Ethnographic Arms & Armour - Weapons in the Great Hall Edinburgh Castle

What an incredible Cannon! or should I say Bombard ..

Checking on Wikepedia see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mons_Meg I note they add~

Quote"Mons Meg is a medieval bombard located at Edinburgh Castle, Scotland. It was built in 1449 on the orders of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy and sent by him as a gift to King James II of Scotland in 1454. The bombard was employed in sieges until the middle of the 16th century, after which it was only fired on ceremonial occasions. It was on one such occasion in 1680 that the barrel burst, rendering Mons Meg unusable. The gun remained in Edinburgh Castle until 1754 when, along with other unused weapons in Scotland, it was taken to the Tower of London.

Sir Walter Scott and others campaigned for its return, which was effected in 1829. Mons Meg has since been restored, and is now on display within the castle. Mons Meg has a calibre (barrel diameter) of 20 inches (510 mm), making it one of the largest cannons in the world by calibre. The gun forms part of the collection of the Royal Armouries, on loan to Historic Scotland who manage Edinburgh Castle."Unquote.

Then there is the amazing story or legend...an alternative view spun in pure Scottish weave from Wilson's "Memorials of Edinburgh in the Olden Time" see http://www.kirkcudbright.co/historya...D=191&p=29&g=5 as follows:

Quote "The Earl of Douglas having seized Sir Patrick McLellan, Tutor of Bomby, the Sheriff of Galloway and chief of a powerful clan, carried him prisoner to Threave Castle, where he caused him to be hanged on 'The Gallows Knob’ a granite block which still remains, projecting over the main gateway of the Castle. The act of forfeiture, passed by Parliament in 1455, at length furnished an opportunity, under the protection of government, of throwing off that iron yoke of the Douglases under which Galloway had groaned for upwards of eighty years.

When James the Second arrived with an army at Carlingwark, to besiege the Castle of Threave, the McLellans presented him with the piece of ordnance now called ' Mons Meg.’ The first discharge of this great gun is said to have consisted of a peck of powder and a granite ball nearly as heavy as a Galloway cow.

This ball is believed, in its course through the Castle of Threave, to have carried away the hand of Margaret de Douglas, commonly called the Fair Maid of Galloway, as she sat at table with her lord, and was in the act of raising the wine-cup to her lips. Old people still maintain that the vengeance of God was thereby evidently manifested, in destroying the hand which had been given in wedlock to two brothers, and that even while the lawful spouse of the first was alive.

As a recompense for the present of the gun, and for the loyalty of the McLellans, the king, before leaving Galloway, raised the town of Kirkcudbright into a Royal Burgh, and granted to Brawny Kim, the smith, the lands of Mollance in the neighbourhood of Threave Castle. Hence the smith was called Mollance, and his wife's name being Meg, the cannon, in honour of her, received the appellative of 'Mollance Meg.’

There is no smithy now at the 'Three Thorns of the Carlingwark ;' but a few years ago, when making the great military road to Portpatrick, which passes that way, the workmen had to cut through a deep bed of cinders and ashes, which plainly showed that there had been an extensive forge on that spot at some former period." In addition to this, (adds the correspondent of Sir Walter,) Symson, in his work written nearly a hundred and sixty years ago, says: "The common report also goes in that country, that in the Isle of Threaves, the great iron gun in the Castle of Edinburgh, commonly called Mount Meg, was wrought and made." Unquote.

A great story non-the-less!

Regards,
Ibrahiim al Balooshi.