by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2021

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The abbey church of Holyrood Abbey, which this writer has visited, now stands in roofless ruins adjacent to Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh, Scotland. Rood is a word for the cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified and so the name Holyrood is equivalent to Holy Cross. Holyrood Abbey was founded by David I, King of Scots in 1128 as an abbey of the Augustinian Canons Regular. The legend is that David I was inspired to found Holyrood Abbey after seeing a vision of the Holy Cross when attacked by a stag in what is now Holyrood Park.

The abbey guesthouse was used as an occasional residence by medieval Kings of Scots. When James IV, King of Scots made Edinburgh the undisputed capital of Scotland, the abbey guesthouse was developed into a royal residence, Holyrood Palace or the Palace of Holyroodhouse, and after the Reformation, the palace was further expanded. Today it is the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland.

David I, King of Scots presented the Holyrood Abbey with a relic of the Holy Cross that had belonged to his mother St. Margaret of Scotland, a granddaughter of Edmund II (Ironside), King of England, who held it on her deathbed.  The relic was placed in a golden reliquary and was known as the Black Rood of Scotland. It was removed from Scotland by King Edward I of England in 1296, along with other Scottish treasures including the Stone of Scone. The Black Rood was returned to Scotland in 1328, however, in 1346, following the Battle of Neville’s Cross during the Second War of Scottish Independence, the Black Rood was taken by the English once again. It remained in Durham Cathedral in Durham, England until the English Protestant Reformation when it was presumably destroyed.

During the Anglo-Scottish Wars in the reign of King Henry VIII of England, the English sacked the abbey causing great damage to the buildings. In 1559, during the Scottish Reformation, the abbey church suffered much damage when a Protestant mob destroyed the altars and looted the rest of the church. In 1569, the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland decided to demolish the east end of the abbey church because of the damage. The abbey church served as the Church of Scotland (Presbyterian) parish church for the Canongate section of Edinburgh. Only the nave was retained, all but two of the windows in the nave were blocked up, and the royal tombs were removed to a new royal burial vault in the south aisle.

In 1687, James VII, King of Scots (also James II, King of England) founded the Order of the Thistle and designated the Holyrood abbey church, where a Presbyterian congregation worshipped, to be the chapel of the new order. The abbey church was converted into a Catholic chapel, as James had converted to Roman Catholicism. A new church, the nearby Canongate Kirk, replaced the abbey church as the local Presbyterian parish church. In 1688, the abbey church was ransacked by a mob, furious with King James’ Roman Catholic allegiance. The Order of the Thistle was left without a chapel until the Thistle Chapel was added to the nearby St. Giles’ Cathedral in 1911.

There was some restoration work done on the abbey church in 1758 – 1760 including the rebuilding of the roof but during a storm in 1768 the roof collapsed, leaving the abbey in its current ruins. Restoration of the abbey church has been proposed several times – in 1835 by architect James Gillespie Graham as a meeting place for the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, and in 1906, as a chapel for the Knights of the Thistle but both proposals were rejected.

Coronations at Holyrood Abbey

Most Scottish coronations took place at Scone Abbey or Stirling Castle.

• James II, King of Scots in 1437
• Margaret Tudor – wife of James IV, King of Scots in 1504
• Mary of Guise – 2nd wife of James V, King of Scots in 1540
• Anne of Denmark – wife of James VI, King of Scots (the future James I of England) in 1590
• Charles I in 1633 – became King of Scots and King of England in 1625 was crowned in England but the Scots insisted that he should also be crowned in Scotland

Royal Weddings at Holyrood Abbey

• James II, King of Scots and Mary of Guelders in 1449
• James III, King of Scots and Margaret of Denmark in 1469
• James IV, King of Scots and Margaret Tudor in 1503

Royal Burials at Holyrood Abbey

The royal tombs of Scotland suffered much destruction during the Scottish Reformation. Practically all the tombs and the remains were destroyed. (See Unofficial Royalty Scottish Royal Burial Sites.) The few surviving remains are mainly interred at Holyrood Abbey.

Royals originally interred at the abbey church include:

• David II, King of Scots in 1371 –  tomb was destroyed during the Anglo-Scottish War when English troops sacked and burnt Holyrood Abbey
• James II, King of Scots in 1460 – tomb has not survived
• Arthur, Duke of Rothesay – second son of James IV, King of Scots in 1510, died in infancy
• Madeleine of Valois – 1st wife of James V, King of Scots in 1537, her tomb was desecrated in 1544 during the Anglo-Scottish War and her remains were reburied in the Royal Vault at Holyrood Abbey
• James, Duke of Rothesay – eldest son of James V, King of Scots in 1541, died in infancy, reburied in the Royal Vault at Holyrood Abbey
• Arthur, Duke of Albany – second son of James V, King of Scots in 1541, died in infancy, reburied in the Royal Vault at Holyrood Abbey
• James V, King of Scots in 1542, his tomb was desecrated in 1544 during the Anglo-Scottish War and his remains were reburied in the Royal Vault at Holyrood Abbey
• Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley – 2nd husband of Mary, Queen of Scots in 1567
• Lady Jean Stewart – illegitimate daughter of James V, King of Scots by his mistress Elizabeth Bethune, buried next to her father in the royal vault in 1588
• Margaret Stuart – second daughter of James VI, King of Scots in 1600, died in early childhood
• Mary of Guelders – wife of James II, King of Scots, originally buried in 1463 at Trinity College Kirk in Edinburgh which she had founded in memory of her husband. In 1848, despite a formal protest from the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, Trinity College Kirk was demolished to allow for the construction of the Waverley Railroad Station. At the time of the demolition, Mary’s remains were moved to the Royal Vault in Holyrood Abbey.

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Works Cited

• En.wikipedia.org. 2021. Holyrood Abbey – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holyrood_Abbey> [Accessed 3 April 2021].
• Historicenvironment.scot. 2021. Holyrood Abbey. [online] Available at: <https://www.historicenvironment.scot/visit-a-place/places/holyrood-abbey/> [Accessed 3 April 2021].
• Rct.uk. 2021. Highlights of the Palace of Holyroodhouse – Holyrood Abbey. [online] Available at: <https://www.rct.uk/visit/palace-of-holyroodhouse/highlights-of-the-palace-of-holyroodhouse#/#holyroodabbey> [Accessed 3 April 2021].
• Sacred-destinations.com. 2021. Holyrood Abbey – Edinburgh, Scotland. [online] Available at: <http://www.sacred-destinations.com/scotland/edinburgh-holyrood-abbey-and-palace> [Accessed 3 April 2021].