Burning of Edinburgh ( 1544 ) 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 . 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 . The plan . Henry VIII of England had the ambition to conquer the Kingdom of Scotland , or at least to have them pay him homage . He had contracted with the Regent Arran that Mary , Queen of Scots would marry his son , Prince Edward . But Arran allowed the Parliament of Scotland to revoke this agreement prompting Henry to declare war in December 1543 , and now the Regent was making ground against his rebels who still supported the English marriage , such as the Earl of Lennox , Earl of Glencairn , the Earl of Cassillis and the Earl of Angus . These nobles were in touch with Henry VIII via Lennox ' s secretary Thomas Bishop and Angus ' s chaplain , Master John Penven . Their letters to Henry VIII requested intervention , and in March he replied that a ' main army ' was in preparation . Henry ' s Privy Council issued his instructions for the invasion force on 10 April 1544 , and they were to ; " Put all to fire and sword , burn Edinburgh , so razed and defaced when you have sacked and gotten what ye can of it , as there may remain forever a perpetual memory of the vengeance of God lightened upon ( them ) for their falsehood and disloyalty . " Edward Seymour , 1st Duke of Somerset , at this time called Lord Hertford was the King ' s Lieutenant of this Army Royal . He had considered establishing an English garrison at Leith but the Privy Council vetoed this plan . Henry VIII had also asked him to destroy St Andrews , but Lord Hertford pointed out the extra distance would be troublesome . Hertford discussed with Privy Council the possibility of Scottish allies capturing Cardinal Beaton during his invasion . Henry VIII believed that Beaton , a favourer of the Auld Alliance with France , was particularly responsible for the rejection of the marriage plan . Beaton ' s would - be kidnappers included James Kirkcaldy of Grange , Norman Leslie Master of Rothes , and John Charteris who offered to attempt to capture the Cardinal as he travelled in Fife . Their second scheme was to attack Arbroath while attention was focussed on Edinburgh . This offer was made by Alexander Crichton of Brunstane who sent a messenger called Wishart to Lord Hertford . Time was too short to offer military support for these plans , but if those concerned would join in the destruction of Church property they would be offered asylum in England and £1000 to fund their action . Any schemes more elaborate than a punitive raid on Edinburgh were shelved as Henry VIII committed resources to the siege of Boulogne in France already planned for the summer . Supplies . The army assembled at Newcastle upon Tyne and Gateshead . In April 1544 , Sir Christopher Morris reported to Lord Hertford that he had organised munitions for the invasion at Berwick upon Tweed . These included ; Anthony Neville of South Leverton was appointed Surveyor General of Victuals for the army . Edward Shelley ( who was one of first English soldiers to be killed at the battle of Pinkie ) reported that he had 40 thousand - weight of biscuit on 20 April . At Berwick , Shelley had problems getting enough coal or wood for baking and brewing . He had to ask permission to impress more supplies and hold sales to rotate his stock . 4000 border horsemen waited at Berwick for Hertford ' s signal . At first it was planned that they would make a diversionary attack on Haddington . Their commander Ralph Eure wrote from Alnwick on 28 April that these ' countrymen ' were so poor he had to lend them money . He also asked for 1000 Yorkshire archers as reinforcement so that they could come to Edinburgh to support the landing . In the event , it was agreed that Hertford would summon Eure when he had disembarked his troops . When Eure ' s men arrived in Edinburgh they would get their pay . Orders for the fleet . Orders for the fleet at Tynemouth were given on 28 April . All the ships were to be ready to weigh anchor at a favourable wind . The Lord Admiral , Viscount Lisle ' s flagship would fly the St George Cross on the fore - top mast and two top - lights at night . The ships of the ' vaward ' , the vanguard , would follow and anchor as near as possible . Hertford and the treasure - ship ( Ralph Sadler was treasurer ) would follow with his ensign on the main - top mast of the " Rose Lion " with two night lights on the shrouds . The Earl of Shrewsbury , captain of the rear - ward would fly the ensign on his mizzen mast , with a cresset light in the poop deck at night . The other ships were not to show flags or lights . Any ship that was transporting base or double base guns was to mount them on the fore - deck for the landing . Defence . On 23 April 1544 , all east coast towns were warned to entrench their bounds to resist the English navy . Men from neighbouring counties were summoned to muster in Edinburgh on 5 May . Extra gunners were hired for Edinburgh Castle , and Regent Arran ' s goods and the royal tapestries were carried up the Royal Mile from Holyroodhouse to the Castle and watched by his wardrobe servant Malcolm Gourlay . In the previous month an Edinburgh merchant James Johnston of Coates was paid £22 for going to " find out the Englishmen ' s purpose . " The Burgh records are mostly missing for the year , so there is no detailed information on any defence measures provided by the town . The English account mentions that the Scots had cast great trenches and ditches to defend Leith . The landing . An account of the episode was published later in 