Journal

of the
Marie Stuart Society

Patron: His Grace the Duke of Hamilton

WINTER 2002 No. 27

1
 Members of the General Committee

Mrs Margaret
Lumsdaine
President 1 Armit Place, Branch Chairman
St Andrews,
Fife KY16 8RE
Mr Ronald
Mrs Pascale Jooste Morrison
14/6 Sandport Buchan Cottage,
Secretary Leith Edinburgh Duns Castle,
Edinburgh Duns,
EH6 6PL Berwickshire
TD11 3NW
Mr Ian Lumsdaine Mr John Gwynn
1 Armit Place, Townhead Cottage,
Treasurer Fife & Tayside
St Andrews, Balbeggie,
Fife KY16 8RE Perth PH2 6ET
Mr Keith Cheetham
Mrs Anne Gwynn
10 Trysull Gardens,
Townhead Cottage,
Editor Midlands Merry Hill,
Balbeggie,
Wolverhampton WV3
Perth PH2 6ET
7LD
Mr Ronald
Morrison Mr Thom Young
Buchan Cottage, 33, Inchmarnock,
Guardian Glasgow &
Archivist & Librarian Duns Castle, St Leonards,
West of Scotland
Duns, East Kilbride
Berwickshire G74 2JQ
TD11 3NW

WEB SITE: www.marie-stuart.co.uk

2
EDITORIAL

We take travelling around this country, or even the globe, as a matter of course these days.
Apart from a recent attempt to book tickets for a rail journey from Perth to King’s Cross in London
on the Internet, which was a nightmare, it really is easy to get about.

There is so much choice too in the mode of transport: on foot, by bicycle, motorbike, car, bus,
train, boat or plane. Take your pick! --- Or what about on horseback?

This was the only option for long distance travel on land in Marie Stuart’s day. If you didn’t ride a
horse, have access to, or own one you were stuck! Even haulage (carts) and personnel carriers
(litters) were horse-drawn.

And how about the roads? No Tarmacadam or asphalt in those days; only earth tracks which
could turn into quagmires following rain, which is one of Scotland’s claims to fame.

Yes. Getting about the British Isles in the 16th Century was no “pique-nique” as Marie might have
put it. On the other hand, on a lovely, sunny summer’s day it might have been quite nice to go off
on a day’s progress out into the country and fetch up at some nobleman’s castle in time for tea,
and/or bed and breakfast.

Marie certainly covered some ‘lang Scots miles’ in her 6 year reign, as you will appreciate reading
through the pages of this issue. I only hope there was some network in place whereby one’s host
could be warned in advance that ‘one’ was coming to stay! It would be a tad inconvenient if a
Queen and her retinue turned up unannounced intent on stopping over for a few days. It would
certainly throw me.
Where would we put the horses?

