The abbey of Holyrood was founded in the twelfth century. During the late Middle Ages the monastery’s guest house gradually evolved into a royal residence. In the early 1500s King James IV ordered the creation of a new palace next to the original religious buildings. His son, James V (the father of Mary Queen of Scots), continued the building work, creating an impressive Renaissance residence. In May 1544 the English sacked both the palace and abbey. The Earl of Hertford, who commanded the English forces, boasted that he left Holyrood Abbey ‘wholly burnt and desolate’.