Siege of St Andrews Castle facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Siege of St Andrews Castle |
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| Part of The Rough Wooing | |||||||
 Fore Tower of St Andrews Castle |
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| Belligerents | |||||||
 Scottish Governmentassisted by the  Kingdom of France |
Protestant Lairds of Fife assisted by the  Kingdom of England |
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Regent Arran Leone Strozzi |
Norman Leslie William Kirkcaldy |
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| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Unknown | |||||||
The Siege of St Andrews Castle (1546–1547) was a big event in Scottish history. It happened after a group of Protestants took over St Andrews Castle. They had killed Cardinal David Beaton, who lived there. The Protestants stayed inside the castle, and the Governor of Scotland, Regent Arran, began a long attack to get them out.
For over 18 months, the Scottish forces struggled to capture the castle. In the end, a powerful French navy arrived and helped by bombarding the castle with cannons. The Protestant defenders, including the famous preacher John Knox, were forced to give up. They were then taken to France and made to work as galley slaves on ships.
Contents
Why the Siege Started: The Cardinal's Death
St Andrews Castle was the home of Cardinal David Beaton. He was a very powerful church leader in Scotland. Beaton was strongly against the idea of Mary, Queen of Scots, marrying Prince Edward of England. Edward was the son of Henry VIII of England. This disagreement was a major reason for a war with England, known as the Rough Wooing.
The Killing of George Wishart
In 1546, Cardinal Beaton put a Protestant preacher named George Wishart in the castle's Sea Tower prison. On March 1, Beaton had Wishart burned at the stake right outside the castle walls. Wishart's friends were powerful Protestant Lairds (landowners) from Fife. Some of them had even talked with King Henry VIII of England about capturing or killing Beaton before.
How the Protestants Took the Castle
On Saturday, May 29, 1546, these lairds planned their attack. Norman Leslie and three other men entered the castle, possibly pretending to be masons working on the building. Another group, led by James Melville, pretended to have a meeting with the Cardinal.
William Kirkcaldy of Grange and eight men got into the castle by the drawbridge. When John Leslie of Parkhill joined them, they quickly overpowered the castle's gatekeeper, Ambrose Stirling. They killed him and threw his body into the ditch outside. The real masons and the castle's soldiers were then made to leave through a back gate.
The attackers found Cardinal Beaton in his room or on a spiral staircase. Peter Carmichael killed him. To stop the Cardinal's supporters in the town from trying to rescue him, the attackers hung his body from a castle window. This showed everyone in town that the Cardinal was dead.
A Hostage and a Burial
The son of the Governor of Scotland, James Hamilton, 3rd Earl of Arran, was already inside the castle. He had been held there as a hostage by Cardinal Beaton. Now, he became a prisoner of the Protestant lairds. The preacher John Knox wrote that the defenders covered Beaton's body with salt, wrapped it in lead, and buried it in the castle's Sea Tower.
The Scottish Siege Begins
After the Cardinal's death, the Protestants who had taken the castle became known as the "Castilians." Key leaders included Norman Leslie, James Kirkcaldy of Grange, and Master Henry Balnaves. Regent Arran, the Governor of Scotland, was busy fighting the English at Dumbarton Castle in western Scotland. He captured Dumbarton on July 8, 1546, before he could deal with St Andrews.
Government Response and English Help
On June 11, 1546, the Scottish Parliament declared that no one should sell supplies to the Castilians. The lairds were ordered to come to Edinburgh to explain their actions, but they refused. Norman Leslie was declared a traitor. Regent Arran's son, who was still a hostage, was removed from the list of people who could become king of Scotland.
William Kirkcaldy of Grange talked with King Henry VIII of England. He offered to send James Hamilton, Arran's son, to England as a hostage. In September, Henry VIII sent six ships with supplies and a military engineer named Richard Lee. Henry wanted the lairds to send Hamilton to England, but this never happened. England's help was limited because Scotland was trying to make peace with England and France.
