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n There is a popular tradition that James Douglas, 4thnEarl of Morton, who was the fourth Regent during the minority of the futurenKing James VI of Scotland (James I of England), saw the Halifax Gibbet during anvisit to the town and in 1564 had a version of his own constructed innEdinburgh. However, Morton was only in England three times, once as a prisonernin 1547, a second time in 1560, on a mission to the court of Queen Elizabeth,nand lastly in 1566, when he stayed for a number of years in retirement. It isnunlikely that he saw the Halifax Gibbet on the first occasion and, clearly, thenlater date is after the Scottish machine was made and in use, so only thenmiddle date is possible.
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| James Douglas – Earl of Morton |
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nThere is a possible reason for the confusion – Morton didnsee the Halifax Gibbet, or at least heard of it, and mentioned it to a membernof the Town Council of Edinburgh. Archibald Douglas, a kinsman of Morton, wasnProvost of Edinburgh, and in the Treasurer’s Accounts there is an entry for,
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n“ThenCompte of the Heding Aix maid the tyme of the comptaris office, as eftirnfollowis, at the command of the Provost, Baillies & Counsale,”n
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nwhichnplaces the construction of the ‘Heding Aix’ after September 29thn1564. Maybe the two Douglases have been conflated. There is another tradition,nwhich history proves to be false, that Morton was the first and last person tonbe executed by the machine in Scotland. In fact, the first person to be sonexecuted was Thomas Scott, on April 3rd 1565, and although Mortonnwas eventually beheaded on June 2nd 1581, one account says,
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n‘Thisnfatal instrument, at least the pattern thereof, the cruel Regent had broughtnfrom abroad to behead the Laird of Pennecuik.’n
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| The Old Tolbooth, Edinburgh |
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nRegardless of who had itnmade, and from where they took their inspiration, it stood by the City Cross onnthe Royal Mile, facing the Old Tolbooth, and was used on a regular basis. Itnbecame known as the Scottish Maiden, some say because it stood unused for suchna long period of time (but, as we have seen, it was in use almost immediatelynafter completion), others say it is a corruption of the Gaelic mod-dun,nmeaning ‘enclosed mound’ where ancient courts of justice were held, hencenMaiden Castle at Edinburgh, the maiden craig of Dumfriesshire, the maiden rocksnof Carrick and Fife, and the maiden stones of Ayton, Garrioch, Tullibody, andnClackmannan.
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| The Scottish Maiden |
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nIn the Edinburgh account books, it is variously called the Maiden,nthe Miadin, the Madin or the Madyn, and, interestingly, although an early entrynrecords five shillings being paid to Andrew Gotterson, a smith, for ‘gryndingnof the Madyn’, the same man was paid another five shillings at a later datenfor ‘grynding the Widow’, hinting that the popular name of the thingnchanged over the years.
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| The Scottish Maiden |
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nThe Scottish Maiden is made of oak and consists of anbeam, five feet long, into which two uprights, ten feet tall and set twelveninches apart, are fixed. A brace is hinged to the top beam and extends beyondnit, and into which a pulley is set. The blade is a horizontal iron blade, facednwith steel, weighted with seventy-five pounds of lead, and is thirteen inches longnand ten-and-a-half inches broad; it runs in copper-lined grooves in thenuprights. In use, a rope is passed through a hole in the lead on the blade andnthe blade is drawn up over the pulley. An eye on the other end of the rope isnpassed over a short peg, which holds it in place until the executioner pressesna longer lever on the other end of the short, restraining peg, which withdrawsnand releases the blade, which descends and decapitates the prisoner.
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| The execution of the Earl of Argyle by the Maiden |
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nAnnexamination of the list of people beheaded by the Maiden reveals that high andnlow, rich and poor, young and old, male and female, were all put beneath hernblade, and we know that over one hundred and twenty persons were executed overna period of over one hundred and forty years. Its use was discontinued in 1710,nPennant, in his Tour of Scotland of 1776, reports seeing it in a roomnunder the Parliament House and it now stands in the National Museum ofnScotland, Edinburgh.
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