Qualla: Siege of Leith https://qualla.com/siege-of-leith en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:17 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/v/w/siege-of-leith-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Siege of Leith https://qualla.com/siege-of-leith Siege of Leith: Introduction https://qualla.com/siege-of-leith/ Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. Mary of Guise stood on the fore-wall of Edinburgh Castle and watched the dead. Stripped naked and laid along the ramparts of Leith to bake in the May sun, the English bodies looked, she told her companions, like fair tapestry. Three miles east, at the port her late husband had loved, the French garrison she had sent there held against a Protestant rebellion and the army Elizabeth I had sent to support it. The siege of Leith would not be decided by cannon. It would be decided by hunger, by ciphered letters hidden behind drug requests, by a Scotswoman's signal from a crag, and by the regent's own death inside the castle she could not leave.

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]]> Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/v/w/siege-of-leith-wp/gcvw-siege-of-leith-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Siege of Leith: The Auld Alliance Comes to Port https://qualla.com/siege-of-leith/ Photo credit Corneille de Lyon, Public domain. Scotland and France had been allied since the thirteenth century, but the alliance had never looked like this. In June 1548, eight thousand French troops landed at Leith under Andre de Montalembert. The infant Mary, Queen of Scots was shipped to France the following month. Italia...

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]]> Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/v/w/siege-of-leith-wp/gcvw-siege-of-leith-the-auld-alliance-comes-to-port.mp3 0:06 2 full Siege of Leith: The Reformation Crisis https://qualla.com/siege-of-leith/ Photo credit Kim Traynor, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Lords of the Congregation raised twelve thousand troops and called on Protestant England. Mary of Guise refortified Leith, writing to Edinburgh's provost that the works existed only as a sure retreat for herself and her company if pursued. The Lords appealed to Elizabeth, and...

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]]> Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/v/w/siege-of-leith-wp/gcvw-siege-of-leith-the-reformation-crisis.mp3 0:06 3 full Siege of Leith: Easter Mass at South Leith https://qualla.com/siege-of-leith/ Photo credit Unknown (1560), Public domain. The English bombardment opened on Easter Sunday, 14 April 1560. The cannon were placed at Clayhills and Pilrig, two flight-shots from South Leith Parish Church. Inside that church, Father Andrew Leich and the French commanders celebrated Easter mass. A cannonball passed in throug...

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]]> Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/v/w/siege-of-leith-wp/gcvw-siege-of-leith-easter-mass-at-south-leith.mp3 0:06 4 full Siege of Leith: The Failed Assault https://qualla.com/siege-of-leith/ Photo credit Kim Traynor, CC BY-SA 3.0. Pressure from London demanded results. The assault came at four in the morning on Tuesday 7 May. There were two breaches in the western ramparts, but the damage was insufficient and the scaling ladders, measured by Cuthbert Vaughan beforehand, proved too short. Reports of the dea...

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]]> Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/v/w/siege-of-leith-wp/gcvw-siege-of-leith-the-failed-assault.mp3 0:06 5 full Siege of Leith: Hunger and Ciphered Letters https://qualla.com/siege-of-leith/ Photo credit Hildon, Public domain. After 7 May, both sides turned to other tools. The English brought specialists from Newcastle to dig mines. The French smuggled coded letters out of the town in handkerchiefs. Mary of Guise sent a note to her commander d'Oysel asking him to send drugs from Leith. Grey of Wilton, ...

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]]> Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/v/w/siege-of-leith-wp/gcvw-siege-of-leith-hunger-and-ciphered-letters.mp3 0:06 6 full Siege of Leith: Death and Treaty https://qualla.com/siege-of-leith/ Photo credit Finlay McWalter, CC BY-SA 3.0. On 11 June 1560, Mary of Guise died inside Edinburgh Castle. Her death pulled the political ground out from under the French. A week's armistice was agreed on 17 June. On 20 June French and English soldiers ate together on the beach, the English bringing beef, bacon, poultry, win...

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]]> Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/v/w/siege-of-leith-wp/gcvw-siege-of-leith-death-and-treaty.mp3 0:06 7 full