Siege of Leith The Siege of Leith ended a twelve - year encampment of French troops at Leith , the port near Edinburgh , Scotland . The French troops arrived by invitation in 1548 and left in 1560 after an English force arrived to assist in removing them from Scotland . They finally left under the terms of a treaty signed by Scotland , England and France . Background . The Auld Alliance and Reformation of religion . Scotland and France had long been allies under the " Auld Alliance " , first established in the 13th century . However , during the 16th century , divisions appeared between a pro - French faction at Court and Protestant reformers . The Protestants saw the French as a Catholic influence and , when conflict broke out between the two factions , called on English Protestants for assistance in expelling the French from Scotland . In 1542 , King James V died , leaving only a week - old daughter who was proclaimed Mary , Queen of Scots . James Hamilton , Earl of Arran , was appointed Regent and agreed to the demand of Henry VIII of England that the infant Queen should marry his son Edward . This policy was soon reversed , however , through the influence of Mary ' s mother Mary of Guise and Cardinal Beaton , and Regent Arran rejected the English marriage offer . He then successfully negotiated a marriage between the young Mary and François , Dauphin of France . War of the Rough Wooing . The English King , Henry VIII , angered by the Scots reneging on the initial agreement , made war on Scotland in 1544 – 1549 , a period which the writer Sir Walter Scott later christened the " Rough Wooing " . In May 1544 an English army landed at Granton and captured Leith to land heavy artillery for an assault on Edinburgh Castle , but withdrew after burning the town and the Palace of Holyrood over three days . Three years later , following another English invasion and victory at Pinkie Cleugh in 1547 , the English attempted to establish a " pale " within Scotland . Leith was of prime strategic importance because of its vital role as Edinburgh ' s port , handling its foreign trade and essential supplies . The English arrived in Leith on 11 September 1547 and camped on Leith Links . The military engineer Richard Lee scouted around the town on 12 September looking to see if it could be made defensible . On the 14 September the English began digging a trench on the south - east side of Leith near the Firth of Forth . William Patten wrote that the work was done as much for exercise as for defence , since they stayed only five days . In response to the English invasion the Scottish Court looked to France for assistance , and on 16 June 1548 the first French troops arrived in Leith , soon to total 8 , 000 men under André de Montalembert sieur d ' Esse . The infant Queen Mary was removed to France the following month and the English cause was effectively lost . Most of their troops had left by the end of 1549 , In the following years the French interest became dominant with increasing numbers of French troops in Scotland , concentrated in Haddington , Broughty Castle and Leith . From 1548 onwards work began fortifying the port of Leith initially with a bulwark at the Kirkgate and at the chapel by the harbour , perhaps designed by the Italian Migliorino Ubaldini . The rest of the new fortifications were certainly designed by another Italian military engineer , Piero di Strozzi , and these represent the earliest use of the " trace italienne " style of artillery fortification in Britain . Strozzi directed the 300 Scottish workmen from a chair carried by four men because he had been shot in the leg at Haddington . In 1554 , Mary of Guise , the Catholic French widow of James V , was appointed Regent in place of the Earl of Arran , who had been made Duke of Châtellerault by Henry II of France . Guise continued the pro - French policy , appointing Frenchmen to key positions . The Reformation crisis . Meanwhile , the Protestant Scots became increasingly restless , particularly after the marriage of Mary and François in 1558 . A group of noblemen , styling themselves the Lords of the Congregation , had appointed themselves leaders of the anti - French , Protestant party , aligning themselves with John Knox and other religious reformers . They raised 12 , 000 troops in an attempt to oust the French from Scotland . Arran changed sides at this point , joining the Lords of the Congregation . Meanwhile , Henri II of France was accidentally killed in a jousting tournament and Mary ' s husband became King of France on 10 July 1559 . During 1559 the Lords of the Congregation dominated most of central Scotland and entered Edinburgh , forcing Mary of Guise to retreat to Dunbar Castle . However , with the aid of 2 , 000 French troops , she regained