Among the papers of Mary of Guise held in the National Library of Scotland there is a record of cloth of gold bought in 1548 to make 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…
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…
In March 2019 I looked at the history of Dumbarton Castle from 1500 to 1700 for Historic Environment Scotland, highlighting events and people. It was interesting to read of one of the keepers in 1620, Sir John Stewart of Methven who built a castle on his estate Ireland at Mongavlin, while neglecting his duties at…
Introduction In Scotland, Anna of Denmark had her own household separate from the kings’. These people lived with her and worked with her. An ambassador called it ‘her small family.’ The council of Denmark and her mother Sophie of Mecklenberg had organised a small household on her departure. After her coronation in May 1590, Anna…
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…
Objects and the Archive 