but one upon which two people could ascend while having a conversation.
From the early 1800s onwards the house served many uses, first as a military hospital and more recently as a youth hostel. Despite this, part of the painted wall work survived. Removal of a false wall during renovation revealed the original decoration.
In the drawing room there is a grand fireplace dating from the 1630s and with traces of the family arms of the Earl of Stirling still apparent. The walls are hung with fine tapestries and the recreated furnishings are very lavish.
The bedchamber, an original 17th Century en-suite, still contained the toilet with its padded seat. A large four-poster bed dominated the largely purple room. All of this wasn’t just for their personal pleasure as the Lord and Lady would also entertain in this room.
Afterwards, we visited the Church of the Holy Rude. It is situated at the Top of the Town adjacent to the castle. “Rude” or “Rood” is an old English word meaning the Cross of the Crucifixion. The first church on this site was founded by King David I in 1129 but was destroyed by fire in 1406. The present church was completed about 1414. The church has rounded Scots pillars, Gothic arches, and the original oak timbered roof and is much like it was when it was first built.
In 1656, following a quarrel between the two ministers of the church and their followers, the Town Council had a partition built where the crossing now is, forming two separate churches—the East and the West—each with its own minister. This situation continued until 1935 when the 2 congregations were united under one minister.
Mary, Queen of Scots, worshipped in this church and John Knox preached here. Mary’s infant son, James VI of Scotland, who later became James I of England in 1603 at the Union of the Crowns, after the death of Queen Elizabeth, was crowned here in 1567, making this church the only church in Britain in regular use for worship apart from Westminster Abbey where a Coronation has taken place. (Mary, Queen of Scots, was a prisoner in Lochleven Castle at the time of the coronation.)
On the outer wall, where stood this Chapel, erected under the patronage of Queen Margaret and King James IV, can be seen ancient carvings in stone of the rose and the thistle.
As we walked in, music was being played on one of the finest Romantic Organs in Europe. The stained glass windows here were very colorful, but they are all from the late 19th century. Above the arch at the Crossing, a small leaf shaped window was installed in 1868 and features an angel.
In my opinion, the most beautiful window was the Guildry Window. The design of the tracery of this window is a beautiful example of Medieval craftsmanship. The dominant motif is the reversed Four, which is a merchants' mark that dates from the Middle Ages. The vertical and horizontal bars form the Sign of the Cross, an appropriate symbol for the Kirk of the Holy Rude. The window faces south; therefore this golden cross, surrounded by deep blues, will shine on the floor of the nave. These blues were what did it for me.
The bottom sections of the three lancets complete the elements of the window - the Cog or merchant ship, the River Forth, the seven coats of arms of countries and cities with which Stirling traded. These in their relation to other symbols, reinforce the religious and secular themes of the window, perhaps most strongly in the ship pointing to the moon and star. As it is explains in the literature for the windows, just as these were the lights by which medieval ships steered in the night, so the Jesus is the guiding light of the Ship that is the Kirk of the Holy Rude.
We returned to Edinburgh in time for a drenching rainstorm then drove to dinner at the Omni Centre’s Wetherspoons Bar, the Playfair. Funny thing—Ray was asked to remove his Boston Marathon cap when he went to order. Evidently it is posted by the door that all baseball caps must be removed and no football colours worn. Very interesting.
***pictures from top: Stirling Castle; Unicorn Tapestries; Argyll’s Lodgings; model of Argyll’s Lodgings; Stained Glass at Holy Rude Church.
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