Anne
jm@mgwynn.freeserve.co.uk

3

THE FLOWER CEREMONY at which we
remember Marie’s birthday, will take place
at Westminster Abbey, on Saturday the 7th
December. Members who wish to attend
should meet inside the West Door at 12
midday. Lunch will be taken at the
Methodist Central Halls, opposite, followed
by a visit to either the National Portrait
Gallery, where there is an exhibition of
prints featuring Marie Stuart, or to the
Queen’s Gallery.
“Adieu, la belle France”
O, I was the Queen o’ bonie France
Where happy hae I been;
Fu’ lightly rase I on the morn,
As blythe lay doon at e’en:
And I’m the sovereign of Scotland,
And mony a traitor there:
So now I lie in a foreign land,
And never ending care.
Dedication of the Plaque at Leith - 18th
August 2002.
Living as we do four hundred years after
the event it is arresting to consider that we
are here in approximation to the birth of
Magna Britannia, and the emergence,
against all odds, of the English and the
British Empire, within whose withdrawing
afterglow there are still to be detected
splendid notes of global civility in manners
in public and international order.
I feel it is not always possible to enter
these historic events with understanding
and empathy should we lack a view of
Marie’s other close-equivalent in royal
status if not in spirited nobility, Elizabeth
Tudor, less accomplished, less comely,
given to cruelty in a way that Marie is not,
but above all better served. Some women
are born to dominate and rule by authority
and Elizabeth is one of them; some to be
submissive and serve; Marie tends to that.
4
Until her illegal detention by her cousin,
Marie Stuart’s life is one informed by
goings and some comings; separations
and some unitings. Leaving to one side
her reign as a Monarch before and during
her enforced exile in France first as a child
then teenager, when she places her
shapely foot on Scots soil, at Leith about
9a.m. on Tuesday 19th August 1561, it is
well to recall that you and I know the
endplan - the five years that remain to her
as Sovereign and ‘youngster’ pass in lively
if deadly and deathly encounter amid the
morbid maelstrom of perfidy, pride, deceit,
venality that some still care to consider as
Scots ‘nobility’. Though flawed and
capable of grievous error and bewildering
ill-judgement, Marie emerges from this
theatre of the absurd as one of the so few
of her era we would be glad to call friend.
She comes of an age in which women are
considered such, aged 13 or so. In the
naked pursuit of power and influence most
females of her social standing are
regarded as little more than bargaining
pawns. Therefore it is always as well to
recall that Marie Stuart, aged nineteen, is
simply a girl and none may expect her to
be any thing else, that is a teenager; or
should it be insisted, a woman in waiting.
Accomplished, spirited, open, generous of
heart, intelligent, of proven loyalty,
profoundly Catholic yet in equal measure,
as her mother in that disjointed age,
tolerant.
‘ In my sad song,
A melancholy air,
I shall look deep and long
At loss beyond compare,
with my bitter tears
I’ll pass my best years.’
Marie is a poet of occasional flare and
these are some words she finds to console
herself aged sixteen after the death of her
first, only and truest love, Francis. On
September 12th last year I found myself
reflecting on Marie and Francis in the
room at Orleans where he expired when
the great bells of the Cathedral nearby
tolled out in melancholy sorrow. The world
hasn’t changed since 9/11 but it has
certainly shifted gear. There are benefits
that fall to hindsight yet so often the
essence in it eludes us or is abused. As
her great white galley closes with the
harbourside of Leith those 441 years ago
what are the thoughts of those who
genuinely love her or are inspired by her -
Ronsard, each of her four Maries, you and
me perhaps?
The 20 or so members and friends who
foregathered to mark the event were to
enjoy two excellent addresses and much
friendly banter and exchange of thoughts
both on the quayside and in the local
hostelry to which we all repaired. Yet the
enduring image that might link her
stepping lightly so blithely onshore might
be the insistence of two of our senior
ladies on skipping over the dockside
safety chain to obtain, we surmise, a
better view of the plaque… Not a few male
hearts must have sunk at the prospect of
having to go in after them - ‘ les girls,
toujours la même….’ Marie would have
smiled.
David McNaughton
President, Margaret Lumsdaine,
welcomed friends and members of the
Marie Stuart Society by intimating that the
Society exists to study the life and times of
Mary, Queen of Scots and to promote
interest in her life.
She went on to say “ So we are here today
to unveil a plaque marking a very
important milestone in Queen Marie’s life.
This is one of three plaques which the
Society has installed to the Queen’s
memory. One is at Dumbarton Castle,
where she departed from Scotland as a
child in 1548 at the age of six; the second
is at Dundrennan Abbey on the Solway
Firth, where she left Scotland for good to
become a prisoner in England, and now
the third, here at Leith, marking the spot
where she returned to Scotland in 1561.
You may like Marie Stuart or have no
interest in her, but she cannot be ignored!
Her reign was short and in the real issues
of Scotland and its development one might
arguably state that she achieved very little.
However, interest in her is extensive and
5
world wide. This has been shown by the