1544 in London as ; " The Late Expedition in Scotland made by the King ' s highness ' army under the conduct of the Right Honourable the Earl of Hertford in 1544 . " A later account by Mary ' s secretary Claude Nau records the fleet burning St Mynettes on the north side of the Forth and taking fishing boats for landing - craft . John Knox gave an account of the landing from another Scottish viewpoint . The English fleet was sighted before noon on Saturday . Knox said that Cardinal Beaton dismissed the threat and sat calmly at dinner . At 6pm there were 200 ships and an English pilot sounded the depths between Granton and Leith . Though experts could see this meant the English minded to land still there was no Scottish response . At daybreak on Sunday some of the smaller boats nosed onto land at Granton Crags and the troops landed using these as piers for the larger boats . According to Knox , when around 10 , 000 men were landed unchallenged the Cardinal and Regent Arran left Edinburgh . The English account is similar , but mentions the presence of five or six thousand horsemen and some foot soldiers , positioned to prevent the short march from Granton to Leith at a ford on the Water of Leith . The Cardinal was with this army but after a few shots and only a couple of casualties on either side , the Scots abandoned their position at the ford of a stream , leaving their eight cannon . ( Lisle said two slings and three serpentines were placed to fire across the river , agreeing with Lee ' s plan ) . The Earls of Huntly and Moray also left the field . Hertford ' s own dispatch describes this as a half hour fight , " right sharply handled on both parts , " with Peter Mewtas ' s hagbuters giving good service . The Admiral reported that Beaton stayed until he was in range of the handguns . He was wearing a frock of yellow velvet , cut and pulled out with white tinselled sarcenet . Another stand before Leith itself gave some resistance , but folded after three expert Scottish gunners were killed by arrows . Hertford summoned Eure and the border horsemen with a brief note mentioning the lack of resistance , signed from the field on the west of Leith . The English then entered Leith unopposed , where they found two ships that had belonged to James V , the " Salamander of Leith " and the " Unicorn . " Some buildings in Leith were burnt , including St Ninian ' s chapel at the Bridge - end . Their overnight security was increased by recently constructed defensive entrenchments . Next day , Monday 5 May , the larger English ships were able to unload the heavier artillery on the quayside of the Shore of Leith . these guns were to be used against Edinburgh ' s gates and the castle . Cardinal Beaton left the area on Monday , the date recorded in his accounts for hiring a guide between Corstorphine and Stirling , ( a journey then more usually made by boat ) . According to Eustace Chapuys , on the same day the Cardinal ' s enemy Alexander Crichton of Brunstane tried to meet Hertford at Leith , but an English guard shot him with an arrow in the leg . However , Hertford wrote that Brunstane was in the field with Arran and retreated with him to Linlithgow . The Earl of Angus , George Douglas of Pittendreich and Lord Maxwell were in prison at Blackness Castle and Edinburgh Castle because they supported the English alliance . Arran , Guise and the Cardinal now ordered their release so their supporters would help their cause . Maxwell later wrote that they were offered cash inducements , with incomes from church lands and pensions from the King of France . Edinburgh . William Stourton ( later commander of the Newhaven fort at Ambleteuse ) was left in charge of Leith on 6 May with 1 , 500 men while the main force approached Edinburgh itself . They were met by the Provost Adam Otterburn and two heralds . Otterburn offered to give up the keys of the town on conditions . Hertford refused to accept as he had no authority to bargain . Another English herald went to the Castle , and returned with the news that the Earl of Huntley and Lord Home had brought 2000 horsemen to defend the town . Christopher Morris was then ordered to bring his artillery up the Canongate to assault Edinburgh ' s Netherbow Gate . During this operation some of the English gunners were killed . The infantry attacked the gate and , according to the English narrative , pulled one of the Scottish artillery pieces through its gunloop . The Scots could not retaliate due to heavy small arms fire and archery , during which Morris placed a cannon close to the gate . After three or four rounds , the gate was breached and the English army stormed through killing 300 or 400 defenders . The Scottish exchequer accounts record that their heavy guns were withdrawn from the High Street into the Castle . At this point , according to a report sent to Charles V , the English troops who were unused to urban warfare fought amongst each other , and William Howard , brother of the Duke of Norfolk , was hurt in the cheek by an English arrow . On the Royal Mile , the central main street of Edinburgh , the English were exposed to the artillery of the Castle . They attempted to place their cannon above the Butter - Tron , between Lawnmarket and Castlehill . A shot from the Castle dismounted one English cannon , and Hertford ordered it to be deliberately burst . At the end of that day , the English retired from the town to their camp at Leith after starting a number of fires . On 7 May , the fire - raising and looting continued , in the town and at Holyrood , and the English force was joined