Throughout the course of British history, different monarchs favored different types of castles as their main residences. Their choices were guided as much by their situation as by the castle’s physical power, residential capacity', or visual splendor. Over the course of its lengthy history, for example, Edinburgh Castle has functioned as a royal residence, a military citadel and store for royal artillery, a treasury, a prison, and a repository for the government’s records. Yet, despite Edinburgh’s position in the Scottish capital city, the Stew'art monarchs actually preferred Stirling Castle as their primary fortress.
Kdinburgh CAsm. K. Scotland's rovYil stronghold at Kdiiihurgh has capably served the monarchy oer time as a pris'atclv frrrtified military - residetree. Changing repeatedly overtire oonrse of its history, lire castle featrrres a nide range of stniehires, and today still pres ides a home to the milrtan-vr hilealso allowing pnhiie access.
I, ike Edinburgh, Stirling stood atop a plateau of volcanic bedrock; however, it also controlled passage bchvccti northern and southern Scotland and access to the North Sea. The castle's substantial defenses atid impressive royal bnildii tg. s created the clear impression of noble dominance, almost as if the entire site had erupted from the bedrock just to cotntnand the region. Scottish rulers made extensive nse of Stirling Castle as a royal administrative center and held Parliament and State ceremonies inside the great hall.
The “Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London" has stalwartly performed a varich' of functions during the ten centuries of its existence, including acting as an impregnable fortress, a prison, and as the king’s zoo (ITenry 111 established a royal menagerie inside the ca. stle to house an elephant, bears, lions, and other exotic animals presented to him bv the crown heads of several European nations), Edward 1 hnilt a royal mint inside the castle and added a trea, surv to hon. se the Crown Jewels. T he Tudors expanded the castle’s role as a prison and staged scores of political executions both on Tower Green and on Tower Hill, where 125 prisoners lost their lives. During the seventeenth ccntiuy, the castle acc|uired a heightened military role with the occupation of the Office of Ordnance, which established munitions stores, military workshops, a barracks for the permanent garrison, and gun batteries at the site. T he Tower of London also contained two armories. In tlic 1840s. the army transferred the mint, zoo, and records office Elsewhere, but the formidable castle still ensures the security of the Crown Jewels, which are stored in vaults and displayed in the Jewel House.
World History