control of the capital in July . A short - lived truce was made with the Articles of Leith on 25 July 1559 . Guise received further military aid from France , thanks to the influence of Jacques de la Brosse and the Bishop of Amiens . The Lords considered this assistance a breach of the Leith articles . Châtellerault wrote to summon other Scottish lords at the start of October 1559 to resolve their situation ; . . . it is not unknawin how the Franchmen hes begun mair nor 20 dayis to fortifie the toun of Leyth , tending thairthrow to expell the inhabitantis thairoff and plant thame selffis , thair wyffis and bairnis thairintill suppressing the libertie of this realme . Mary of Guise responded to these letters by making a proclamation on 2 October and writing to Lord Seton , Provost of Edinburgh , that it was well known that Leith was fortified as a response to the Congregation ' s intent to come in arms to Edinburgh on 8 October 1559 , rather than to accommodate French troops and their families . She wrote " we could do no less than provide ourselves with some sure retreat for ourselves and our company if we were pursued . " The French , she said , had not brought their families . Landowners affected by the new fortification works were compensated , one merchant William Dawson was granted exemption from any future customs duties for the loss of his building in North Leith . The Lords of the Congregation suspended Guise ' s regency and appealed to the Protestant Queen Elizabeth for English aid . In response to the situation , Elizabeth appointed the Duke of Norfolk to lead an expedition , and he travelled north to meet the Scots leaders at Berwick , and concluded the Treaty of Berwick . By this treaty England now recognised the Lords of the Congregation as a power in Scotland , and safeguards were agreed for an English military intervention against the French in Scotland with provisions for their withdrawal . The Siege . Preparations for the siege . The French army continued to strengthen the fortifications of Leith during late 1559 . The defences included eight projecting bastions , including Ramsay ' s Fort protecting the harbour , " Little london " at the north - east , and the Citadel at the north - west . Within the walls was a raised platform for guns , called a " cavalier " by the anonymous French journalist of the siege . At the end of January 1560 , an English fleet , under the command of William Wynter , arrived in the Firth of Forth , having sailed north from the naval base at Queenborough Castle in the Thames Estuary . English diplomats claimed Winter ' s arrival in the Firth of Forth was accidental , and Norfolk told Winter to act as if he was a maverick with no commission . The ships were sent by William Cecil under the authority of Queen Elizabeth . On 2 February , a proclamation was issued in the name of the Queen of Scots to summon the men of Selkirk and Jedburgh to be ready to mobilise against the " wicked doings of the English ships " in Scottish waters , and the intended invasion of the Merse and East Lothian . After the Treaty of Berwick provided a framework for an English military incursion , an army of around 6 , 000 English soldiers , under Lord Grey de Wilton marched from Berwick , arriving in early April to join up with the Scottish Lords . Passing through Dunglass and Lintonbriggs , the English army camped at Prestongrange on 4 April where the lighter artillery pieces for the siege were landed from ships at Aitchison ' s Haven . Just before the English army arrived , the French raided Glasgow and Linlithgow . The French garrison at Haddington had withdrawn to the prepared position at Leith , swelling the number of French troops there to an estimated 3 , 000 . Meanwhile , Mary of Guise and her advisors stayed secure in Edinburgh Castle from 28 March 1560 . The Keeper of the castle , John Erskine , Earl of Mar declared it neutral , and this was respected by both sides , and the castle played no part in the conflict . Before the English army arrived at Leith , the commander William Grey of Wilton did consider that capturing the castle with the Queen Regent might be a better option . The Duke of Norfolk advised against it , as their proper target was the French soldiery in Leith , not Erskine ' s Scottish garrison . Battle of Restalrig . When the Duke of Norfolk arrived at Berwick in January 1560 , Mary of Guise ' s military advisor Jacques de la Brosse wrote to him saying he did not believe the rumour in Edinburgh that Norfolk was Elizabeth ' s lieutenant - general in Scotland , there to attack the French and favour the rebels , against the peace treaty . That was exactly Norfolk ' s mission . Norfolk remained at Berwick , instructed that Grey of Wilton was to have charge of " martial