by Ralph Eure ' s 4000 border horsemen . Nicholas Poyntz was sent to burn Kinghorn and villages on the north of the river Forth . The fortress on the island of Inchgarvie was captured and destroyed by Richard Brooke in the " Galley Subtile " on 6 May . ( Hertford mentioned in his dispatch that it would have been useful to garrison Inchgarvie , but his orders from Henry VIII would not allow it . ) Christopher Morris shipped the larger artillery , the ships sailed , and on 14 May the harbour and piers of Leith were demolished . Hertford , as the King ' s Lieutenant , knighted fifty - eight of his captains and his servant Thomas Fisher distributed three pounds and fifteen shillings amongst the men . The army left Leith by land on 15 May , stopping to burn Seton Palace and Haddington . Edinburgh Castle . Although Hertford ' s army entered the town with little resistance , the defenders of the castle lead 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 gabion s . 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 ) . Looting . Hertford estimated the value of goods in Leith at £10 , 000 . This included a large stock of three grades of linen cloth from Brittany . The ships were loaded with property seized in Edinburgh and Leith . He also took the " Salamander " and " Unicorn " , loading them with 80 , 000 cannon balls for ballast from the King ' s Wark arsenal . One surviving captured item is the Dunkeld Lectern , removed from Holyrood Abbey before the English soldiers fired the church . The lectern may have come into the possession of Sir Richard Lee who made plans of Edinburgh and Leith and assessed the strength of Edinburgh Castle . Lee certainly took a brass font from Holyrood which he gave to St Albans Abbey . He had it engraved with an inscription claiming that it was used for the baptism of the Kings of Scotland . As a relic of the monarchy it was destroyed during the English civil war . Longleat House has a manuscript copy of a translation of Hector Boece ' s " Chronicle of Scotland " , taken by John Thynne , Hertford ' s steward , from Holyroodhouse on Wednesday 7 May 1544 . Some of Hertford ' s muster lists survive at Longleat . These include the name of Sir William Norris of Liverpool . It has traditionally been asserted that carved panelling at his house of Speke Hall came from the Palace of Holyroodhouse though this has been challenged on stylistic grounds . At Speke there were legal books including " Bartolus sup . primi degestis veteris " , Venice ( 1499 ) and " Panormitanus on the Decretals " , Lyon ( 1501 ) , with Robert Estienne ' s Bible ( 1532 ) . William Norris wrote in each volume that they were won at Edinburgh on 8 May 1544 . The books passed to the library of the Liverpool Athenaeum in the 19th century . They were returned to Edinburgh in 2008 when the National Library of Scotland bought the collection . Inscriptions show they belonged to the Abbot of Cambuskenneth , who had a lodging on the south side of the Lawnmarket . Burnt places . The returning English army burnt a number of settlements . The destruction was described by Walter Lynne in his appendix to Johann Carion ' s " Cronicles " , ( 1550 ) ; " burnyng and destroyeng the countrey about , sparyng nether castel , towne , pyle nor vyllage , untyll they had overthrowen and destroyed many of them , as the borough and towne of Edenborough with the Abbey called Holy Rodehouse , and the kynges Palice adjoyned to the same . The towne of Lyth also with the haven and peyre . The castell and vyllage of Cragmyller , the Abbay of Newbottell , and parte of Muskelborowe towne , the Chappel of our lady of Lawret . Preston towne , and the castell Hatintowne wyth the Freres and Nunery , and castell of Oliuer Sancklers , the towne of Dunbar , Laurestone wyth the Graunge , with many other townes , castels , vyllages and pyles . " The following places burnt or demolished were listed by William Patten , with other places and dates from a manuscript in the Harley Collection . Aftermath . News spread quickly throughout Europe , though Nicholas Wotton at Speyer had to show the importance of Edinburgh as the capital of Scotland using the chronicles of Hector Boece and John Mair . However , apart from the physical destruction , a recent historian of the conflict Marcus Merriman concluded that the army , " really did little of any long - term effect . " Although Edinburgh was not again threatened by the war , rebuilding was a slow process . New buildings were built on the exact site of their predecessors . Tenure of the Edinburgh lands was complex with numbers of owners claiming incomes from sub - divided buildings , with some portions ' mortified ' to the chaplains of altars . At the end of the war , in September 1551 and February 1552 Parliament laid down guidelines for sharing the burden of costs for re - building the burnt lands and tenements " brint be the auld inimies of Ingland . " Hertford ' s knights and captains . Hertford , as the King ' s lieutenant knighted the men listed below . The names of his captains are recorded in pay - books and muster lists preserved at Longleat House . A book of ' conduct money ' notes where the captains came from , e . g . , Hugh Chomley from Cholmondeley , Cheshire with 100 men , paid for travelling 130 miles to Edinburgh and back , William Norris from Liverpool , John Markham from Cottham near Retford , Nottinghamshire . < br > Knighted on Sunday , 11 May , at Leith ; Knighted on Tuesday , 13 May , at Leith ; Knighted on Sunday , 18 May , at Butterdean near Coldingham , ( called Kilspindie Castle ) ;