growth of the Marie Stuart Society. In ten
years we have membership which extends
across the world, from Scotland and
England to Australia, America, Europe and
Africa. Marie and the people who
surrounded her during her short reign
were certainly interesting and colourful
characters.
The Queen stepped ashore here on the
19th August 1561 aged 19. She had
returned from France where she had been
sent for her safety and protection. She
was educated at the very sophisticated
and civilised court of France and married
the Dauphin, François, who became King
and therefore Marie became Queen.
She was widowed after only two and a half
years whereupon she decided to return to
her own country to rule in her own right.
Alas, her reign lasted for only six turbulent
years, but because of the number of sad
and ruthless events which took place
during those years, great interest has
been generated. In fact, now in the 21st
Century she has been callously deemed a
tourist attraction!
And now in the Golden Jubilee year of
Queen Marie’s descendant, Queen
Elizabeth, I am happy to invite Anne
Gwynn to unveil this plaque to mark
Queen Marie’s landing on her native soil,”
Anne replied as follows:-
“It will be 441 years tomorrow since Marie
Stuart landed in Leith.
I find it incredible that throughout these
last four and a half centuries no-one has
attempted to mark this special
homecoming. However I am delighted that
the Marie Stuart Society has had the
privilege of commemorating this historic
event.” Upon the 19th day of August 1561,
Marie, Queen of Scots, our sovereign lady,
arrived in the road of Leith at six hours in
the morning accompanied only with two
galleys…… at 10 hours the same day, her
Highness landed on the Shore of Leith and
remained in Andrew Lamb’s house by the
space of an hour, and thereafter was
convoyed to her palace of Holyrood.“
The facts were that she had arrived two
weeks before she was expected, Leith
was blanketed by the usual Forth haar,
and there was no reception committee
awaiting her. An auspicious start! But the
cannon from her two galleys soon brought
a crowd of all ranks to the Shore and she
disembarked opposite the King’s Wark,
where she was received by her half
brother, James Stewart, later styled the
Earl of Moray.
The Queen’s first step on to her native soil
was taken on to a flagstone quarried at
Granton by Alexander Reid, brought to
Leith by Lawrence Tod in his boat, and
laid by David Graham and his masons.
Andrew Lamb, whose house she graced
for an hour or maybe till evening, was one
of the wealthiest men in Leith. His home
was not the Lamb’s House we see today,
but one which stood on the same site.
Andrew Lamb never forgot that day or his
Queen. Years later he called one of his
boats the Mary Grace.
When the youthful Queen continued her
journey to Holyrood she captivated all by
her beauty and her stately carriage. Her
cavalcade did not form the brilliant
pageant associated with the arrival of
other princesses at the Shore, for the two
Dutch ships carrying her horses had been
captured by Good Queen Bess’s war
vessels and detained at Newcastle. In
Marie’s eye the ill-favoured little Scottish
hackneys, so meanly caparisoned, on
which she rode from Leith to Holyrood,
looked wretched indeed compared with
the superb palfreys and their gay trappings
to which she had been accustomed in
France.
The well known events of Marie’s short
reign had no recorded effect on Leith; she
did, however, make lasting changes to the
life of the Port. The first marked the royal
favour which Leith enjoyed for most of the
Century by the grant of a Royal Charter to
Trinity House in 1566. Second, she was
instrumental in the building of a Tolbooth.
Following her intervention in Edinburgh
Toon Cooncil’s inevitable obstructions to
the project, she wrote them a letter in
1563, as Superior of Leith, instructing
them to desist. The Tolbooth was
completed two years later.
It is fitting that this plaque which I have
pleasure in unveiling today, marking the
spot where this ill-fated Queen stepped on
to her native soil, should be in this place
6
which has seen so much of the pageant of
Scottish history.
BRANCH REPORTS - MIDLANDS
A Staffordshire Outing - Saturday 10th
August.
It was a day of Marian sites. On my
outward journey to Tutbury Castle I drove
past Chartley manor. On my return from
Abbots Bromley I also passed Tixall
Gatehouse.
The Branch outing to Tutbury was
outstanding. Not only did a record number
of 21 members turn up but we were
greeted by Mary, Queen of Scots in
person, in the guise of Lesley Smith, the
current keeper of the Castle. For over an
hour she gave a brainstorming
performance to our members in the Great
Hall that was entertaining, witty,
informative and historically correct from
Tudor food to 16thc forms of contraception
– all done very discreetly, of course!
She also told of Mary’s three visits to this,
her most hated prison. She first arrived
here on 12th February 1569 and was
received by her new custodian, George
Talbot, 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, and his
Countess Elizabeth (Bess of Hardwick). It
was in the extreme of winter and Mary
pleaded with both Shrewsbury and Queen
Elizabeth for a move to a more
comfortable lodging. Eventually the
Queen relented and allowed a removal to
the much fairer Wingfield Manor.
Mary’s second brief visit was in 1570 after
the Northern Rising when she was
allocated even worse accommodation than
on her previous sojourn. She complained
of the stench beneath her windows when
