page_title: Burning of Edinburgh
section_title: Edinburgh Castle
hierarchical_section_title: Burning of Edinburgh / Edinburgh Castle
caption_attribution_description: Contemporary sketch of Edinburgh Castle from the north.
context_page_description: The Burning of Edinburgh in 1544 by an English sea-borne army was the first major action of the war of the Rough Wooing. A Scottish army observed the landing on 3 May 1544 but did not engage with the English force. The Provost of Edinburgh was compelled to allow the English to sack Leith and Edinburgh, and the city was burnt on 7 May. However, the Scottish artillery within Edinburgh Castle harassed the English forces, who had neither the time nor the resources to besiege the Castle. The English fleet sailed away loaded with captured goods, and with two ships that had belonged to James V of Scotland.
context_section_description: Although Hertford's army entered the town with little resistance, the defenders of the castle led by the Captain, James Hamilton of Stenhouse kept up an artillery barrage, firing down the line of the Royal Mile. The Clerk of the King's Works, Richard Lee, who was Captain of the Pioneers on this expedition and the Surveyor of Calais, William Burgate, declared the castle impregnable.
  One of the Castle gunners was Andrew Mansioun, a French carver who had made fittings for the Unicorn, the yacht of James V and furniture for the royal palaces. His hand was injured when a cannon backfired, and in June 1544 he was given 44 shillings to pay for treatment.
  Repairs were made in July 1544, when two of the gunners, Tibault Roqueneau and Piers Schouffene (French or Flemish, originally employed at Dunbar Castle) were working to improve the gun emplacements with gabions. The fore-wall of the castle was strengthened and repaired from July. This work was completed between July and August 1546 by three masons and four workmen (called barrowmen in the accounts).
caption: Detail of Richard Lee's sketch showing Edinburgh Castle with an English siege gun before David's Tower
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