affairs " in Scotland , as Grey himself wished , while Ralph Sadler , a long - serving diplomat , was to forward a peaceable settlement with Mary of Guise by diplomacy , liaising with the Duke of Châtellerault and his party . Elizabeth had appointed James Croft to be Grey of Wilton ' s deputy . In turn , Ralph Sadler was given Grey ' s border administrative roles at Berwick upon Tweed . Grey of Wilton set his camp at Restalrig village on 6 April 1560 and twice offered to parley with Mary of Guise and the French military commander Henri Cleutin , Sieur d ' Oysel et Villeparisis via the English Berwick Pursuivant . This offer was refused , and the English herald Rouge Croix was sent to demand that the French withdraw from the field into Leith . Cleutin replied that his troops were on his master and mistress ' s ground . Soon after this exchange fighting broke out at Restalrig with casualties on both sides . Some French mounted arquebus iers who pursued an English detachment were killed on the slopes above Leith , or captured by the sea - shore . Over 100 French casualties were reported with 12 officers killed and a number of prisoners taken . George Buchanan and John Hayward ' s 17th century history make the point that the French were trying to secure the high - ground to the south of Leith : Hawkhill , the crag ( at Lochend ) , and the chapel , which the French journalist of the siege called the " Magdalene Chapel " . Hayward and Mary ' s secretary John Lesley mentioned that George Howard and James Croft were parleying with Mary of Guise at the spur blockhouse of Edinburgh Castle when the fighting started . Mount Pelham . Norfolk reported that , " Restaricke Deanrie is so sweete , that our campe lyeth not within halfe a myle and more of our trenches . " The English began constructing their siege - works against the town in mid - April . There were trenches on the Hawkhill ridge north of Restalrig and towards Lochend Castle . South of Leith Links , at the latter - day site of Hermitage House , below the Magdalen Chapel on the ridge , there was a fortlet , " Mount Pelham " named after the captain of the pioneers , William Pelham . The fort faced across the present day Leith Links towards the eastern side of the town and South Leith Church . Mount Pelham was developed from a trench dug on the night of 12 April and finished 13 days later as a sconce with four corner bastion s . An eyewitness , Humfrey Barwick later wrote that he suggested that Pelham should begin his fort " at the fwte of this hill and run straight to yonder hillocke , " presumably meaning by hillock the " Giant ' s Brae " and " Lady Fyfe ' s Brae " on Leith Links . Captain Cuthbert Vaughan was the fortlet ' s commander with 240 men . ( Five years earlier , Vaughan and James Croft had been imprisoned as supporters of Lady Jane Grey , and subsequently took part in Wyatt ' s Rebellion ) Holinshed and George Buchanan mention the fort was too far from Leith for its cannon to have much effect on the town . While the English were at work in April the French also constructed and manned entrenchments outside of the main walls encircling the town . The bombardment . The English had brought some small cannon with them . Holinshed records that the carriages and shot for the large siege guns were landed on 10 April and the guns on the next day . The Scottish chronicle the " Diurnal of Occurents " , notes that these 27 heavier English artillery pieces were shipped to " Figgate " at Portobello . On 12 April , the French heard a rumour that the English believed they were underequipped , and their response was to give a salvo from their 42 cannon , killing 16 in the English camp . The large guns were ready on Sunday 14 April , Easter day , and the English bombardment began . The cannon were placed in batteries to the west and south of Leith . According to a later manuscript chronicle , the " History of the Estate of Scotland " , the besiegers ' guns were placed at the same distance of " twoe fflight shott " from South Leith church as Mount Pelham . The chronicle calls the location " Clayhills " . The English plan of Leith , dated 7 July 1560 , marks the position of the " first battery " to the south west of the Church , lying in front of the later gun position called " Mount Somerset " , at Pilrig . The French journal also mentions Pilrig as well as the entrenchment at Pelham , and a rumour that the newly arrived English great guns would be placed in the trenches on Hawkhill to the south . The French returned fire from cannon on the steeple of St Anthony ' s church , Logan ' s Bulwark , and the Sea Bulwark . John Lesley , Bishop of Ross wrote that , despite the bombardment , the French commanders and Father Andrew Leich celebrated Easter mass in South Leith Parish