Editing Edinburgh Castle (section)

==== Mons Meg ====
{{main|Mons Meg}}

[[File:Mons Meg, Medieval Bombard, Edinburgh, Scotland. Pic 01.jpg|thumb|right|The siege gun Mons Meg, described in a 17th-century document as "the great iron murderer called Muckle-Meg" (''muckle'' being [[Scots language|Scots]] for 'big')]]

The 15th-century siege gun or [[Bombard (weapon)|bombard]] known as Mons Meg is displayed on a terrace in front of St. Margaret's Chapel. It was constructed in the [[Flanders]] on the orders of [[Philip III, Duke of Burgundy]], in 1449, and given as a gift to King [[James II of Scotland|James II]], the husband of his niece, in 1457.<ref name="Tabraham 1997, p.76"/> The {{convert|13000|lb|t|adj=on}} gun rests on a reconstructed carriage, the details of which were copied from an old stone relief that can be seen inside the tunnel of the Gatehouse at the castle entrance. Some of Meg's large gun stones, weighing around {{convert|330|lb|kg}} each,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.edinburghcastle.gov.uk/explore-the-castle/highlights/castlehighlights.aspx?start=5 |title=Mons Meg |website=Edinburgh Castle website |publisher=Historic Scotland |access-date=24 October 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029191844/http://www.edinburghcastle.gov.uk/explore-the-castle/highlights/castlehighlights.aspx?start=5 |archive-date=29 October 2013 }}</ref> are displayed alongside it. On 3 July 1558, it was fired in salute to celebrate the marriage of [[Mary, Queen of Scots]], to the French [[Dauphin of France|dauphin]], [[François II]]. The royal Treasurer's Accounts of the time record a payment to soldiers for retrieving one of her stones from [[Trinity, Edinburgh|Wardie Muir]] near the [[Firth of Forth]], fully {{convert|2|mi|km|0}} from the castle.<ref>{{cite book |title=Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland |volume=X |year=1913 |pages=lxxv–lxxvi, 367}}</ref> The gun has been defunct since its barrel burst while firing a salute to greet the Duke of Albany, the future [[James II of England|King James VII and II]], on his arrival in Edinburgh on 30 October 1681.<ref>Grant (1850), p. 175.</ref>