This article is a timeline of the history of Edinburgh, Scotland, up to the present day. It traces its rise from an early hill fort and later royal residence to the bustling city and capital of Scotland that it is today.
1st millennium
Pre-1st century AD: Late Bronze Age (c.600 BC) weapons were found in Duddingston Loch in 1778. Traces of four Iron Age forts have been identified at Arthur's Seat, Dunsapie Crag, Salisbury Crags and Samson's Ribs.
2nd century AD: Roman forts were built and manned at Cramond and Inveresk on the western and eastern margins of the present-day city.
c.600: The traditional date of the military campaign, starting out from Edinburgh ("Din Eydin"), commemorated in the Old Welsh poem Y Gododdin by the poet Aneirin. At this time the inhabitants of the region spoke predominantly Old Welsh (the ancestor of modern Welsh). The name of the king or chief whom the poem names as the leader of the Gododdin was Mynyddawc Mwynvawr.
c.638: Edinburgh is besieged by unknown forces, according to a chronicle kept at Iona in the Hebrides. Many scholars have supposed that this siege marks the passing of control of the fort of Din Eydin from the Gododdin to the Northumbrian Angles, led by Oswald of Northumbria
731: Edinburgh is the most northerly outpost of the Anglian kingdom of Northumbria at the time of Bede, who completed his History in this year
840s–50s: Cinaed mac Ailpin (Kenneth MacAlpin) raids Northumbrian Lothian, burning Dunbar and possibly Edinburgh, from his kingdom of the Scots north of the Firth of Forth
854: The 12thC chronicler Symeon of Durham mentions a church at Edwinesburch in 854 AD
934: Æthelstan attacks Lothian – according to the Annals of Clonmacnoise, "Adalstan king of the Saxons preyed & spoyled the kingdom of Scotland to Edenburrogh, & yet the Scottishmen compelled him to return without any great victory"
c.960: Edinburgh comes under Scottish rule during the reign of Indulf (954–62)
11th century c.1018: Malcolm II secures Lothian for his kingdom after the Battle of CarhamFry 2010, p. 35
1074: Refortification of the castle begins under Malcolm III who uses it increasingly as a royal residence
1093: Queen Margaret dies in the castle and is taken to Dunfermline for burial
12th century
1124 to 1127: Royal Charter by David I granting a toft in "burgo meo de Edenesburg" to the Priory of Dunfermline, perhaps implying Royal burgh status for Edinburgh
1128: King David I founds Holyrood Abbey
c.1130: Probable date of St Margaret's Chapel erected inside Edinburgh Castle, now recognised as Edinburgh's oldest building
c.1143: David I grants the Augustinian canons of Holyrood leave "to establish a burgh between that church and my burgh", thus founding the burgh of Canongate
1162: Edinburgh is the caput of the Lothian sheriffdom
13th century 1230: Alexander II founds large Dominican friary (Blackfriars); a hospital is also open
1243: Edinburgh's parish church dedicated to St Giles
1274: Lothian is an archdeaconry of St. Andrews
1296: Edward I captures and garrisons Edinburgh Castle after a three-day-long siege employing catapults
14th century 1314: Edinburgh Castle captured by Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray; the castle is slighted on the orders of Robert the Bruce to deny English occupiers a stronghold in the futureFry 2010, p. 69
1326–1331: Edinburgh's contribution to Scottish burgh taxes is 15%, half that of Aberdeen
1328: The Treaty of Edinburgh is signed guaranteeing Scottish independenceFry 2010, p. 70
1329: Robert I's charter confirms the town royal burgh status with powers over the port of Leith and its mills
1330: Wall between High Street and Cowgate is first mentioned
1334: Scotland loses Berwick and Edinburgh Castle to the English (the loss of her main port increases the importance of Edinburgh and Leith)
1335: The castle is refortified by Edward III of England
1341: Scots regain castle from English
1349: An outbreak of the Black Death occurs
1356: Burnt Candlemas: Edward III burns the town but then retreats from lack of provisions
1357: David II returns after 11 years of captivity in England
1360: The castle is the usual royal residence, being strengthened in stone
1363: First reference to Grassmarket as "the street called Newbygging under the castle"
1364: David II grants ground for building of new tron (weigh beam)
1365: Jean Froissart visits Edinburgh. In his Chronicles he calls Edinburgh the "capital of Scotland" and the "Paris of Scotland"
1367: David II begins work on major fortifications at castle
1371: David II dies unexpectedly at the castle
1384: Duke of Lancaster extorts ransom following end of truce
1385: Richard II of England burns the town
1386: Robert II grants ground for building of a tolbooth
1387: Five new chapels are added to the Church of St Giles following English damage in 1385
1398: Edinburgh buys the east bank of the Water of Leith at South Leith from Sir Robert Logan with the right to erect wharves and quays and to make roads through the lands of Restalrig (the later Easter Road) for the transport of goods and merchandise to and from the town
1400: Henry IV attempts to storm castle when Robert III refuses homage.
