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,…
Mary Mildmay Fane, Countess of Westmorland, wrote to her daughter Grace Fane, Countess of Home, at Dunglass Castle in Scotland, with court news, medical advice, and occasional cheerful recollections. In January 1627, she mentions the Queen's masque, "put off till Candlemasday, Mrs Care is in it whoe ioyes not much (by her countenance & dressing…
One Latin household books survives from the reign of James IV, (National Records of Scotland, E32/1). It covers dates from 1511 to 1512, giving daily expenses of food for the households of James IV and that of Margaret Tudor. The accountant was the Bishop of Caithness. Like the later Scottish household books, it includes entries…
A few details of Mary's household and her travels in 1564 are known from an account of payments made by George Wishart of Drymme, which was published for the first time by the Scottish History Society in 2025.1 Mary's trip to the north of Scotland included hunting in Glentilt, (4 July).2 Wishart's account includes payments…
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…
Advice for a patient with gonorrhoea sent by Thomas Davidson, an apothecary in Edinburgh, 24 March 1568. This letter was probably sent to William Douglas, Laird of Lochleven. The patient was too far from Edinburgh to send a urine sample. Davidson died in 1574 and his registered will includes a full inventory of his apothecary…
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 that Jens ‘as yit is unrecompensit in any sort’ and gave him ten gold crowns. He seems to have missed an…
James VI explored various opportunities to maintain his via media in Scotland and secure his accession to the throne of England. When Anne of Denmark’s 19 year old brother Ulric, Duke of Holstein, visited Scotland in 1598 it was intended he would depart with a Scottish embassy to Denmark and the Holy Roman Empire. The…
In 1890 William Fraser recorded a household and teind income account book for Coldingham Abbey in 1592. Fraser noted the physical condition of the booklet as 'partly decayed' or 'much mutilated at the beginning'. He printed a brief summary of the contents and the historical background, and while 'none of the entries contain special historic…
Objects and the archive 