Church . During the service a cannonball passed harmlessly in through a window and out of the church door , while outside the air was thick with broken stone and plaster . This story was omitted from the contemporary Scots Language manuscript of Lesley ' s " History " . Mount Pelham overwhelmed . The next day , 16 April , according to the French journal of the siege , 60 French cavalry and 1 , 200 foot soldiers overwhelmed the unfinished English position at Mount Pelham and spiked four cannons , killing 200 men and taking officers as prisoners . Arthur Grey , the son and biographer of Grey de Wilton , who was commander of a company of demi - lance horsemen , was shot twice , but was not in danger of losing his life . The French were repulsed and Norfolk reported 150 killed on both sides . Humfrey Barwick blamed Arthur Grey ' s injury on William Pelham not securing the position properly while the fortlet was under construction . According to a poem by Thomas Churchyard , a Scotswoman initiated this attack by signalling an opportunity to the French . She came with Scottish victuallers to the English position and made her sign from a crag where a cannon had been placed . This story may refer to the existing mounds near the site of Mount Pelham called the " Giant ' s Brae " and " Lady Fyfe ' s Brae " . The Leith historian Alexander Campbell , writing in 1827 , regarded the mounds as important monuments of the siege , writing that the eastern mound took its name from " Lady Fife ' s Well " , and children called the larger mound by the Grammar School " the Giant ' s Brae " . This was repeated by D . H . Robertson , and the 1852 Ordnance Survey map marked the Giant ' s Brae as ( the remains of ) Somerset ' s Battery with Lady Fyfe ' s Brae as ( the remains of ) Pelham ' s Battery . The local historian Stuart Harris , writing in the 1990s , dismissed the assertion that these mounds were siegeworks rather than natural hillocks , stating that the belief was a " spurious ' tradition ' " . The " Diurnal of Occurrents " records another attack on the completed Mount Pelham on 18 June by 300 French soldiers who were chased back to Leith by 30 English cavalry . Forty French were killed , seven captured , and the English lost their trumpeter . Mount Somerset , Mount Falcon and Byer ' s Mount . At the end of April the siege works were extended westwards and a new emplacement built in the vicinity of the later Pilrig House , named " Mount Somerset " after Captain Francis Somerset , whom Thomas Churchyard identifies as the brother of the Earl of Worcester . Among the Scots recorded at the siege at this time , on 27 April 1560 with a tent ( palzoun ) at the Water of Leith , were Robert and John Haldane of Gleneagles . The works were continued further west and north , across the Water of Leith to Bonnington , where a series of batteries were established . " Mount Falcon " was built after 7 May 1560 and , according to John Lesley , commanded the houses on the Shore quayside . The battery was placed west of a bend in the Water of Leith , near the intersection of South Fort Street and West Bowling Green Street . A position to the north with a single cannon is marked " Byere Mownt " on the Petworth map . Stuart Harris locates the gun ' s position near the intersection of the present - day Ferry Road and Dudley Avenue South . The completed emplacements stretched for approximately around the fortified town , with six gun sites at a distance of around from the Leith ramparts . Mounts Pelham and Somerset , named after their officers , were both large temporary forts with ramparts up to high . Apart from the foot soldiers , there were , on 25 May , 145 English artillery - men , with 750 English and 300 Scottish pioneers or labourers working on the fortifications , and 468 men looking after work - horses . 7 May an English defeat . Elizabeth and her secretary William Cecil were exerting pressure on Norfolk for a result at Leith . To show that progress was being made , Norfolk started forwarding Grey ' s dispatches and apologising for his depute ' s " humour " , asking that Elizabeth should send Grey a letter showing her thanks . Norfolk brought in expert military advisors , Sir Richard Lee and his own cousin Sir George Howard , who Norfolk believed would bring the siege to a rapid conclusion . Norfolk wrote to William Cecil on 27 April that it was a shame to have " to lie so long at a sand wall . " It was planned to storm the town before daybreak on 7 May . In early May cannon were deployed to make a substantial breach in the western ramparts . The assault was to be carried out in two waves , the first at 3 . 