15th century 1403: The earliest burgh record mentions the "Pretorio burgi" – the Old Tolbooth
1414: Edinburgh is granted further lands at Leith by Sir Robert Logan
1427: King's Wall first recorded
1437: The murder of James I at Perth leads to Edinburgh becoming the main royal residence and site of Parliaments, hence seen increasingly as the capital of Scotland
1438: The Old Tolbooth is used by the Estates of Parliament for the first time
1440: The Earl of Douglas and his brother are murdered at the castle by Chancellor Crichton
1440s: Edinburgh has 47% of Scottish wool trade
1450: James II grants charter permitting the building of a defensive town wall
1451: First record of Incorporation of Skinners
1455–1458: Greyfriars (Franciscan) friary is founded
1457: The 20in (508mm) siege gun "Mons Meg" is received at the castle; Deacon of goldsmiths begins assaying and marking of works
1458: Edinburgh has one of three supreme courts in the country
1460: Trinity College Kirk and Hospital founded by Mary of Guelders
1467–1469: St Giles' gains collegiate status, a provost and 14 prebendaries are established
1474: Furriers and Tailors crafts become incorporations
1475: Websters, Wrights and Masons crafts incorporated
1477: Charter of James III ratifying and confirming the location of markets within the burgh; The Hammermen (smiths) are incorporated
1479: A hospital is set up in Leith Wynd; Cordiners second Seal of Cause (a charter of privileges) granted
1482: James III awards the Crafts of Edinburgh the flag known as the 'Blue Blanket'
1485: Oppressive rules against dealings with inhabitants of Leith; stone tenements appear in the town
1488: Seal of Cause granted to the Incorporation of Fleshers
1490: The Franciscan friary closes
1492: Goldsmiths, originally part of Incorporation of Hammermen, form their own incorporation; Baxters incorporated
1497: Outbreak of the "grandgore" (syphilis); infected persons are quarantined at the King's command on the island of Inchkeith in the Firth of Forth
1500: Edinburgh pays 60% of Scotland's customs revenue; Waulkers craft granted Seal of Cause; c.1500 Candlemakers receive Seal of Cause
16th century 1501-5: James IV builds Holyrood Palace
1503: James IV marries Margaret Tudor
1505: Barber surgeons form incorporation – later becomes Royal College of Surgeons
1507: James IV grants a patent for the first printing press in Scotland to Walter Chepman and Androw Myllar
1508: James IV charter allows first feuing of the burgh muir
1510: Edinburgh purchases Newhaven from the Crown
1512: Launching of the "Great Michael" at Newhaven
1513: Defeat at Flodden leads to a new southern wall being begun
1520: "Cleanse the Causeway" (30 April); pitched battle on the High Street between the Douglas and Hamilton clans leads to the Earl of Angus (Douglas) seizing control of the town; Edinburgh is the "seat of courts of justice"
1523: The town has 14 craft guilds
1528: James V enters the town with an army, to assert his right to rule; Holyrood Palace is extended
c.1528–c.1542: printing in Edinburgh re-established under royal licence granted to Thomas Davidson
1530: There are 288 brewers, mostly "alewives", in the town, one for every 40 people; Bonnetmakers craft receives Seal of Cause
1532: The Court of Session is established
1534: Norman Gourlay and David Stratton are burnt as heretics
1535–1556: Edinburgh contributes over 40% of Scotland's burgh taxation
1537: Janet Douglas, Lady Glamis is burnt at the stake
c.1540: Magdalen Chapel built in the CowgateInventory of the Ancient Monuments of the City of Edinburgh (Edinburgh: HMSO, 1951), pp. 41, 43.
1544: Earl of Hertford burns the town, including Holyrood Palace and Abbey
1547: Scottish army defeated by an English army at the battle of Pinkie six miles east of Edinburgh; the routed Scots are pursued as far as Holyrood outside the town walls
1550: John Napier of Merchiston, discoverer of logarithms, born
1558: Reformers destroy Blackfriars Monastery and Church; the Flodden Wall is completed; Edinburgh's population is about 12,000; there are 367 merchants, and 400 craftsmen
1559: Town council appoints John Knox minister at St. Giles
1560: English and French troops at the Siege of Leith withdraw under Treaty of Edinburgh; Scottish Reformation Parliament abolishes papal authority in Scotland
1561: Town council quells apprentice riot against banning (by 1555 Act of Parliament) of traditional May Day "Robin Hood" pageant; Mary, Queen of Scots returns to Scotland
1562: St. Giles' churchyard having reached capacity, Queen Mary grants town the use of the grounds of the Greyfriars as a new burial ground; Convenery of the Trades of Edinburgh established
1565: Mary, Queen of Scots, marries Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley; the beheading machine known as "The Maiden" is introduced for executions
1566: David Rizzio is stabbed to death and Queen Mary is held captive in Holyrood Palace by Scottish nobles. She escapes to Dunbar Castle and returns to Edinburgh with an army 9 days after Rizzio's murder.
1567: Darnley is assassinated at the Kirk o' Field; the prime suspect James Hepburn is cleared of the murder; Edinburgh acquires South Leith
1569: The town is hit by an outbreak of the plague
1571: Netherbow Port rebuilt
1573: The Marian civil war is concluded when "the Queen's Men" are ousted from the castle by the Regent Morton
1574: The castle's Half-Moon Battery is built; there are seven mills in Edinburgh
1579: James VI makes his State Entry to Edinburgh
1580s: There are some 400 merchants in Edinburgh
1581: James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton is executed for complicity in the murder of Lord Darnley
1582: The University of Edinburgh is founded and given a royal charter – it is Scotland's fourth university
1583: Edinburgh, previously a single parish, divided into four parishes, each with its own minister; There are an estimated 500 merchants and 500 craftsmen in the town, of which 250 are tailors
1585: Plague comes to Edinburgh, the sick are quarantined at the Burgh Muir.Richard Oram, "'It cannot be decernit quha are clean and quha are foulle' Responses to Epidemic Disease in Sixteenth and Seventeenth-Century Scotland", Renaissance and Reformation / Renaissance et Reforme, 30:4 (2006), pp. 13–39.
1588: 736 merchants and 717 craftsmen enlisted for defence of the town against the Spanish Armada threat
1590: First paper mill in Scotland opens at Mungo Russell's Dalry Mills (near Roseburn).Robert Waterston, 'Early Paper Making Near Edinburgh', Book of the Old Edinburgh Club, 25 (Edinburgh, 1945), pp. 56–58.