Edinburgh

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Edinburgh, the capital ofScotland, though not its largest city, derives its name from the time (about 620) when the fortress of Edwin's burgh was raised on a lofty spur of the Pentland Hills, overlooking the Firth of Forth, and established the Anglian dominion in the northern part of the Northumbrian Kingdom. Edinburgh Castle was a royal residence in the reign of Malcolm Canmore, husband of St. Margaret, who died there in 1093. Round the castle the town grew up, and a little lower down the collegiate church ofSt. Giles, predecessor of the present church bearing that name, was erected in the twelfth century. St. Margaret's son,King David I, founded the Abbey of Holyrood, at the foot of the castle hill, 1128; but the town of Edinburgh for several centuries did not extend beyond the ridge sloping eastwards from the castle. In the middle of the fifteenth century Edinburgh became the real capital ofScotland, that is, the seat of the Parliament and the Government, as well as the residence of the kings, and the scene of many of the most important provincial councils which regulated the affairs of the Scottish Church. James II was the first kingcrowned at Edinburgh instead of in the Abbey of Scone, and he and his successors conferred many privileges on the capital, and did all in their power to develop it and increase its prosperity. The buildings of the city gradually spread outside the ancient walls, all along the sloping ridge which extends from the castle at the top to Holyrood at the bottom; and towards the end of the nineteenth century the New Town was built to the northward, beyond the extensive lake (since drained) which stretched under the castle hill.

During the past hundred years Edinburgh has steadily increased in population and wealth, if not so rapidly as other cities which are greater centres of manufactures and commerce. The unrivalled beauty of its situation, and the social and other advantages which it offers as the capital of the country, as well as the remarkableeducative facilities afforded by its many splendidly equippedschools and colleges, have always made it exceptionally attractive as a place of residence. Literary taste and culture were long the special characteristic of Edinburghsociety, and it still possesses some of the literary charm which won for the city the title of the Modern Athens in the second quarter of the nineteenth century, when Scott, Wilson, Jeffrey, Brougham, and others made it famous by theirpersonality and their genius. Modern facilities of travel and of intercommunication have inevitably given to Edinburgh, as to every centre of population in the kingdom outsideLondon, a certain note or provincialism; but it has not altogether lost the dignity and charm proper to a capital. The population of Edinburgh is now (1908) 317,000, an increase of more than 100,000 in the past thirty years; and its total area is nearly 11,000 acres. It returns four members to Parliament, and is governed by a town council of fifty members, presided over by the lordprovost. Printing, brewing, and distilling have long been, and still are, the principal industries of the city. Edinburgh is the seat of the supreme court ofScottish law, which in its external forms as well as in many essential points differs greatly from thelaw ofEngland. The presidents of the courts are the lord-justice-general and the lord-justice-clerk; and the judges, properly entitled "senators of thecollege of justice", enjoy the official title oflord. The supreme courts occupy the ancient Scottish Parliament house, a stately seventeenth century building; and under the same roof is the Advocates' Library, one of the most extensive and valuable collections of books andmanuscripts in the kingdom.

Edinburgh University

Edinburgh University, the only one of the four Scottishuniversities not founded inCatholic times, was established in 1582 by royal charter granted by James VI, and was speedily enriched by many benefactions from prominent citizens. Its buildings occupy the site of the ancient collegiate church of St. Mary-in-the-Fields, or the Kirk o'Field (well known as the scene of the mysteriousmurder of Lord Darnley), and have in recent years been greatly extended and embellished. Theuniversity comprises the usual faculties of divinity,law, medicine, and arts, and has produced many eminent men. The Edinburgh medicalschool has a world-wide reputation, and attracts students from all parts of the empire, as well as many foreigners. No religious tests preventCatholics from enjoying the full benefits ofuniversityeducation in Edinburgh; but the number ofCatholics frequenting theschools is remarkably small. The total number of students frequenting theuniversity is between three and four thousand.

Ecclesiastical history

Edinburgh is naturally much bound up in itsecclesiastical history with the country at large. In the earliest centuries of its existence, belonging as it did to the Kingdom of Northumbria, Edinburgh was included in the Diocese ofLindisfarne, as we find from the list of churches belonging to that see compiled bySimeon of Durham in 854. The early connexion of the city withLindisfarne is shown by the dedication toSt. Cuthbert of its oldest church, founded probably in the ninth century.St. Cuthbert's church was presented to the newly established Abbey of Holyrood byKing David; it was the richest church in Edinburgh, and possessed several outlyingchapels, such asSt. Ninian's, St. Roque's, and St. John Baptist's. When thediocesan system came to be fully established inScotland, under Malcolm and Margaret and their sons, Edinburgh was included in themetropolitan Diocese of St. Andrews, and continued to be so until the suppression of the ancienthierarchy in the sixteenth century. Thearchbishop's see, as well as the episcopal residence, was of course in theprimatial city of St. Andrews, beyond the Firth of Forth; and there was no building known as acathedral in Edinburgh prior to 1634, when the newAnglican Diocese of Edinburgh was formed out of the ancient archdeaconry of Lothian, and Forbes became the first occupant of thesee. The old collegiate church ofSt. Giles was at this time, and during the revival of Episcopalianism inScotland, used as thecathedral of theProtestantbishop. As regards theCatholicChurch, Edinburgh was the head-quarters of thevicars Apostolic of the Eastern District ofScotland from the time of the foundation of that vicariate in 1828, when the church now known as St. Mary'sCatholicCathedral had been in existence for some fifteen years. It has noarchitectural interest, but a spaciouschancel was added, and other improvements carried out, in 1891. Acathedral for the Episcopalian body (whosebishop resides in Edinburgh) was erected about 1878, at a cost of over $500,000, from funds left by two charitable ladies. It is a Gothic building of much dignity, and by far the finestecclesiastical building, either ancient or modern, now existing in Edinburgh. ThePresbyterians have some handsome churches, but the grand old church ofSt. Giles, now in their hands, has been hopelessly vulgarized by the "restorer". A new church built by theIrvingites is adorned within by some fine muralpaintings.