the middens were emptied on a daily
basis. Her final stay at Tutbury was in
January 1585, when she was constrained
by a new gaoler, Sir Amyas Paulet.
Thereafter she was transferred to Chartley
manor where the Babington plot was
uncovered, which subsequently led to her
arrest, trial and execution at Fotheringhay
on 8th February 1587.
Tutbury was no stranger to Royal visitors.
Henry III came in 1251 and Queen
Eleanor six years later. The property has
belonged to the Sovereign since 1399 as
part of the Duchy of Lancaster. Charles I
was a later visitor and Queen Elizabeth
came here during the 1980s.
A few members were also fortunate to call
in on the nearby Norman Priory Church of
St. Mary, founded by Henry Ferrers in
1089. Tutbury was once a place of much
importance as it was the geographical
centre of the ancient Kingdom of Mercia.
Our next stop was the village of Abbots
Bromley to see Hall Hill, now a privately
owned farm, where Mary stopped off en
route between Chartley and Burton upon
Trent, on her final journey to Fotheringhay.
We were taken on a guided tour of the
village by Phillip Charles who also took us
into the Parish Church of St. Nicholas. In
here are displayed a series of stag horns
which are used once a year in the ancient
custom of the Horn Dance. A band of
twelve men dance their way through the
village and perform at several sites. They
travel as far as Blithfield Hall Park. This
was once the home of Sir Richard Bagot,
a lieutenant of the Shire, who in Mary’s
day was a strong supporter of Queen
Elizabeth. He could always be called
upon for support by Paulet if trouble
occurred when Mary was staying at
Chartley.
Members went away after having spent a
most enjoyable and worthwhile day in the
pleasant Staffordshire countryside.
Keith Cheetham
Coventry - September 2002
One of the interesting features of studying
history, especially an area as far back as
Marie Stuart, is the continuing new
interpretations of existing facts. We were
fortunate in this respect during our visit to
Coventry.
7
We commenced at the Herbert Art Gallery,
where the City Archives Department had
made available for us the original letter
from Queen Elizabeth to the Mayor and
Aldermen of Coventry. Viz:-
Elizabeth R By the Quene.
Trusty and well beloved we grete you well.
Forasmuche as wee for dyvers good
considerations gyven ordere to our right
trusty and right welbeloved Cousyns The
Earles of Shrewsbury and Huntingdon to
bring the Schottyshe Queene to that our
towne of Coventrie and there to see hir
safely kept and garded untyll our pleasure
shall be other wyse to determine. We let
you will or pleasure and commandment is
that for the better assistance of our sayd
Cousyns and either of them in this charge
committed unto them, you shall from tyme
to tyme followe suche and direction as
shall for that purpose bee by them or
either of them prescribed unto you in
suche wyse as they or either of them shall
think fyt for the weale and furtherance of
our service. Gevven under our Signet at
our Castle of Wybnsor the xxvjth of
November the xijth yere of our Reigne.
Marie had been moved at short notice
from Tutbury Castle as it was thought that
there was a Catholic plot to release her
and carry her back North. In haste she
was taken to an inn - the Black Bull - in
Coventry which was completely taken over
by Marie and her servants so that
Shrewsbury and Huntingdon complained
that there was no room for them and they
had to find alternative accommodation in
the city. Within the next few weeks Marie
and her entourage moved several times,
according to the correspondence between
William Cecil and the Earls of Huntingdon
and Shrewsbury. These letters are now
kept in the British Library. However, the
letters requested that she be re-housed in
the City of Coventry but did not specify
where, perhaps because of the need for
secrecy in view of the possible Catholic
plots. It is known that she spent some
time in the Whitefriars Monastery, a
building still in use but not now open to the
public, and in the medieval Guildhall of St
Mary. This was to be our next stop.
The guide book to St. Mary’s Hall states
that Marie was imprisoned in a second-
floor chamber in Caesar’s Tower from
November 1569 until January 1570, The
room is small, 17 feet long, 11 feet wide
and 9 feet 6 inches high, and was
probably one of the safest chambers in the
Hall since there was only one door, giving
access from the armoury. Although the
safe chamber was not a fitting place for a
Queen, current belief is that she was kept
in a larger, more ornate room, since 1719
called the Mayoress’s Parlour. In Marie’s
time this room was not accessible from the
Great Hall and would have been
considered to be safe as well as more
imposing and comfortable. The Fireplace
is Tudor in style and elaborate carved
doors to the room are said to be the
originals from the Tudor period.
St. Mary’s Guildhall is a splendid building
dating back to 1340. Extensively altered
at the end of the 15thc. and becoming
headquarters for the Mayor, Bailiffe and
commonality following their creation in
1345. There was time for visits to both the
old and new Cathedrals and the Priory,
both within walking distance.
Meg Langton
Fife and Tayside - August 24th
A walking tour of the Auld Grey Toon o’ St.
Andrews showed up a remarkable number
of places associated with Marie Stuart.
Members met on the grassy mound above
the Royal and Ancient Golf Clubhouse
beside the Martyrs memorial, on which are
listed the names of the four Protestant
