History of Leith, Edinburgh

A call has been made for the only surviving document issued by William Wallace to be returned to Scotland.

The Lubeck Letter was sent by Wallace and Andrew Murray in 1297 to the mayors of Lubeck and Hamburg. for more click here

Robert Louis Stevenson visited these gravestones in the 19th century as they were related.
(c) John Arthur

(more…)

Click image to enlarge

Source-Scotsman 1925 (not 1922)

Click to enlarge

source-Edinburgh public libaries

Click to enlarge

Click image to enlarge

Source-nls

The Church mentioned is believed to have been South leith Church
Click to enlarge image

Source-Raphael Holinshed

Raphael Holinshed (died c. 1580) was an English chronicler, whose work, commonly known as Holinshed’s Chronicles, was one of the major sources used by William Shakespeare for a number of his plays.

He is thought to have come from Cheshire, but lived in London, where he worked as a translator for the printer Reginald Wolfe. Wolfe gave him the project of compiling a world history from the Flood to the reign of Queen Elizabeth. This ambitious project was never finished, but one portion was published as The Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland in 1577. Holinshed was only one contributor to this work; others involved in its production included William Harrison, Richard Stanyhurst, and John Hooker. for more click here

Much of our knowledge of the Siege of Leith comes from the diary of Jacques De la Brosse a French Soldier of fortune who wrote a day to day diary of the siege in 1560. This is the introduction to the diary-

source-nls