An array of household lists were made after the death of Anna of Denmark, for accounting wages and payments. One of them (TNA SP 14/107 f.124) allots extra reward payments and gives lengths of service. It mentions Edward Ashburner, yeoman of the leash (15 years service), Richard Polhill (15 years), yeoman of bows and lymehounds,…
Catherine Tollemache was a daughter of Lionel Tollemache and Elizabeth Murray (later Duchess of Lauderdale). In 1677, she came to Edinburgh with her mother and the Duke of Lauderdale and stayed at Moray House in the Canongate. The Duke was the uncle of James Stuart, Lord Doune, and Catherine married him in December 1677. After…
Lady Mary or Marie was a daughter of Anne Gordon, Countess of Moray. A record of her mother's income and expenditure survives in a series of accounts covering a part of the 1620s and 1630s. The accounts have a lot to say about Lady Mary, her parrot, wool bought for a frame used for a…
William Schaw was master of work to James VI and Anna of Denmark, and chamberlain of her Dunfermline estates. He was in charge of royal buildings, signing accounts and receipts, and was probably the designer of the 1594 Chapel Royal at Stirling Castle.1 Schaw was responsible for refurbishments at the Prince's Tower at Stirling around…
When Mary Dudley, Countess of Home, died in London in March 1644, her body was shipped to Dunglass for burial and £300 sterling was allocated for her monument, according to her will. Settling the will was a convoluted and protracted process, in part because her son-in-law John Maitland, Earl of Lauderdale was declared delinquent, and…
William Bruce was a diplomat in Poland, and wrote letters with news to Robert Cecil.1 King James gave him a yearly allowance of £100 in May 1604.2 Bruce became involved in a plan to send a portrait of a Polish prince (Władysław IV Vasa) to Anna of Denmark in 1608. Bruce's draft letters explain the…
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…
