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…
Two letters about cheese
Around six letters sent to Agnes Leslie, Lady Lochleven survive, four in the National Library of Scotland and two in the National Records of Scotland. Two letters are about cheese: cheese bought in Stirling by her agent Alexander Bruce, and cheese gifted to Marion Douglas, wife of the keeper of Edinburgh Castle, George Douglas of…
Fabrics from a Dundee merchant, 1573
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…
Shopping for Mary Queen of Scots in 1548
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…
Anna of Denmark: Costume, Colours, and Identities in Scotland
This is a talk I gave at Riddles Court in Edinburgh and Jesus College, Oxford, in 2019 about Anna of Denmark in Scotland, 1589 to 1603 Introduction In Scotland Anna of Denmark had her own household separate from the kings’. These people lived with her and worked with her. An ambassador called it ‘her small…
Keeping a camel at Holyrood Palace
James VI of Scotland, like other renaissance monarchs, kept unusual or exotic pets. We know a lot about his lion from the complaint made by its keeper, Wilhelm Froelich, who had brought the animal from Denmark. Not all of these animals were diplomatic gifts with an obvious heraldic tie-in. A skipper from Leith, John Downy…
Andrew Mansioun: A French woodcarver in sixteenth-century Scotland
Andrew Mansioun is mentioned as a French craftsman in several records from the 1530s until his death in Edinburgh in 1579. He worked on the buildings of James V and fitted out the royal ships, and made the cradle for Mary, Queen of Scots. He probably worked on the carved oak medallions for Stirling Castle…
The Goldsmith, the Footman, the Queen, and the Earl of Bothwell
Jacob Kroger (d. 1594) was a German goldsmith who worked for Anna of Denmark in Scotland and stole her jewels. Jacob Kroger was a citizen of Lüneburg, ruled by Anna of Denmark's brother-in-law, Henry Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg.[1] He completed his apprenticeship as a goldsmith in 1575 instructed by the master goldsmiths Tönnies Dierssen and…
‘Very weary of their service’ – Working for Anna of Denmark in Scotland
In July 1602 Jens Pierson wanted to go home to visit his parents and friends in Denmark. He had worked for twelve years in Scotland looking after Anna of Denmark’s horses. James VI noted he ‘as yit is unrecompensit in any sort’ and gave him ten gold crowns. Anna had recommended him to her brother's…
My Own Making: Women and textile production in seventeenth-century Scotland
In July 1676 James, 2nd Marquis of Douglas recorded his use of relatively plain hangings which were now becoming unfashionable, writing to his factor about new hangings for the hall at Douglas Castle. The marquis was ashamed of the old hangings of plain sad coloured (grey or brown) cloth and requested new cloth which would…
Objects and the archive 