Jewels of Mary, Queen of Scots

[2] Among these jewels was a pendant or hat badge made in Edinburgh by John Mosman from Scottish gold, featuring a mermaid set with diamonds and holding a mirror and a ruby comb.

[3] Mary mentioned in an undated letter to her mother that a member of the entourage of James Hamilton, 3rd Earl of Arran (then serving in the Scottish Guards in France) had told her that his father intended to send her some jewels, "quelques bagues".

Two merchants from Lyon, Pierre Vast and Michel Fauré, supplied a faceted diamond set in a shield for the necklace that Catherine de' Medici gave Mary on her wedding day.

[24][25][26] In the 1570s, Mary sent her godchild, a daughter of the French ambassador Michel de Castelnau, a jewel which had been a present in her childhood from Henry II as a pledge of her affection to the girl and her family.

[93] In October 1564 Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox, arrived at the Scottish court, and gave Mary a "marvellous fair and rich" jewel, a clock and dial, and a looking glass set with precious stones in the "4 metals".

[94] The English ambassador Thomas Randolph observed Mary playing dice with Lennox, wearing a mask after dancing, and losing a "pretty jewel of crystal well set in gold" to the earl.

[121] In June 1580, Mary wrote from Sheffield Castle to the Archbishop of Glasgow in Paris, asking him to send a "double marten" with gold head and feet, set with precious stones, to the value of 400 or 500 Écu.

[130] An example with a ruby tongue and feet set with turquoises was listed in the 1547 inventory of Henry VIII,[131] and was given to Lady Jane Grey,[132] and was among Elizabeth's remaining jewels in January 1604 valued at £19.

A French version of the letter describes the object as a jewel containing his name and memory joined with a lock of her hair, comme mes chevaulx en la bague.

[182] When Mary was pregnant in 1566, she made a will bequeathing to Bothwell a diamond-set mermaid hat badge and a table diamond enamelled black, and to his countess Jean Gordon, a headdress, collar, and sleeves set with rubies, garnets, and pearls.

[191] Claude Nau described the jewel as a small oval gold locket with an enamelled picture, saying the queen's cipher was engraved inside the lid and it enclosed a paper with verses written in Italian.

[193] When Mary, Queen of Scots, was imprisoned at Lochleven Castle, in 1567, the Confederate Lords ordered that some of her silver plate, including a table ship called a nef, should be melted down and coined.

James Melville of Halhill wrote to the recently departed English diplomat Nicholas Throckmorton, that the Hamilton family, supporters of Mary, were disappointed that Edinburgh Castle and the jewels had been delivered to Moray and the Lords, an event that "cooled many of their stomachs".

She heard that Lennox had imprisoned John Sempill in Blackness Castle for keeping some of her jewels and marten and sable furs, which she had left in Scotland with his wife Mary Livingston.

[265] As English and Scottish soldiers entered the castle, James Mosman gave his share of the queen's jewels to Kirkcaldy, wrapped in an old cloth or "evill favoured clout", and he put them in a chest in his bedchamber.

[275] Mary Fleming, who had helped make this inventory of the jewels with her husband William Maitland and Lady Seton, was ordered to return a chain or necklace of rubies and diamonds.

[276][277] Agnes Gray, Lady Home, surrendered a jewel with fifteen diamonds set in gold with white enamel and a pearl "carcat" necklace which together had been her security for a loan of £600 Scots.

[281] On 28 July 1573 the triumphant Regent sent Mary's gold buttons and pearl-set "horns", recovered from the Duke of Chatelherault, to Annabell Murray at Stirling Castle to be sewn on the king's clothes.

[283][284] On 7 August, on behalf of the Earl of Huntly, Alexander Drummond of Midhope brought Morton a garnishing for the queen's headband comprising seven diamonds (one large and cut square), six rubies, and twelve pearls set in gold.

[294] Morton had a prolonged negotiation with Moray's widow, Annas or Agnes Keith, now Countess of Argyll, for the return of the diamond and cabochon ruby pendant called the "Great H of Scotland" and other pieces.

[319]Described again in 1587 as a jewel in the form of rock, set with diamonds and rubies, in the keeping of Jane Kennedy, it was said to have been a gift from Elizabeth I eleven years before, brought to Mary by Robert Beale.

A ballad printed and circulated in Edinburgh in 1567 after the death of Darnley compared her alleged lack of grief to Thisbe's, "Hir lauchter lycht be lyke to trim Thysbie, Quhen Pyramus sho fand deid at the well".

[328] These requests to The Archbishop of Glasgow may be associated with the rosary beads and cross with an image of Susanna and the Elders inscribed Angustiae Undique (Beset on all sides) worn at her waist, as depicted in her so-called Sheffield Portraits.

[341][342] In the same month, her secretary Claude Nau wrote twice to his brother in Paris, Jean Champhuon, sieur du Ruisseau, asking him to buy some jewellery and send it to him in a small sealed box (une petite boite fermee et cachetee); a pair of bracelets made in the latest fashion and a diamond or emerald shaped like a heart or triangle.

[345] While she was at Chatsworth in September 1578, Mary wrote to the Archbishop of Glasgow again, sending a "device", a description of the concept and theme for a jewel she wanted to be made in gold and enamel as a gift for her son, James VI.

[365] The Spanish ambassador in London, Antonio de Guarás, reported that the Earl of Leicester gave Queen Elizabeth as a New Year's Day gift in 1571 a jewel with a miniature painting showing her enthroned with Mary in chains at her feet, while Spain, France and Neptune bowed to her.

In September 1584 a German travel writer Lupold von Wedel saw James, who was staying at Ruthven Castle, wearing this cross on his hat ribbon in St John's Kirk in Perth.

As security, his wardrobe servant John Gibb delivered a jewel called a tablet, set with a great emerald and a diamond to the Provost of Edinburgh, Alexander Clark of Balbirnie.

[419] These pieces are traditionally believed to have belonged to Gilles or Gillis Mowbray of Barnbougle,[420][421] who served Mary, Queen of Scots, in England and was briefly betrothed to her apothecary, Pierre Madard.

[430] In August 1577, Mary's French secretary Claude Nau wrote to his brother in Paris, Jean Champhuon, sieur du Ruisseau, asking him to buy a pair of bracelets made in the latest fashion worth about 25 or 30 crowns and a precious stone, and sent them to him closed-up in a small box under seal.