Edinburgh Castle, Scotland

The Edinburgh Castle is a medieval castle located on top of an extinct volcano above the city of Edinburgh in Scotland. The site where now stands the Edinburgh Castle was inhabited already in the 9th century BC but the records of the first castle which was actually a fortress date from 6th century AD when it was captured by the Angles, a Brythonic people from south-east Scotland which held the Edinburgh Castle until 1018 when it was seized by Scots under Malcolm II. By the 11th century the former fortress was already used as a royal residence what clearly confirms the records of Queen Margaret, wife of Malcolm III who died in the Edinburgh Castle after she learned of her husbands death in 1093. Her son King David I built to her memory a tiny chapel known as St. Margaret's Chapel which survived until the present day and is the oldest surviving structure on Castle Rock.



After the invasion of Edward I of England in Scotland he besieged and seized the Edinburgh Castle in 1296. The castle stayed in English hands until 1314 when the Earl of Moray with 30 men recaptured it for the Scots. Afterwards was the Edinburgh Castle with exception of the St. Margaret's Chapel destroyed to make it useless for the English. However, the English recaptured the Castle Rock in 1335 and partly rebuilt the castle. In 1341 Sir William Douglas recaptured the castle for the Scots and afterwards the Edinburgh Castle under Stewart dynasty began to assume its present appearance. During the English Civil War (from 1642 to 1651) was the Edinburgh Castle endangered by the Parliamentary forces but managed to withstand the numerous attacks of Cromswell's forces as well as the army of William and Mary in 1689 and the Jacobite rising in 1745. In the following years the castle's function as a fortress slowly ended but at the end of 18th century during the Napoleonic Wars were at the western end of the castle added the seven storey barracks intended to house 600 troops. After the danger from Napoleon Bonaparte ceded the Ministry of Defence continued to administrate the Edinburgh Castle until 1915.

In 1818 were in the Edinburgh Castle rediscovered the Honours of Scotland, the royal regalia consisting of a crown, a sceptre and a sword which locked away in an oak chest in Edinburgh Castle after in 1707 the Act uniting Scotland and England was passed in the Scottish Parliament and forgotten. Today are the Honours of Scotland on display and are among of the greatest highlights of the Edinburgh Castle.

In 1995 was Edinburgh Castle also inscribed in the UNESCO World Heritage sites as part Old and New Towns of Edinburgh.