Edinburgh Hotel Scotland
Accommodation, Bead and Breakfast, Guest Houses, Cottages, Hostels and more
Welcome to www.edinburghhotelscotland.co.uk Scotland's top resource for Edinburgh hotel accommodation & bed and breakfast.
Edinburgh is the Capital City of Scotland and has recently been named the world's first City of Literature by the United Nations' cultural body UNESCO.
Edinburgh Hotels | Edinburgh City | Edinburgh Map | Places of Interest | Useful Info
Edinburgh Castle - St. Margaret's Chapel:
Margaret was the second wife of Malcolm III Canmore, 1027-93. She had fled to Scotland after the Norman conquest of England and carried with her the traditions of an english christian. Scotland, at that time, was Celtic christian and Margaret set about the Anglicization of the Scottish Church. Margaret managed to persuade the Church to adopt many customs including the Roman celebration of Mass (on one occasion she is said to have argued for 3 whole days against representatives of the Scottish clergy before winning the argument. After leading a pious life Margaret expired upon hearing news that her husband, together with her eldest son, had died at the Battle of Alnwick, 1093. The news was given by her third son Edgar and, although the news was tragic she said a prayer of thanks that "... such sadness should have been sent, to purify my final moments". Margaret was buried in Dunfermline Abbey (where here husbands remains were placed with her some 20 years later).
Upon hearing of the death of Malcolm, his brother, Donald Bane, raised a rebellion and stormed Edinburgh Castle. Margaret's sons managed to escape with their mother's corpse and eventually, due to antipathy towards the late queen, had to flee the country. The English were expelled and the Celtic Church, and it's customs, was restored.
At one time it was believed that St. Margaret's Chapel was built by the saint herself and that it was the site of her death in 1093. However modern thought believes it to have been built in the 12th Century (age based upon the Norman architecture). It would most probably have been built by King David I, 1124-53, as a memorial to his mother.
[David had received a Norman education and grew to love Norman (and Anglo-Saxon) culture and during his reign there was an influx of both Norman and Anglo-Saxon in comers who intermarried with the Scottish nobility.]
St. Margaret's Chapel (Margaret was canonized in 1250) is the oldest remaining building within Edinburgh Castle (and Edinburgh itself) having been spared by Robert the Bruce when he took over the castle. On his deathbed he set aside some money for the full restoration of the chapel. During the Reformation the Scottish reformers destroyed much of the Church's physical possessions including the Abbeys and churches. Luckily St. Margaret's Chapel was spared though it was used as a powder magazine (to store gunpowder) for three hundred years.
In 1934 St. Margaret's Chapel was rededicated (following restoration) and is now often used as a venue for weddings. Although the chapel is very small it will comfortably hold a party of, roughly, 20 guests. The chapel's exterior appears plain and austere but the interior preserves an elaborate archway (pictured above - click to enlarge) which separates the nave from the sanctuary. Behind the altar (pictured right) is a beautiful stained glass window (pictured below - click to enlarge).