The sevenCatholic churches which (besides thecathedral) supply the needs of theCatholic population of Edinburgh are of no particular merit architecturally, the most interesting being the latest erected, St. Peter's, which is in the earliest Byzantine style, and forms, with its presbytery, a little group of much originality and charm. TheCatholicArchbishop of St. Andrews and Edinburgh (the fourth who has held that office in thirty years) resides in Edinburgh, and has his episcopal seat in St. Mary's Cathedral. St. Andrews (to which the title of Edinburgh was added at the restoration of thehierarchy in 1878) possesses a smallCatholic church; but theCatholic population of theprimatial city is—except for summer visitors—only a handful. In Edinburgh theCatholics are estimated to number about 20,000. In the reign of Queen Anne (1702-14) a list sent in to the privy council of "Popishparents and their children in various districts ofScotland" gives the number ofCatholics in Edinburgh as 160, including the Duke and Duchess of Gordon with theirfamily and household, and several other noblefamilies. The majority of theCatholics of Edinburgh today are of the poorer classes, and ofIrish origin; but the past decade or so has witnessed a considerable number of conversions among the more well-to-do inhabitants of the city. Since the great anti-Catholic tumults of 1779, when thechapels and houses belonging to the insignificantCatholic body were burned by the rioters, the spirit of tolerance has made progress in the Scottish capital as elsewhere in the kingdom.Catholics are generally respected, and may and do rise to high positions of trust in the commercial, legal, and municipal world.

Something remains to be said of thereligious houses which have flourished in Edinburgh in ancient and modern times. The principal and wealthiestmonastery in former days was the Abbey of Holyrood, founded by David I forAugustinian canons, who were brought from St. Andrews. The Blackfriars orDominicanmonastery was founded byAlexander II in 1230, on a site now occupied by ahospital. The Greyfriars orFranciscan church (of the Observant branch of the order) stood in the Grassmarket until it was destroyed by fire in 1845. The Whitefriars ofCarmelites did not settle in Edinburgh until 1518. Their house of Greenside, near the Calton Hill, was transformed at the Dissolution into alepers'hospital. Beyond theCarmelite house, nearer Leith, stood the preceptory of St. Anthony, the only house of that order inScotland. The collegiate churches in and about Edinburgh included those ofSt. Giles and St. Mary-in-the-Fields (already mentioned), Trinity Church, Restalrig, Corstorphine, Creighton, and Dalkeith. Trinity church, one of the most exquisite Gothic buildings inScotland, was destroyed in the nineteenth century by a deplorable act of vandalism, to make room for new railway works. Neither theBenedictine norCistercianmonks, who had numerous houses inScotland, were established in Edinburgh. TheCistercian orBernardinenuns, however, possessed theconvent of St. Marie-in-the-wynd (or lane) near ahospital, where the sisters tended the sick. TheDominicannuns had also aconvent (calledSciennes orShenes, fromSt. Catherine of Siena) in the outskirts of the city. The numeroushospitals inCatholic Edinburgh comprised St. Mary Magdalen's in the Cowgate, founded in 1503 (thechapel remains, and is now used as a medical mission-hall); St. Leonard's, at the foot ofSalisbury Crags; St. Mary's, in Leith Wynd, for twelve almsmen (converted into a workhouse by the Edinburgh magistrates in 1619); St. Thomas's, near the water-gate, founded in 1541 by Abbot Crichton of Holyrood for seven almsmen in red gowns; and Ballantyne's Hospital, founded by Robert Ballentyne or Bellenden,Abbot of Holyrood. The tworeligious orders of men now working in Edinburgh and its seaport of Leith are theJesuits and theOblates of Mary Immaculate. The former serve one of the largest churches in the city, and the latter have a house at Leith. There are eightconvents ofnuns, the oldest being St. Margaret's (Ursuline), founded in 1835, the first since theReformation. Thenuns keep a high-classschool and attend severalhospitals. St. Catherine's Convent of Mercy has a well-equipped training-college for teachers as well as a ladies'school. The otherconvents are those of the Sisters of Charity,Little Sisters of the Poor, Sisters of the Sacred Hearts,Poor Clares, Order of Marie Réparatrice, Helpers of the Holy Souls, and Sisters of the Immaculate Conception. The otherCatholic institutions of the city include a children's refuge,orphanages for boys and girls, home for working boys, home for destitute children, dispensary, and home for penitents.

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