Stirling Castle A few structures of the fourteenth century remain, while the outer defences fronting the town date from the early eighteenth century. Before the union with England, Stirling Castle was also one of the most used of the many Scottish royal residences, very much a palace as well as a fortress. Several Scottish Kings and Queens have been crowned at Stirling, including Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1542, and others were born or died there. There have been at least eight sieges of Stirling Castle, including several during the Wars of Scottish Independence, with the last being in 1746, when Bonnie
Opera in Scotland a sympathetic character in southern Europe due to her Catholicism. In a 2001 article, "Mary Stuart and the opera in her honour by Carlo Coccia", Professor Alexander Weatherson writes: Other depictions in opera Rossini's "Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra", 1815, does not deal directly with Queen Mary, but does has several Scottish characters in it, and also relatives of the Scottish queen. Macbeth was a genuine historical figure: Mac Bethad mac Findlaích (Modern Gaelic: MacBheatha mac Fhionnlaigh), anglicised as Macbeth, and nicknamed "Rí Deircc" (Righ Dearg), "the Scarlet King"; died 15 August 1057) was King of the Scots (also known as the