Scottish royal tapestry collection
[1] At Château de Fontainebleau in 1540, the King of France himself helped the English ambassador onto a bench so he could examine and admire the 'antique borders' of the tapestry in his bedchamber, and this was seen as a sign of special favour.
These tapestries were used to hang the best chambers and halls in the palaces, and were transported with the monarch between residences and lined, fixed and hung by specialists on the court pay-roll.
[3] Eleven pieces of royal tapestry were destroyed in the explosion at Kirk o' Field in February 1567 that killed the King Consort of Scotland, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley.
Some of the tapestries showed Biblical themes, or subjects with medieval roots, but most were stories from classical antiquity, reflecting Renaissance taste, and some were scenes from the hunting field.
[16] Possibly some of these tapestries were brought to Scotland by Margaret, perhaps with new borders including Tudor heraldry supplied by Cornelis van der Strete.
[24] A 1532 contract for the making of a tapestry altar frontal for James V by François van Cralotte of Bruges survives in the National Library of Scotland.
Later, he was questioned about these items, he said that Servais de Condé had received, "so many books, and such moveables, which were all dispersed, dimembered, and spoilt by the soldiers, and [by] harling them on sleds through the foul moors and taking no accompt of the keeping of them when they were in Hamilton".
[30] Possibly Regent Moray and his agent Nicolas Elphinstone sold tapestries abroad in 1568 along with Mary's pearls, selected royal jewels, and a so-called unicorn horn.
[31] Mary, now a prisoner in England, complained in August 1570 that Scottish ships had brought items of her 'apparel, costly hangings, and jewels' to Hull and other English ports for sale.
[35] When Mary was moved to Tutbury Castle in February 1569, three suites of tapestries and carpets were delivered from the Removing Wardrobe at the Tower of London to furnish her rooms.
[42] In October 1615 King James ordered John Auchmoutie, keeper of the royal wardrobe in Scotland, to provide tapestry to Lord Erskine to furnish two rooms in Stirling Castle.
[45] In 1635, Charles I wrote to John Stewart, 1st Earl of Traquair, Treasurer of Scotland, insisting on the payment of the wardrobe servants, so that hangings, cloths-of-estate, and beds could be aired.
In October 1546, a merchant from Antwerp or Lille, Eustace de Coqueil, wrote to Mary of Guise offering her histories and other tapestries, but it seems unlikely that any were bought during this brief period of peace in the war of the Rough Wooing.
[68] On 20 February 1557, Mary of Guise granted Eustace de Coqueil, his wife Barbara Bullestraitt and several other members of the family trading rights in Scotland.
[81] A separate subject from the Jason, listed in 1539 as the History of Maliasor, this six-piece tapestry of Meleager was at Fotheringhay Castle in 1587 as Mary's own possession.
At Fotheringhay, Mary, Queen of Scots, also had the six pieces of the History of Count Foix and the Battle of Ravenna, from the Scottish collection,[82] but as this set was only previously listed in November 1561 it might not have belonged to her parents.
Amias Paulet, her gaoler, spent £113-10s in English money on lining, packing, and hanging eight pieces of her tapestry during her move from Chartley to Fotheringhay Castle.
[85] This may have been a copy of the famous tapestry commissioned by François Ier from designs by Giulio Romano, the Gestes of Scipion, the story of Scipio Africanus, which includes the scene Siege of Carthagena.
In January 1563 three pieces of this tapestry with monkeys, the tapisserie des singes, were given by Mary Queen of Scots to Pierre Marnard the court "fruictier", a kitchen officer who took part in masques.
One scene from this Rabbit Hunt, otherwise called the L’histoire des Chasseurs de Cogny in an inventory written in French, was said to have been lost at Linlithgow during the 1566 baptism of James VI at Stirling.
[93] Alternatively, Susan Groag Bell wonders if this Mathiolus was the first scene of the City of Ladies suite bought in 1538, featuring the name of the author Matheolus as a protagonist illustrating the works of Christine de Pisan.
[citation needed] Margaret Tudor's English yeoman of the wardrobe was Harry Roper, who made her bed sheets and window curtains, washed clothes, mended her tapestries and scarlet hangings and perfumed them with violet powder.
George Steill bound up twelve scenes of the History of Aeneas with cords and carried them from Edinburgh to St Andrews in May 1539 for the marriage of Joanna Gresmore to Robert Beaton of Creich.
[98] The "tapesar" came with the wardrobe servant Malcolm Gourlay to furnish tents for James V and Mary of Guise in Glenartney and Glen Finglas for the hunts in September 1539.
[100] Jacques Habet, William Edbe, and George Steill lined the rough or newly plastered walls of the castle at Crawfordjohn to save wear on tapestries in July 1541.
[101] Apart from this work, the men also made up and embroidered state beds with luxury imported silks and taffetas with hanks of gold thread, finished with passementerie and ostrich feather trimmings.
In May 1544, when an English army burnt Edinburgh, the tapestries were carried up the Royal Mile from Holyroodhouse to the Castle for safety and watched by Regent Arran's wardrobe servant Malcolm Gourlay.
[105] Regent Arran borrowed the royal tapestry for his daughter Barbara Hamilton's wedding to Lord Gordon in February 1549, and after it had been cleaned by six apprentices it was brought out for the visit of Mary of Guise's brother, the Marquis de Maine.
When English soldiers came to Scotland in 1570, William Maitland of Lethington ordered Servais de Condé to transport the tapestry and furnishings of Holyroodhouse to Edinburgh Castle.
[111] On 7 October 1584, the Master of Gray was made Keeper of the Wardrobe, including the tapestry, with all officers of the household commanded to reverence, acknowledge and obey him.
