page_title: Stirling
section_title: Late Medieval and early Modern
hierarchical_section_title: Stirling / History / Late Medieval and early Modern
caption_attribution_description: English: [Cambuskenneth Abbey, Stirling, Scotland] [between ca. 1890 and ca. 1900]. 1 photomechanical print&#160;: photochrom, color. Notes: Title from the Detroit Publishing Co., catalogue J--foreign section. Detroit, Mich.&#160;: Detroit Photographic Company, 1905. Print no. "13016". Forms part of: Views of landscape and architecture in Scotland in the Photochrom print collection. Subjects: Scotland--Stirling. Format: Photochrom prints--Color--1890-1900. Rights Info: No known restrictions on reproduction. Repository: Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Washington, D.C. 20540 USA, http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print Part Of: Views of landscape and architecture in Scotland (DLC) 2001703567 More information about the Photochrom Print Collection is available at http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.pgz Persistent URL: http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/ppmsc.07675 Call Number: LOT 13407, no. 164 [item]
context_page_description: Stirling is a city in central Scotland, 26 miles north-east of Glasgow and 37 miles north-west of the Scottish capital, Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its merchants and tradesmen, the bridge and the port. Located on the River Forth, Stirling is the administrative centre for the Stirling council area, and is traditionally the county town of Stirlingshire. Proverbially it is the strategically important "Gateway to the Highlands".
  It has been said that "Stirling, like a huge brooch clasps Highlands and Lowlands together". Similarly "he who holds Stirling, holds Scotland" is often quoted.
  Stirling's key position as the lowest bridging point of the River Forth before it broadens towards the Firth of Forth made it a focal point for travel north or south.
  When Stirling was temporarily under Anglo-Saxon sway, according to a 9th-century legend, it was attacked by Danish invaders. The sound of a wolf roused a sentry, however, who alerted his garrison, which forced a Viking retreat. This led to the wolf being adopted as a symbol of the town as is shown on the 1511 Stirling Jug.
context_section_description: Another important historical site in the area is the ruins of Cambuskenneth Abbey, the resting place of King James III of Scotland and his queen, Margaret of Denmark. The king died at the Battle of Sauchieburn by forces nominally led by his son and successor James IV. During the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, the Battle of Stirling also took place in the centre of Stirling on 12 September 1648. The fortifications continued to play a strategic military role during the 18th-century Jacobite risings. In 1715, the Earl of Mar failed to take control of the castle. In January 1746, the army of Bonnie Prince Charlie seized control of the town but failed to take the Castle. On their consequent retreat northwards, they blew up the church of St. Ninians where they had been storing munitions; only the tower survived and can be seen to this day. The castle and the church are shown on Blaeu's map of 1654 which was derived from Pont's earlier map. 
  Standing near the castle, the Church of the Holy Rude is one of the town's most historically important buildings. Founded in 1129 it is the second oldest building in the city after Stirling castle. It was rebuilt in the 15th-century after Stirling suffered a catastrophic fire in 1405, and is reputed to be the only surviving church in the United Kingdom apart from Westminster Abbey to have held a coronation. On 29 July 1567 the infant son of Mary, Queen of Scots, was anointed James VI of Scotland in the church. James' bride, Anne of Denmark was crowned in the church at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh. The Holy Rude congregation still meet and some 19th century parish records survive. Musket shot marks that may come from Cromwell's troops during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms are clearly visible on the tower and apse of the church.
  Economically, the city's port supported foreign trade, historically doing significant trade in the Low Countries, particularly with Bruges in Belgium and Veere in the Netherlands. In the 16th century there were so many Scots in Danzig in Prussia that they had their own church congregation and trade is mentioned with that city in Stirling Council's minutes of 1560. Around John Cowane's time there is an account which states there were about 30,000 Scots families living in Poland although that was possibly an exaggeration. Trade with the Baltic also took place such as a timber trade with Norway.
  After the Jacobite threat had faded but before the railways were established, the Highland cattle drovers would use the Auld Brig on their way to market at Falkirk or Stenhousemuir. Three times a year, tens of thousands of cattle, sheep and ponies were moved together to the trysts in the south with some drovers going as far as Carlisle or even London's Smithfield. There is a record of a four-mile long tailback (of livestock) developing from St. Ninians to Bridge of Allan after a St. Ninians tollman had a dispute.
caption: The tomb of James III, King of Scots and Margaret of Denmark at Cambuskenneth Abbey
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