Margaret Home, Countess of Moray, died in 1683. Her son, Alexander Stuart, Earl of Moray, and Secretary of State for Scotland, was in London. His son, Charles Stuart, was in Edinburgh and Fife in May 1683, settling her affairs with their factor Hugh Paterson of Bannockburn. They made inventories, discovered a cache of silver plate…
Jewels and costume of Annabell, Countess of Mar
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…
Toothache and the Death of Jean Savage Paulet, Marchioness of Winchester
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,…
Copying a recipe book of physic in 1633
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 makes a band, 1603
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…
An emerald jewel of Mary, Queen of Scots
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…
Lady Binning’s feather
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…
Advice from an Edinburgh apothecary, 1568
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…
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…
Second-hand clothes in sixteenth-century Edinburgh
Visual sources for costume and clothing in sixteenth-century Scotland are very rare, but there are archival sources. Personal clothing appears, albeit infrequently, in wills. The wills of Edinburgh merchants and stall holders regularly include their entire stock books of textiles running a gamut from local woollens to figured Italian velvets imported via the markets of…
Objects and the archive 