00 am by 3 , 000 men , the second by 2 , 240 , with a further 2 , 400 holding back to keep the field . William Winter would wait for a signal to land 500 troops on the quayside of the Water of Leith at the Shore inside the town . As a diversion , Cuthbert Vaughan ' s 1 , 200 men with 500 Scotsmen were to attack from the south , crossing Leith Links from Mount Pelham . James Croft ' s men would assault from the north - west , presumably at low - tide . There was an accidental fire in Leith on 1 May which burnt in the south - west quarter . The next evening Grey planted his battery against the west walls and started firing before 9 . 00 am , writing to Norfolk that his gunners had not yet found their mark . Next day , Grey was worried that the French had effected repairs so the town appeared even stronger . He continued with the bombardment and ordered his captains to try small - scale assaults against the walls to gather intelligence . Cuthbert Vaughan measured the ditch and ramparts for making scaling ladders . The attempt was now scheduled for 4 . 00 am on Tuesday 7 May and by two hours past daylight the English were defeated . Although there were two breaches , the damage to the walls was insufficient . None of the flanking batteries were disabled , and the scaling ladders were too short . The result was heavy losses estimated at 1000 to 1500 Scots and English . A report by Peter Carew estimated a third of the dead were Scottish . However , Carew ' s total of six - score dead , which was followed by George Buchanan , is roughly a tenth of the other reports . The accountant Valentine Browne noted there were 1 , 688 men unable to serve , still on the payroll , hurt at the assault or at various other times , and now sick or dead . The author of the " Diurnal of Occurents " put the total number slain at 400 . Humfrey Barwick was told the French collected the top - coats of the English who had reached and died on the walls , and 448 were counted . The French journal claims only 15 defenders were killed . John Knox and the French journal attributed some of the casualties to the women of Leith throwing stones from the ramparts . According to Knox , Mary of Guise surveyed her victory from the fore - wall of Edinburgh Castle with some pleasure , comparing the English dead laid on the walls of Leith to fair tapestry ; " The Frenche , prowd of the victorie , strypit naikit all the slayne , and laid thair carcassis befoir the hot sune alang thair wall , quhair thay sufferit thame to lye ma dayis nor ane , unto the quhilk , quhen the Quene Regent luikit , for myrth sche happit and said , ' Yonder are the fairest tapestrie that I ever saw , I wald that the haill feyldis that is betwix this place and yon war strewit with the same stuiffe . ' " Knox thought James Croft had not wholeheartedly played his part . Carew heard that Croft should have attacked a breach in the Pale : instead his men " ran up between the Church and the water . " Norfolk blamed Croft , who he believed colluded with Guise , later writing , " I thought a man could not have gone nigher a traitor than Sir James , I pray God make him a good man . " Richard Lee made a map of Leith , which Norfolk sent to London on 15 May . This map or " platte " was perhaps made as much for the enquiry into the May 7 events as for future works . Elizabeth read Carew and Valentine ' s reports and sent them to William Cecil with instructions to keep them safe and secret . Mines and code . Now diplomatic efforts for peace were re - doubled , but the siege was tightened . The English brought specialists from Newcastle upon Tyne to dig mines towards the fortifications . Mary of Guise , who was very ill by this time , wrote a letter to d ' Oysel asking him to send her drugs from Leith . This letter was passed to Grey of Wilton who was suspicious because medicines could be found in Edinburgh . According to John Knox , he held it in the heat of a fire and discovered a message in invisible ink . Grey threw the letter on the fire . The French journal of the siege puts the story on 5 May . Guise required ointment from Baptiste in Leith , and the secret cipher on the back of the letter was " insert the notice of the English enterprise and other matters . " Grey spoilt the letter looking for the secret writing and could not return it to James Drummond , the trumpet messenger . Coded letters were carried out of Leith by another soldier , a drummer messenger of the Lords of the Congregation . First , Captain Sarlabous got him to take a note to a lady - in - waiting of Mary of Guise which had a secret cipher on the back . On 9 May he took a message with a handkerchief containing information about the English mines . Mary of Guise sent letters to d ' Oysel describing what her spies had found out about these works . On 19 May she wrote in code that the English were mining at the Citadel , St Anthony ' s Flanker , and