Six letters from Mary Mildmay Fane, Countess of Westmorland, to her daughter Grace, Countess of Home (died 1633), survive in the Moray papers, probably kept as keepsakes by her sister-in-law, Margaret Home, Countess of Moray (died 1683). The Countess of Westmorland wrote to Grace on 9 January 1626/7 describing Christmas at Apethorpe in Northamptonshire. The…
William Schaw was master of work to James VI and Anna of Denmark, and chamberlain of her Dunfermline estates. He was in charge of royal buildings, signing accounts and receipts, and was probably the designer of the 1594 Chapel Royal at Stirling Castle.1 Schaw was responsible for refurbishments at the Prince's Tower at Stirling around…
Birrel's Diarey (sic), an important source for Edinburgh's early modern history, and published as long ago as 1798, says that George Heriot was appointed as goldsmith to Anna of Denmark on 27 July 1597, and proclaimed by trumpet in this role at the Mercat Cross. He displaced a French craftsman "Clei". Heriot's appointment is also…
Payments for food for the household of Catherine de' Medici were recorded daily, on long narrow strips of parchment. Usually the strips were signed by her Italian master of household J-B Seghiro or Seghizo (or Seghiso). Originally from Modena, he died in 1571 aged 84 and was buried in Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois, Paris.1 Joa Bapta Seghizo,…
When Mary, Countess of Home, died in London in March 1644, her body was shipped to Dunglass for burial and £300 sterling was allocated for her monument, according to her will. Settling the will was a convoluted and protracted process, in part because her son-in-law John Maitland, Earl of Lauderdale was declared delinquent, and there…
Mary, Countess of Westmorland, wrote letters to her daughter Grace Fane, Countess of Home, discussing her health and hopes of pregnancy. As noted in the catalogue of the Moray Papers, the six surviving letters include some court news and a few lines of code or cipher. Mostly the coded passages relate to possible embarrassment involving…
William Bruce was a diplomat in Poland, and wrote letters with news to Robert Cecil. He became involved in a plan to send a portrait of a Polish prince (Władysław IV Vasa) to Anna of Denmark in 1608. Bruce's draft letters explain the picture was really for Princess Elizabeth, who might someday marry the Polish…
In 1556, John Knox wrote a letter to his female Protestant following in Edinburgh, advising on suitable clothing for the godly. The new-ish French farthingale was deprecated.1 After finding some scriptural justification for censuring hairstyles, Knox wrote: 'Gif sic thingis as Esay the Prophet repruiffit in the wemen of his time be dampnabill, verdingallis, and…
There was a court in Edinburgh dealing with small debts. The officers of the court auctioned goods to settle claims on market days at Edinburgh's Mercat Cross. In September 1600, Jonet Cheyne or Schene produced a garnet garnishing for auction which she had been given as a pledge for a loan of £84 Scots made…
In Edinburgh, a court of baillies met regularly to hear complaints of bad debts and non-payments. The judgements were recorded in ledgers known as the 'Books of Decreets' which survive in Edinburgh City Archives, covering the years 1580 to 1635. The court proved a debt, typically accepting an oath made to a court officer, and…
John Workman or Warkman was a prominent artist in Edinburgh. He painted scenes for the Royal Entry of Anna of Denmark in May 1590 and decorated her coach in 1603 when she left for England, and his brother James made and painted a board for the game of the goose for James VI. John Workman…
Objects and the archive 