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…
In 1556, John Knox wrote a letter to his female Protestant following in Edinburgh, advising on suitable clothing for the godly. The new-ish French farthingale was deprecated.1 After finding some scriptural justification for censuring hairstyles, Knox wrote: 'Gif sic thingis as Esay the Prophet repruiffit in the wemen of his time be dampnabill, verdingallis, and…
There was a court in Edinburgh dealing with small debts. The officers of the court auctioned goods to settle claims on market days at Edinburgh's Mercat Cross. In September 1600, Jonet Cheyne or Schene produced a garnet garnishing for auction which she had been given as a pledge for a loan of £84 Scots made…
In Edinburgh, a court of baillies met regularly to hear complaints of bad debts and non-payments. The judgements were recorded in ledgers known as the 'Books of Decreets' which survive in Edinburgh City Archives, covering the years 1580 to 1635. The court proved a debt, typically accepting an oath made to a court officer, and…
John Workman or Warkman was a prominent artist in Edinburgh. He painted scenes for the Royal Entry of Anna of Denmark in May 1590 and decorated her coach in 1603 when she left for England, and his brother James made and painted a board for the game of the goose for James VI. John Workman…
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…
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…
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…
George Crawford was hired in London by the Earl of Moray in 1646 to paint at Moray House in Edinburgh's Canongate and at Donibristle House in Fife. The Earl also hired English plasterers and joiners to work on new interiors at Donibristle in a wing built by the Scottish architect John Milne. Moray bought furnishings…
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…
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