There was a significant outbreak of plague in Edinburgh and Leith in April 1585. Sick people were isolated on the town's common grounds. Robert Rollock closed the town's college, the University of Edinburgh, from May 1585 to February 1586. The first known death was a woman living in Fishmarket Close.William Moir Bryce, "The Great Plague of 1585", Book of the Old Edinburgh Club, 10 (1918), pp. 184–189: Karen Jillings, "Hercules Rollock and the Edinburgh Plague of 1585", The Bottle Imp, 2014John Shrewsbury, A History of the Bubonic Plague (Cambridge, 1970), p. 256–260.
Plague comes to Perth
There was plague in July 1584 at West Wemyss in Fife, said to have been brought from Flanders.John Shrewsbury, A History of the Bubonic Plague (Cambridge, 1970), p. 256: James Campbell Irons, Leith and its antiquities, p. 20. In September 1584 it was said that four servants had died at the court of King James VI. The King was staying at Ruthven Castle (Huntingtower) near Perth, where Lupold von Wedel saw him in St John's Kirk.Gottfied von Bülow, "Journey Through England and Scotland made by Lupold von Wedel", Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, vol. 9 (London, 1895), p. 245. James went to Tullibardine Castle and Stirling Castle to avoid the plague.Robert Scott Fittis, Chronicles of Perthshire (Perth, 1877), pp. 375–376.
According to David Moysie, there were six houses in Perth known to be infected. Some members of the royal household had been lodged in the town and James left these servants behind, "enclosed" at Ruthven Castle.Robert Scott Fittis, Chronicles of Perthshire (Perth, 1877), pp. 375–376: Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland by David Moysie (Edinburgh, 1830), p. 51, 150: Joseph Bain, Border Papers, 1, p. 156 no. 258. As many as 1,427 people died in Perth from plague between September 1584 and August 1585.Richard Oram, "'It cannot be decernit quha are clean and quha are foulle' Responses to Epidemic Disease in Sixteenth and Seventeenth-Century Scotland", Renaissance and Reformation / Renaissance et Reforme, 30:4 (2006), pp. 13–39 at 21. : The Chronicle of Perth, p. 4. Wedding parties and banquets were banned in Perth for fear of spreading infection. Infected people were placed in lodges outside the town.Margo Tod, The Perth Kirk Session Books (Edinburgh: SHS, 2012), pp. 41, 54–55, 309.
A collection for relief was organised by the Edinburgh lawyers Oliver Colt and David Lawtie.James David Marwick, Extracts from the records of the Burgh of Edinburgh: 1573-1589 (Edinburgh, 1882), pp. 418–419. James VI suspended the holding of any court cases in Edinburgh concerning people living north of the River Forth.Steven J. Reid, The Early Life of James VI, A Long Apprenticeship (Edinburgh: John Donald, 2023), p. 259: David Masson, Register of the Privy Council of Scotland: Addenda, 14 (Edinburgh, 1898), p. 363. In March 1585, Margaret Fleming, Countess of Atholl, was staying in Edinburgh's Canongate. She wrote to Mary, Queen of Scots, that she had found it difficult to send a letter "by reason of the contagious sickness that hath been, and yet is in this realm".William Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1913), p. 611 no. 586: HMC Calendar of the Manuscripts of the Marquess of Salisbury, 3, p. 26.
Plague in Edinburgh A woman's death from plague on 30 April 1585 in Simon Marjoribank's house in Fishmarket Close came to the attention of the Edinburgh burgh council. According to Robert Johnston's account, she was first thought to have been in labour.Steven J. Reid, The Early Life of James VI, A Long Apprenticeship (Edinburgh: John Donald, 2023), p. 259. It was said she had brought the plague from Perth.Moir Bryce 1940, p. 184: Robert Chambers, Domestic Annals of Scotland, 1 (Edinburgh, 1874), p. 157: Birrel's "Diarey": Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland by David Moysie, p. 52: Thomas Napier Thomson, History of the Kirk of Scotland by David Calderwood, 4 (Edinburgh, 1843), p. 366. The records of the burgh council say the death was in McCalyeon's lodging within John Young the tailor's land in Fishmarket Close, and the tailor and his colleague (a "marrow") had visited other houses in the town. The houses were to be enclosed or shut up and watched. On 5 May, watchers were appointed at the West Port and Nether Bow to prevent vagabonds who might be infected entering the city, especially those coming from the ferry over the Forth at South Queensferry.James David Marwick, Extracts from the records of the Burgh of Edinburgh: 1573-1589 (Edinburgh, 1882), pp. 413–415.
By 9 May, two more people had died in John Young's land, and three who were still alive were to be taken outside the city limits at the house of the late Adam Purves beside St Roch's Chapel. Two plague cleansers, Alexander French and John Spier, were summoned from Dysart and Wemyss to look after the "seik folkis". The cleansers wore black jupes with a white patch or band so they could be recognised. The clothing of the sick was burnt. One of the children of the miller Walter Ochiltree died, and the rest of the family was sent to the lodgings being built near Adam Purvis's house.James David Marwick, Extracts from the records of the Burgh of Edinburgh: 1573-1589 (Edinburgh, 1882), pp. 416–417, 419.Douglas Baugh, "St Roch's Chapel and Plague on the Burgh Muir of Edinburgh", Book of the Old Edinburgh Club, 13 (2017), pp. 105–126. Alexander Smith was appointed as executioner of the "foul folk" for those found guilty of concealing infected people. A man was executed for stealing "foul gear" in June.James David Marwick, Extracts from the records of the Burgh of Edinburgh: 1573-1589 (Edinburgh, 1882), pp. 418, 422.