Life Inside the Castle
At first, the Castilians caused trouble in the countryside around St Andrews. Regent Arran started preparing for a long siege. Monasteries in Scotland were ordered to pay a tax of £6000 to help pay for the siege. Norman Leslie and Kirkcaldy of Grange were excommunicated by the church for killing the Cardinal. This "great cursing" was delivered to the castle on November 23.
Fighting Underground: Mines and Counter-Mines
In October 1546, Regent Arran and his council met at St Andrews, and the siege began in earnest. Arran's men started digging a mine, which was a tunnel meant to weaken the castle's Fore Tower or to get inside. The French ambassador knew about this mine by November 10.
The defenders inside the castle dug their own successful counter-mine to meet the attackers' tunnel. Both the mine and counter-mine were dug through solid rock. These tunnels were found again in 1879 and can still be visited today. The defenders dug three tunnels before they reached the attackers' mine. Their successful counter-mine started near the Fore Tower, outside the main part of the castle.
Cannons and Casualties
Arran's army used large cannons with names like "Crook-mow" and "Deaf Meg." The artillery was managed by Robert Hamilton of Briggis, who spent a lot of money on workers to move the heavy guns and build places for them. Arran offered the lairds a deal: if they left the castle and released his son, they would be taken safely to Blackness Castle. They refused this offer.
Arran moved his cannons to the "west trenches" to attack the Sea Tower, hall, and chapel from the west. He also shot at the hall and chapel from the east. The defenders shot back, killing the royal gunner John Borthwick and other artillerymen. After two days of losing gunners, Regent Arran stopped using his cannons.
In November, Arran heard that an English army was coming to help the castle. He ordered other Fife lairds to bring their followers and cannons to help him stop a sea invasion. In December, supplies for the siege were sent by boat from Leith. These included lead from the roof of Holyroodhouse to make bullets. When supplies ran low, the defenders made a new exit to the sea in the east wall.
A Temporary Peace: The Truce of December 1546
King Henry VIII of England had been planning to help the Protestants inside the castle. On December 20, 1546, he wrote to Regent Arran, telling him to stop the siege. Henry threatened to help the lairds if Arran did not stop. England's Privy Council gave £100 each to Balnaves, Leslie, and William Kirkcaldy.
However, a truce was already agreed upon on December 18, 1546. This agreement was called the "coloured appointment" by John Knox. Arran's negotiators, including the Lyon Herald and the Justice Clerk, spoke with the people inside the castle. The Castilians agreed to wait for a special pardon from the Pope for the Cardinal's murder. After receiving it, they would surrender on good terms.
Both sides were probably not being completely honest. To show good faith, the Castilians sent two hostages to Arran in December 1546. These were two younger sons of the Laird of Grange and a brother of Lord Ruthven. These hostages were taken to Kinghorn on December 20. Some people later said that a French adviser, Henri Cleutin, told Arran to promise the Castilians what they wanted, but then execute them when they came out.
Waiting for Help: The Stalemate Continues
An English invasion to help the Castilians never happened. However, Balnaves managed to get two Italian military engineers, Guillaume de Rosetti and Archangelo Arcano, who worked for Henry. After Henry VIII died on January 27, 1547, his son Edward VI did not send an army either. The Castilians kept asking for help from the English court, and some even traveled to England by sea.
In February, the English admiral Andrew Dudley was ordered to sail his fleet near St Andrews Castle. This was meant to encourage the besieged Castilians, who were allies of England. English ships brought weapons and supplies, but the castle was blocked by the Scottish navy. In March 1547, Admiral Elmes and Andrew Dudley were ordered to sail from Lindisfarne with supplies that had been turned away. Dudley brought a contract for the garrison, promising continued English support if they kept promoting the English royal marriage plan.
The Castilians had also suggested that Henry VIII should ask the Holy Roman Emperor to convince the Pope not to grant the pardon. This would make the siege last longer, giving Henry (and later Edward VI) more time to send an army. Even though the pardon arrived in April 1547, the Castilians refused to surrender. One person wrote that the Castilians privately said they would rather have food than all the Pope's pardons.
