Linlithgow Palace
[10] When the gate was opened for him, he halted his wagon so that it could not be closed, and he and his seven sons leapt out from their hiding place under the hay, and they captured the peel for King Robert the Bruce.
James IV bought crimson satin for a new doublet to wear while formally welcoming the Spanish ambassador Don Martin de Torre at Linlithgow in August 1489.
[17] After a visit to Stirling the King returned to Linlithgow and played dice with the Laird of Halkett and his Master of Household, and on 17 September rewarded stonemasons working on the palace with two gold angel coins.
[19] James IV spent Easter 1490 at the palace, visited the town of Culross, and returned on 18 April to play dice with Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Angus and the Laird of Halkett, losing 20 gold unicorn coins.
[27] When the King stayed at Linlithgow in July 1506 a coat was bought for a fool, and James IV visited the building work at the quire of St Michael's Church.
[30] In April 1513 the roof of the chapel was altered and renewed, and a new organ was made by a French musician and craftsman called Gilyem and fixed to the wall.
[31] An English diplomat, Nicholas West, came to the palace in April 1513 and was met by Sir John Sinclair, one of the courtiers featured in William Dunbar's poem Ane Dance in the Quenis Chalmer.
[34] Margaret Tudor rewarded the King's nurse and governess, Marion Douglas, with a grant of the lands near Linlithgow Palace called the Queen's Acres in July 1518.
[38] Timber imported from Denmark-Norway, including "Estland boards" and joists, was bought at the harbours of Dundee, South Queensferry, Montrose, and Leith, and shipped to Blackness Castle to be carted to the palace.
[39] The older statues of the Pope, the Knight, and Labouring Man on the east side of the courtyard, with the inscriptions on ribbons held by angels were painted.
New iron window grills, called yetts, were made by blacksmiths in Linlithgow, and these, with weather vanes, were painted with red lead and vermilion.
A metal worker in Glasgow called George Clame made shutter catches for the windows and door locks in iron plated with tin.
[44] In August 1539 he was paid for rebuilding the king's kitchen, at the north end of the great hall, with a fireplace, an oven, and a room for silver vessels, and another for keeping coal.
The goldsmiths Thomas Rynde and John Mosman provided chains, tablets or lockets, rings, precious stones, necklaces, and jewelled coifs for ladies called "shaffrons" for the King to give as gifts to his courtiers on New Year's Day.
On the feast of the Epiphany in January the court watched an "interlude" that was an early version of David Lyndsay's play, A Satire of the Three Estates, in the Great Hall.
[51] The blacksmith William Hill was employed at this time to increase the security of the palace by fitting iron window grills, called yetts.
[69] Roger Aston was of doubtful parentage and as a joke hung a copy of his family tree next to that of the king of France in the long gallery, which James VI found very amusing.
[71] In January 1595 John Stewart, 5th Earl of Atholl, Simon Fraser, 6th Lord Lovat, and Kenneth Mackenzie were kept prisoners in the palace, in order to pacify "Highland matters".
[74] Over several days at Linlithgow in June 1595, James VI and Anne had discussions about the keeping of their son Prince Henry by the Earl of Mar.
[75] The daughter of James VI and Anne, Princess Elizabeth, lived in the palace in the care of Helenor Hay, Countess of Linlithgow, helped by Mary Kennedy, Lady Ochiltree.
In July 1620, the architect, James Murray of Kilbaberton, estimated that 3,000 stones in weight of lead would be needed to cover the roof, costing £3,600 in Pound Scots (the Scottish money of the time).
[87] After the death of the depute-treasurer Gideon Murray who was supervising the project, King James put the Earl of Mar in charge of the "speedy finishing of our Palace of Linlithgow".
[88] The carving at the window-heads and the Royal Arms of Scotland on the new courtyard façade were painted and gilded, as were the old statues of the Pope, Knight, and Labouring Man on the east side.
As part of the preparations, the burgh council issued a proclamation forbidding the wearing of plaids and blue bonnets, a costume deemed "indecent".
[92] An English visitor in October 1641 recorded in a poem that the roof of the great hall was already gone, the fountain vandalised by those who objected on religious grounds to the motto "God Save the King," but some woodcarving remained in the Chapel Royal.
[94] The Duke of Cumberland's army destroyed most of the palace buildings by accidentally burning it through lamps left on straw bedding on the night of 31 January/1 February 1746.
A Scottish heraldic manuscript known as The Deidis of Armorie dating from the late 15th-century and derived and translated from a variety of sources, outlines the duties of keepers and captains:"The capitanys war ordanit be princis to keip the fortrassis and gud townys of the princis and to vittaill thaim and garnys thaim of al necessar thingis petenyng to the wer; ... and gar mak certane and sur wachis be him and his folkis, baith be nycht and day, ffor dout of ganfalling in pestilence, sua that he may rendre gud compt of the place quhen tym and place requiris"(modernised) The Captains were ordained by princes to keep the fortresses and good towns of the princes, and to stock them with food and furnish armaments in case of war; ... and to make sure and certain watch, himself and his kinsfolk, both by night and day, For fear of succumbing to the plague, so that he may render good account of the place, when time and place requires.
[102] In summer the adjacent 15th-century parish church of St Michael is open for visitors, allowing a combined visit to two of Scotland's finest surviving medieval buildings.
The collection, designed by Karl Lagerfeld, was called 'Paris-Édimbourg' and inspired by classic Scottish styling using tweed and tartan fabrics worn by models Stella Tennant, Cara Delevingne, and Edie Campbell.
Some scenes in the time-travelling romance TV series Outlander are set at a fictional castle for which Linlithgow Palace stands in; this has attracted a number of international tourists.
