Edinburgh Castle

Edinburgh Castle is a majestic castle. Located near the south border of Scotland, it had always been the stage of conflict between Scotland and England. Still today, it is the symbol of Scottish patriotism, which its dignity deserves.

It is said that molten lava welled up to form a great mass of basalt hundreds of million years ago. In the glacial age, a glacier hit at this mass of basalt and flowed in the both sides of the rock, carving out a streamlined rock hill. The east side of the hill is a gentle slope, but all other sides are steep rock cliffs. With the east side of the castle protected by rock-piled walls and a battery, and with a depression in the north side filled with water to make a moat, the castle was really impregnable. Now this depression is made a beautiful park, through which half-underground railways pass. On the elevated ground north of the depression, there is New Town, which is a planned town, rare in Britain, built actually two and a half centuries ago. It is now a beautiful town of hotels and shops.

I came to Edinburgh for the first time in 1968 when I presented a paper in once-in-three-year assembly of the International Federation of Information Processing held at Edinburgh University. I remember I prepared the paper earnestly in hope that the company would send me to Scotland if the paper would pass the examination. I did it so earnestly that the paper was then invited to the general assembly of American Computing Machinery held at Las Vegas. My presentation at Edinburgh University went well. I was pleased when the session chairman I met in the men's room praised my presentation for clarity of argument. With much pleasure and satisfaction, I walked along the Prince's Street of the New Town in the evening twilight and found the night-lit Edinburgh Castle unworldlily beautiful. At that time, I was alone but on a kind of business trip and I couldn't make time to get into the castle. Maybe I used to be too self-disciplined. Since then, I have come to London many times, but I have never been able to extend the trip to Edinburgh. This time in my second visit to Edinburgh, I walked around in the castle together with my wife.

This castle has ruins from the stone age. Roman Empire had a front line base here. In the 6th century, there was a Celtic fort called Din Eidyn, or the fort on the top of Eidyn's rock. The fort was later occupied by Angle tribe of Germanic race, and by 854 AD it was called Edwinesburh in Angle language, which was one of the origins of English. The name of Edinburgh comes from here.

An Angle king Malcolm II established the country of Scotland in 1018 in and around Edinburgh. His son David I dedicated a chapel to his late mother Queen Margaret, which remains in the highest position in the castle as the oldest building. Since then, Edinburgh Castle had been scrambled for between Scottish Kings and English Kings. Until 1341 when Scottish army took the castle back, the rulers alternated 5 times. English army usually invaded with regular frontal attacks, while Scottish army relied on surprise attacks. At one time, thirty brave Scottish soldiers climbed up the north cliff. In another time, Scottish soldiers disguised themselves as merchants to attack from the front gate. I looked up the north cliff from the bottom and thought I could climb, for a natural rock cliff has jaggedness and crevices. But the upright stone wall at the top requires ropes or ladders. On each experience of attack, the castle was strengthened and became ever stouter. In the 15th century, Scotland King James III formally designated Edinburgh as the capital.

In the 16th century, Queen Mary of Scotland gave birth to James VI in Edinburgh Castle. Soon after this, she made a political mistake in her remarriage, and caused a civil war dividing Scotland into Mary side and James side. Mary exiled herself to England for help by her cousin Elizabeth I, but was imprisoned because of the religious conflict to erect Catholic Mary against Protestant Elizabeth, and finally beheaded in 1587. Edinburgh Castle was the last stronghold supporting Mary. The army of the James side had attacked the castle in vain for long until it asked England for reinforcements. English army came with a large number of big cannons and flattened walls and towers until the castle fell in 1573.

Elizabeth I, who had been unmarried for her life, didn't have descendants, and a remote relative James VI of Scotland was named English King James I in 1603. With a single king in common, two countries were led to integration. In Westminster Abbey in London, Elizabeth I and Queen Mary of Scotland are entombed in the symmetrical innermost corners. I first felt English hypocricy to entomb Mary in the most honored place after beheading her, but I later learned that it was done by James after he rose to the thrones of the both countries. As far as the kingdom is concerned, the Scottish King held English kingdom. But in reality it was more like annexation of Scotland by England. This is why Scotsmen have complex feeling with England still today.

Our driver of the sightseeing bus to the Highland asked where his guests came from and requested to raise hands. He enumerated France, Germany, Russia and a dozen of European countries, U.S.A., Canada, other American and Oceanian countries, Japan and other Asian countries. And then he said, " Oh, sorry, England." Looking at several people raising hands, he said bluntly, "No comment." Then he purposefully added, "Good people in reality." in order to make up and to do his hospitality business.

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