In April 1547, five English supply ships were captured and taken to Leith. John Knox entered the castle and became the preacher for the defenders for the rest of the siege. For a while, Knox could freely go in and out of the castle to preach in the local church.
The French Attack: The Castle Falls
The peaceful time ended in July 1547. Henri II of France sent a fleet to capture the castle for the Scottish Government. The force was led by his admiral and military engineer, the Italian Leone Strozzi. He planned a powerful cannon attack to force the Protestant lairds out. The French had good maps made by Jean Rotz and Nicolas de Nicolay, who were on the voyage.
English observers saw the French fleet but didn't know its true purpose. They thought it was coming to take Mary, Queen of Scots, to France. Protector Somerset, a powerful English leader, thought the French fleet was going to attack some unimportant fort in Scotland. He planned to send 24 armed ships to block St Andrews. Regent Arran himself might not have known much in advance, but he traveled from another siege to meet the French at St Andrews.
After about 20 days of ineffective firing from the French ships, the land attack began on July 28. The defenders inside the castle were already weakened by sickness. According to Pitscottie, the lairds knew they were facing an expert when their own Italian engineer saw cannons being moved into position with ropes. This protected the attackers from the castle's fire. Cannons were also placed on the towers of St Salvator's College and the cathedral.
The main cannon attack started before dawn on Sunday, July 30. The castle quickly became impossible to defend. According to Knox and Pitscottie, it was ruined within six hours.
John Knox wrote about the French attack in his History of the Reformation of Scotland. He said the French fleet demanded the castle's surrender on the last day of June. For the next two days, naval bombardment only damaged some roof slates. However, the castle's guns caused casualties among the French rowers and land army. A damaged French ship had to be pulled to safety. Knox said the final attack was delayed until July 28, waiting for Regent Arran to arrive. Cannons were placed on the Abbey and Saint Salvator's College. The next day, the power of 14 cannons overwhelmed the defenders, who were also very sick. Knox wrote that by "ten o'clock in the day, the whole south quarter, between the fore tower and the East block-house was made attackable." Heavy rain then stopped the firing, and William Kirkcaldy of Grange began to talk about surrendering with Leone Strozzi.
News that the French fleet was attacking the castle reached London by July 27. It was too late. On August 1, 1547, Edward Clinton was ordered to engage the French force at St Andrews. Admiral Clinton was to sail from Harwich to St Andrews "as fast as wind or weather will serve" to stop the siege or rescue the Protestant lairds. Clinton, who was at Orford Ness, did not even get this order until August 9.
What Happened Next
The defeated Protestants were taken away. Some were imprisoned in France, while others, including Knox, were forced to work as galley slaves. Because of the siege's outcome, Protector Somerset in England ordered a large English army to prepare to invade Scotland by sea and land.
Somerset was warned that Regent Arran had found a list of Protestants and English supporters in Henry Balnaves's rooms in the castle. The English ambassador, Nicholas Wotton, complained to King Henry II of France that his actions broke the Treaty of Ardres. He said it was known that Scots held the castle for England. Henry II replied that the Castilians took the castle after the treaty was made, so if anything, England was breaking the treaty.
The success of the French mission and Scotland's later defeat at the Battle of Pinkie strengthened the Auld Alliance (the alliance between Scotland and France). Because of this, in 1548, Mary, Queen of Scots, was taken to France to marry the French Dauphin (the heir to the French throne).
Norman Leslie was imprisoned at Cherbourg, and Balnaves at Rouen. Some of the castle's defenders were held in the fortress of Mont Saint-Michel. From there, Robert and William Leslie, William Kirkcaldy, and Peter Carmichael managed to escape their captors. They made their way to Rouen and Le Conquet and took a ship to England.
The castle was then partly destroyed. Later, Archbishop John Hamilton, who was Regent Arran's half-brother and David Beaton's successor, rebuilt it.
