The murky history of Craigmillar Castle

One of the last missions of the real-life Antoine d’Arcy de la Bastie was to look after the infant King James V of Scotland at Craigmillar Castle in August 1517, while a plague swept Edinburgh. The assignment came at a very tense moment politically (as shown by the fact that Antoine was murdered the following month). The king was only five years old and various factions were vying to control him. A kidnap attempt was a very real worry – so much so that even his mother, Margaret Tudor, was effectively forbidden from seeing him. In short, the stakes were high and the whiff of conspiracy palpable – all of which inspired the plot of The Dance of Vipers, with Craigmillar in a starring role.

First things first: the castle is about three miles south-east of Edinburgh’s city centre and building began in the late 14th century. It is still in pretty good condition and similar to how de la Bastie would have experienced it in 1517, with the exception of a chapel, range and outside wall that were added afterwards. Oh, and an ancient yew tree, which I included in my first draft of the novel, only to remove it when I discovered it probably appeared a few years later.

The heart of the building is an L-shaped tower-house, surrounded by a high courtyard wall, the design making it very secure against attack. The real-life Antoine strengthened the defences further, by adding two iron gates and a new lock for the little king’s chamber. He also built a stable for the boy’s mule (another element I included in my first draft, only to give James a toy horse instead, for reasons which will be obvious if you’ve read the book).

All in all, Craigmillar is a great, brooding hulk of a place, reeking of foul play and treachery – in fact, the plot to murder Lord Darnley was hatched here a few decades later and became known as ‘the Craigmillar Bond.’ So even though the real-life Antoine’s stay here passed without incident, I thought it would make a great setting for some skulduggery. Visit it yourself, and you’ll see what I mean.