October 2026
The latest talk in the 2026-2027 DDHS season took place on 13th October and was presented by historian Jenn Scott – title above. The speaker sent 3 slides and some annotation. Addition links, which open in a new tab, by Dr James Herring
When Mary again set foot on Scottish soil at Leith on 19
August 1561, she arrived with the lavish jewellery and sumptuous
clothing considered indispensable for the Renaissance monarch. Bishop
Lesley describes her as returning from France with: ‘mony costly
jewells and golden wark, precious stanis, orient pearle, maist
excellent of any that was in Europe and mony costly abilyeamentis
[clothes] for hir body’.
The slide above lists the residue of Mary’s clothing and jewels stored in
Edinburgh Castle and there is some overlap with the 1562 inventory.
Mary had substantial parts of her wardrobe forwarded to England but
what was left behind is still impressive: in addition to 47 gowns are
petticoats, skirts and doublets with gold and silver trimmings, 45
pairs of sleeves embroidered in gold and silver thread and numerous
hoods, coifs, collars and ruffs made of the finest lawn and
embroidered with silk thread in ‘flowris of gold of sundrie hues’.
Some of the same items appear in both inventories.
After the death of Mary I of England, and the death of her
first husband Francis II of France in December 1560, Mary wore a form
of mourning called deuil blanc, involving a white pleated cambric
veil. In September 1561 tailors and “boys” made black mourning “dule”
riding cloaks and skirts for Mary, Queen of Scots, and her 15 ladies
to wear at her entry to Edinburgh. Mary incorporated mourning clothes
into the ceremony when she married Lord Darnley on 29 July 1565. She
entered the chapel of Holyroodhouse wearing “a great mourning gown of
black” with a “great wide mourning hood”. After the wedding and mass,
she went to her bedchamber and courtiers unpinned these garments, and
her ladies put on her new costume.
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