James Stewart, Earl of Arran was Provost of Edinburgh. He left the city and entertained James VI at Dirleton Castle for twelve days in May 1585, while there was plague in Edinburgh. The entertainment included a sumptuous banquet and a Robin Hood play. James VI returned to Edinburgh, visiting St Giles Cathedral on 9 June, then went to Falkland Palace in Fife, where he received the English ambassador Edward Wotton, and Dunfermline Palace where he gave an audience to three Danish diplomats.Steven J. Reid, The Early Life of James VI, A Long Apprenticeship (Edinburgh: John Donald, 2023), pp. 265–67: David Masson, Register of the Privy Council of Scotland: 1578-1585, vol. 3 (Edinburgh, 1880), p. 744: Calendar State Papers Scotland, 1584–1585, 7 (Edinburgh, 1913), p. 663 no. 634: David Calderwood, iv, p. 366: Moysie (1830), p. 53. The Privy Council gave orders than anyone found with no lawful business in Falkland town would be ordered to leave.Clare Jackson, The Mirror of Great Britain: A Life of James VI & I (Allen Lane, 2025), p. 177. According to David Calderwood, the plague followed in King James's wake.Thomas Napier Thomson, History of the Kirk of Scotland by David Calderwood, 4 (Edinburgh, 1843), p. 372.
James Henrysoun was appointed as surgeon to visit and diagnose the sick. A place was built to keep the possessions of the infected at the lower entrance of Greyfriars Kirkyard near Cowgatehead. Steven Bannatyne made inventories of goods in houses suspected to be infected and Francis Loch, a "fowleman", took charge of such "foul goods".James David Marwick, Extracts from the Burgh Records of Edinburgh, 1573–1589 (Edinburgh, 1882), pp. 420, 423, 436, 442. Cleansing of houses in the town seems to have involved fumigation with smoke, and John Kerr's house caught fire.James David Marwick, Extracts from the Burgh Records of Edinburgh, 1573–1589 (Edinburgh, 1882), p. 430.
A shelter called the "Greitt Fowle Luge" was built on the Burgh Muir at "Adam Purvis's Acres" for sick people. The site was near Canaan Lane in present day Morningside.Moir Bryce 1940, pp. 184–185. The "cleansed" were lodged to the west of this building, and newly suspected "foul" persons to the east. John Forrest was Master of the Cleansers, and another cleanser was appointed Bailie of the Muir. Robert Fairlie of the Braid provided a house for a brewery. There were so many people on the muir that the council ordered that their beer should be brewed thinner. Cleansed persons allowed home were confined to their houses for 15 days. A light coffin or bier of sawn deals was made for burials of the infected dead.James David Marwick, Extracts from the Burgh Records of Edinburgh, 1573–1589 (Edinburgh, 1882), pp. 422, 430–437.
In July 1585, Alexander Smith, the "fowle hangman", was chained to the gibbet for a time for disobedience. William Fairlie was asked to provide the "foul-clengers" on Edinburgh burgh moor, who disinfected plague victim's goods, with a staff topped with a wicker taper. The Danish ambassadors' proposals were planned to be heard at a Convention of the Three Estates at Cupar in July, and a Parliament was held at St Andrews at the end of the month. In August, the plague came to St Andrews and James VI went on a progress and hunting trip to Inchmurrin at Loch Lomond, accompanied by Wotton.William Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 8 (Edinburgh, 1914), p. 6 no. 7: Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland by David Moysie, pp. 53–54: Edmund Lodge, Illustrations of British History, vol. 2 (London, 1791), p. 311. Four Flemish cleansers were employed in Edinburgh in September. They were allowed the use of the late Mungo Brady's house.James David Marwick, Extracts from the records of the Burgh of Edinburgh: 1573-1589 (Edinburgh, 1882), p. 432.
Edward Wotton wrote that the plague was in most of the "good towns" of Scotland in September 1585 and that Edinburgh and St Andrews "through the great mortality are almost desolate".Steven J. Reid, The Early Life of James VI, A Long Apprenticeship (Edinburgh: John Donald, 2023), p. 260: William Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 8 (Edinburgh, 1914), p. 117 no. 148. In October, James VI went further into the countryside to attend the wedding of Lord Fleming at Kincardine Castle at Auchterarder.Thomas Napier Thomson, History of the Kirk of Scotland by David Calderwood, 4 (Edinburgh, 1843), p. 381. James VI was unable to raise a force to resist his rebels lords, Mar, Angus, and the Master of Glamis, who came from exile in England to Stirling in November and ousted his favourite James Stewart, Earl of Arran.Alexander Courtney, James VI, Britannic Prince: King of Scots and Elizabeth's Heir, 1566–1603 (Routledge, 2024), pp. 84–85: Steven J. Reid, The Early Life of James VI: A Long Apprenticeship (Edinburgh: John Donald, 2023), pp. 270–272: William Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 8 (Edinburgh, 1914), p. 134 no. 177.
At the end of November 1585, James VI moved from Stirling and set up the courts and exchequer at Linlithgow Palace and held a Parliament.G. P. V. Akrigg, Letters of King James VI and I (University of California, 1984), p. 68: William K. Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 8 (Edinburgh, 1914), p. 161. Almost at the end of the epidemic, Edinburgh burgh council transferred the sick to a property known as the "White House" owned by Euphame MacCalzean.David Masson, Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, 1585–1592, vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1881), pp. 45–46: James David Marwick, Extracts from the Burgh Records of Edinburgh, 1573–1589 (Edinburgh, 1882), p. 444.Moir Bryce 1940, pp. 187–188. James VI returned via Corstorphine to Edinburgh Castle then Holyrood Palace in the first week of January 1586.William Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 8 (Edinburgh, 1914), no. 233.
Deaths