Hi everyone,
If I told you about a densely packed city with towering five-story buildings, underground medical revolutions, and illegal printing presses... you probably wouldn't think of the year 1544.
But that was medieval Edinburgh—an architectural phenomenon and a "vertical city" squeezed onto a narrow volcanic ridge.
In my newest video, we are traveling back in time to walk the streets of this vibrant metropolis right before it faced absolute catastrophe.
In May 1544, King Henry VIII sent a massive invasion force with brutally simple orders: put the city to "fire and sword". His goal was to force a marriage with a two-year-old girl named Mary, Queen of Scots.
In this episode, we explore what daily life was like in those narrow, shadowy closes. We break down the timeline of the brutal siege that left the city burning for three continuous days, resulting in ninety percent destruction. More importantly, we discover how a city looked at total annihilation, chose defiance, and eventually rebuilt itself in stone to birth the Scottish Enlightenment.
The greatest architecture isn't made of stone—it's the human spirit that rebuilds after a catastrophe.
Grab a coffee and join me in 1544.
See you in the past,