This post is about the early wall paintings at Kinneil House, West Lothian, Scotland, based on a talk given to the Friends of Kinneil; partly about how the paintings were restored, and came to look as they do today, and partly about what they may have meant in the sixteenth century. The paintings are a…
Mary, Queen of Scots used buttons and dress fastenings made of gold, which were set with jewels and pearls and enamelled. Some were made in Portuguese style. These are detailed in her inventories (which have been published), and also in receipts written by James Mosman, one of her goldsmiths. On 6 January 1572, a large…
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…
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…
A reference from 1600 to gold lockets or ‘tablets’ can be found in Edinburgh’s ‘Register of Decreets’.[1] This is the record of a court convened by baillies and burgesses that dealt with debts. Anyone in the town, or anyone owed money by anyone from Edinburgh, could come to this baillies’ court, and obtain a…
Grace Mildmay's interest in physic has been described by Linda Pollock. Her daughter Mary Fane, Countess of Westmorland is rather less well-known, except for her letter to Secretary Windebank in May 1639 urging peace with Scotland, which has been published many times. Her eldest daughter Grace married James, Earl of Home in 1626, after the death of…
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…
An English diplomat Thomas Randolph wrote that the merry men of Edinburgh had a joke, that Inchkeith Island in the Forth, between Edinburgh and Fife, ought to be called the Isle des Femmes, because there were so many women on it. Usually called the Island of Horses, Mary of Guise, queen regent of Scotland preferred…
Anna of Denmark, National Galleries of Scotland Edinburgh's welcome for Anna of Denmark: The paill canopy When Anna of Denmark was newly arrived in Scotland, Edinburgh performed a ceremony of royal entry on Tuesday 19 May 1590. Anna was conveyed around the town in a coach at walking pace under a canopy called a paill or…
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 