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…
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…
Hugh Paterson was a lawyer, joint deputy-keeper of the signet, and builder of Bannockburn House. He was made a baronet in 1686, apparently by the influence of Alexander Stuart, 5th Earl of Moray. Paterson had worked for the earl’s mother Margaret Home, Countess of Moray. She bequeathed him a small necklace of pearls, bracelets, and…
Jane Savage Paulet, Marchioness of Winchester, by Gilbert Jackson Mary Fane, Countess of Westmorland, wrote to her daughter, Grace, Countess of Home, on 22 April 1631 with news of the death of Lady Jane Savage. She had died following treatment for an infection in her mouth: '... your cosen the Lady Marquis of Winchester is dead,…
The Countess of Home and her daughter, the Countess of Moray, bought stills and limbecks in London, and a 'warm cupboard' for sweet meats used for setting marmalade in glasses Mary Sutton Dudley, Countess of Home, wrote to her daughter, Margaret, Lady Doune, with advice about the sickness of her child Francis. She mentioned that…
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…
While looking for details of life at Aberdour Castle in the seventeenth century, I found a letter from 1523, addressed to George Douglas of Pittendreich from Antony Ughtred, captain of Berwick. The English soldiers named here were called 'whitecoats'. Ughtred wanted to return Scottish prisoners in an exchange at Bunkle castle, near Reston in the…
Thomas Bruce, Earl of Elgin (1599-1663) was keen to acquire a portrait that he had heard was a masterpiece, the sitter being someone he admired. He was anxious this new treasure would not be spoiled in transit. He sent these instructions to his cousin Alexander Bruce at the Hague on 15 September 1659. Bruce had…
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