the Mill Bulwark . The English were confident that their mines would be deeper than any French counter - mines . Guise now found it more difficult to send her letters into Leith , and this one was captured and deciphered . The English ambassador in France , Nicholas Throckmorton , discovered that Mary of Guise had obtained details of the plans for the 7 May assault . She had also changed her ciphers . Throckmorton intercepted a letter meant for Jacques de la Brosse from Mary of Guise ' s brothers . He hoped to infiltrate his agent Ninian Cockburn into Leith posing as the messenger . He gave Ninian , a captain in the Garde Écossaise , the alias " Beaumont " . By 18 June 1560 , after Mary of Guise had died , the French at Edinburgh Castle realised their cipher was in English hands , and they advised the Leith garrison to continue to use the code in letters that might be captured , to spread disinformation that would be advantageous in the ongoing peace negotiations . The coded advice letter itself was intercepted by the English and deciphered . It also suggested the use of fire signals to advertise how much longer they could last , as food was short , for the benefit of the French diplomats at Edinburgh Castle . Signal beacons were to be lit on St Anthony ' s Church or the Citadel or both , half an hour before midnight . Hunger in Leith . On 8 May , after the assault , Grey sent Francis Killinghale to London carrying a detailed analysis of the situation . Grey was worried about deserters " stealing " back into England , but he thought that with reinforcements he could take the town by storm , or enclose it and starve out the garrison , as there was already " great scarcity " within . Ralph Sadler also wrote of desertions and the weariness of the besiegers . The French continued to make sallies from the town , despite their dwindling provisions . The besiegers , conversely , were supplied with more troops and provisions from England and Scotland . Grey described his men killing 40 or 50 French soldiers and others who came out of the town to gather cockles and periwinkles on 13 May . The French journalist wrote of the same event , relating that some of the hungry townspeople went out to collect shell - fish and were attacked by the English . A little French boy taken on the shore was brought to Grey of Wilton . When asked if they had enough food for a fortnight , the boy said he had heard the captains say the English would not take the town by famine or force for four or five months yet . Raphael Holinshed puts this event on 4 July , saying that Grey first issued a warning to d ' Oysel about the cockle - pickers . The 17th century writer John Hayward gave a description of famine in the town based on the account of an English prisoner in Leith called Scattergood . He said the inhabitants and troops were reduced to eating horses , dogs , cats and vermin , with leaves , weeds and grass , " seasoned with hunger " . " Hereupon they grewe very short in strength of men , and no lesse short in provision of foode for those men which they had ; the one happeninge to tress for them by the force of their enimies , the other either by disabilitie or negligence of their freinds ; so , their old stoore beinge spent , they were inforced to make use of every thinge out of which hunger was able to drawe nourishement . The fleshe of horses was then more daintie then ever they esteemed venison before ; doggs , catts , and vermine of more vile nature were highelie valued ; vines were striped of their leaves and tender stalkes ; grasse and weedes were picked up , and , beinge well seasoned with hunger , were reputed amonge ( them ) for dainties and dilicate dishes . " Holinshed mentions Hayward ' s source , Scattergood , as a spy who entered Leith pretending to be a fugitive or deserter . Peter Carew reported on 28 May 1560 that the French had no meat or drink except water for three weeks . There was only bread and salted salmon . These were rationed with 126 ounces of bread for a man each day and a salmon between six men each week . There were 2 , 300 French soldiers in Leith and more than 2 , 000 others . After Mary of Guise died , a week ' s truce was declared on Monday 17 June . On 20 June , French and English soldiers ate together on the beach . Captain Vaughan , Andrew Corbett , Edward Fitton and their men brought beef , bacon , poultry , wine and beer : the French brought cold roast capon , a horse pie and six roast rats . Treaty of Edinburgh . After the English defeat on 7 May , peace talks progressed with a dinner at Edinburgh Castle on 12 May for Mary of Guise and the Lords of the Congregation , but negotiations failed the next day when the French commanders in Leith were not permitted to come to the Castle and meet Guise to