When Mary of Guise went to Dumbarton to put her daughter on a boat to France in August 1548, it was thought she would sail with Mary, Queen of Scots to Whithorn. The Master of Ruthven wrote to the English commander, Lord Grey of Wilton, that "For newes, the Queenes grace of Scotlande taketh shyppeborde…
James Murray (died 1613) was a younger brother of the laird of Polmaise near Stirling. In 1568 he was a friend of Regent Moray and William Kirkcaldy of Grange, and looked after the keys of the coffer in Edinburgh Castle where the jewels of Mary, Queen of Scots, were kept. He seems to have been…
Marjorie Livingstone died on 13 February 1577. She was the widow of James Ogilvie of Cardell and Findlater and had been a maid of honour in the household of Mary of Guise. Guise bought clothes for her in 1553.1 Her sister Mary was one of Mary, Queen of Scots’ four Maries, and Marjorie had borrowed…
Margaret Purves and George Litilljohn had a booth on Edinburgh’s royal mile, selling hats and textile accessories. They also supplied goods to stallholders known as “cramers” for resale. Much of their stock was imported from Flanders and debts for merchandise in Flemish money are listed in Margaret’s 1606 will. The business model seems very similar…
Clothes and jewellery in a will of Annabell Murray, Countess of Mar A will of Annabell Murray, Countess of Mar (died 1603), dated 16 November 1602 is held by the National Library of Scotland.1 Various bequests detail her magnificent jewellery and costume. Annabell was the keeper of Prince Henry at Stirling Castle, and took part…
Rebecca Graham worked making textiles in Edinburgh, weaving fringes and passementerie. She made a band or sash for Elizabeth Stewart in 1603, the younger sister of Margaret Stewart, Countess of Nottingham. Graham's business can be compared with the London silkwomen, who worked in a legal framework giving them some exemption from customs of coverture that…
When Mary, Queen of Scots was deposed and a prisoner in Lochleven Castle, her half-brother James Stewart was made Regent of Scotland. As Regent Moray he needed money to rule and to subdue his enemies, the supporters of his sister. He raised funds by coining her silverware, and asking his treasurer Robert Richardson and his…
Katherine Erskine married Thomas Hamilton, later 2nd Earl of Haddington, and was known as Lady Binning. She died in 1635, and her mother Marie Stewart, Countess of Mar, was anxious to recover jewels which her servant Charles Mowatt had pawned. He had also died. Marie Stewart gave her agent John Wallace an inventory of the…
A Dundee merchant’s letter offering dress fabrics, June 1573 Peter Clayhills wrote to Agnes Leslie, Lady Lochleven, sending her order of fabrics. He offered her summer dress fabrics, and velvet from the stock that had ‘come home’, and cloth he expected to arrive at midsummer. One fabric was 'very light for gowning in summer'. This…
Among the papers of Mary of Guise there is a record of cloth of gold bought in 1548 for three gowns for Mary Queen of Scots (1542-1587). Her agent Henri Cleutin, sieur d’Oysel, was instructed to buy the fabric from merchants who supplied the French court. Cleutin, known as a diplomat, as a soldier during the…
Objects and the archive 