discuss the proposals . A fresh attempt at negotiations began in June . Commissioners , including the Count of Randon and the Bishop of Valence for the French , and William Cecil and Nicholas Wotton for the English , arrived in Edinburgh , only to find that Mary of Guise , Regent of Scotland , had died at Edinburgh Castle on 11 June . Her death demoralised the French , and the commissioners agreed a week ' s armistice on 17 June . This ended on the 22 June , but the only further military action was a skirmish on 4 July . Peace was agreed shortly after and proclaimed on 7 July in the names of Elizabeth , Queen of England , and François and Mary , King and Queen of France and Scotland . The peace became known as the Treaty of Leith or the Treaty of Edinburgh , It secured the withdrawal of both French and English troops from Scotland and effectively dissolved the Auld Alliance for all time . By the 17 July the foreign soldiers had left the city . The total numbers of French evacuated from Scotland to Calais under William Winter ' s supervision were ; 3 , 613 men ; 267 women ; 315 children , in all 4 , 195 with Lord Seton and the Bishop of Glasgow . The terms of the treaty allowed 120 French soldiers to remain at Inchkeith and Dunbar , although the defences of Leith were to be immediately demolished . New outworks at Dunbar Castle , which were still being completed by an Italian military engineer in May , were scheduled for demolition . A key term was that François and Mary should cease using the style and arms of the King and Queen of England . As Catholics , they regarded Elizabeth , daughter of Anne Boleyn , as illegitimate , leaving Mary herself as the rightful Queen . Their use of the English royal arms led the French to dub the campaign the " War of the Insignia " . Queen Mary never ratified the agreement , since by doing so she would have acknowledged Elizabeth as rightful Queen of England , and she did not wish to relinquish her own claim to the English throne . Edinburgh ' s town treasurer paid for the Shore of Leith to be cleaned after the evacuation , and a gun found in the ditches was taken to Edinburgh . A ship scuttled by the French to block the harbour of Newhaven was floated off in September over two successive high tides by men working from small boats . Legacy . The School of War . As this was the first military conflict of the reign , Elizabethan writers called the siege the " School of War " , a title used by Thomas Churchyard for his poem narrating the action of the siege . The 17th - century playwright William Sampson set his " The Vow - Breaker , or The Fayre Maid of Clifton " around the soldiers recruited for Leith from Nottinghamshire under Captain Jervis Clifton . The " Vow - Breaker " , published in 1636 , contains much historical detail . It is written as if it was performed at Nottingham Castle in September 1562 for a meeting between Elizabeth and Mary , Queen of Scots , which never took place . The 450th anniversary in 2010 saw a celebration of the end of the siege with performances in Leith of a new play telling the story . Archaeology and fortifications . There is still significant evidence of the fortifications built by the French and batteries built by the English , and new examples were uncovered in 2001 , 2002 and 2006 . Although the French ramparts were demolished by Edinburgh townsfolk on the orders of the Lords and Burgh council to , " make blockhouse and curtain equal with the ground , " some repairs to the walls were made in 1572 during the " War between Leith and Edinburgh " using turf . A part of the ramparts and the Citadel at the site of St Nicholas ' s Church at the north - west were reconstructed during the war of the Three Kingdoms in 1649 . The master mason John Milne obtained stones from the demolition of houses that were adjacent to the walls of Edinburgh and from the Spur fortification at Edinburgh Castle . The renewed fortifications were held for Charles II , as King of Scots . Leith and the Citadel were bombarded by Rear - Admiral Captain Hall on 29 July 1650 from the " Liberty " , the " Heart " frigate , the " Garland " and the " Dolphin . " In the 19th - century Junction Street and Constitution street were laid along the line of the southern and eastern walls respectively . Other earthworks are well known . The site of the Mount Falcon battery near Byer ' s Mount is marked by a plaque , and the two mounds on Leith Links are scheduled monuments . Published primary sources for the siege of Leith and the Scottish reformation include ; Of these , the eyewitness French journal in " Two Missions " is essential reading ; John Knox ' s " History of the Reformation " gives another contrasting contemporary account . gives a concise version from an English viewpoint .