preachers who were burned at the stake in
the 16thC. George Wishart, who was
closely associated with Marie’s lifetime
and who was a Calvinist friend of John
Knox, was burned opposite St. Andrews
Castle. His death sparked off the
Reformation which officially proclaimed
Scotland a Protestant Nation in 1560, the
year before Catholic Queen Marie
returned to rule the country. John Knox
was one of the protesters who held the
Castle against Marie of Guise. It was
eventually captured by the French and
John Knox with his fellow protesters were
taken prisoner and held as galley slaves
for two years. We all know about Knox’s
feelings for his Queen and perhaps these
feelings were triggered by his experience
at St. Andrews and as a galley slave.
8
Glancing towards the R&A clubhouse and
the St.Andrews links golf courses we were
reminded that Marie enjoyed playing ‘goff’
(goff was the forerunner to the modern golf
game) on these links whilst she was in the
town. Because of the interest shown in
‘the goff’ by the young Scots men James II
in 1457 banned the playing of football and
goff and instituted compulsory archery
practice for the defence of the realm.
Strolling along the road named Scores, the
name given to the archery practice area,
we passed several University buildings as
we approached the Castle, or to give it it’s
correct name ‘the Archbishop’s Palace.’
Now in a ruinous state, but at one time it
must have been a building of noble
proportions and importance. Here in 1546
the Reformers captured and murdered
Cardinal David Beaton who was a close
advisor to Marie of Guise. It was attacked
by the French troops but it was too well
defended by its moat and the sea, forcing
the soldiers to tunnel into the Castle. The
remains of the mine and the countermine,
dug by the Reformers from inside the
Castle, is one of its most interesting
features to be seen today, along with the
bottle shaped dungeon hewn out of the
rock on the seaward side, where the body
of Cardinal Beaton was preserved in salt
during the year of the siege.
The pathway from the Castle led us to the
cliff top from where we could view the
ancient harbour, which in the 16thC., was
very large. From here ships would leave
for the Low Countries of Europe, carrying
coal, flax and other goods and returning
with ballast of red pantiles. These were
used by the Fifers to roof their houses; a
very attractive feature of these coastal
fishing villages.
Entering the ruins of the once magnificent
cathedral, dedicated and sanctified in the
presence of King Robert the Bruce in
1318, we recalled that this was where
Marie’s parents, James V and Marie of
Guise were married. We were able to
appreciate the different periods of
architecture and the layout of the once
large Priory site.
Close to the cathedral runs a solitary wall:
the remains of the palace built by James V
for his bride. Could Marie Stuart have
stayed here on her happy visits to St.
Andrews? Unfortunately there is no proof,
nor that she stayed at the nearby house
which bears her name and which is now
the library of St.Leonard’s School and
which contains many artifacts and portraits
of Marie and her courtiers. We were able
to enter the garden to look at the turret
room where Mary is reputed to have
lodged. However the now accepted view
is that she only enjoyed the hospitality of
Hugh Scrimgeour, a rich merchant, who
owned the house.
At the bottom of the garden stands the
delightful little 16thC. chapel of St.
Leonard. Now part of the University, it was
originally included in the Priory, It contains
the tomb of Marie’s half-brother, Robert
Stewart, the Priory’s Commendator.
Peering through the windows we could just
make out two authentic leper squints.
On one of the town’s main thoroughfares
is St. Mary’s College, the Divinity Faculty
of the University. Marie loved this corner
of the town and gave the College money
to build a chapel, sending to France to
have niches and statues carved for it. The
chapel never materialised but the college
kept the carvings and over the years as
the college buildings grew in number they
were inserted into the walls of various
buildings which link the college and the
beautiful courtyard. A thorn tree planted
by Queen Marie grows in a corner and
being of great age it is supported by props
and wires. The college library forms one
side of the courtyard, named Parliament
Hall. The Scottish Parliament sat here in
1645 and 1646 to avoid the Plague which
was rife in Edinburgh at that time.
Across the road from the Parliament Hall
is one of the oldest buildings in St.
Andrews. Originally the home of the
Knights Templar, it houses the University
Department of Mediaeval History. It is
believed locally that Marie sat in a room on
the top floor of this house to watch the
execution of the poet Châtelard which took
place in the Market Square at the back of
the house.
Our tour ended at the old St. Salvator’s
College Chapel dating back to 1413. We
were fortunate to be allowed inside to look
at John Knox’s pulpit from which he
preached his famous sermon inciting the
people of Scotland and St. Andrews to riot,
seize the Castle and ultimately declare
Scotland a protestant nation.
9
There was no protesting by the members
of the Marie Stuart Society on that
beautiful summer’s day whilst they
enjoyed an historical walk in the warm
sunshine through the ancient streets of an
exquisite little town on the east coast of
Scotland - St.Andrews by the North Sea.
Margaret Lumsdaine
JOURNEYS AND MILITARY
EXPEDITIONS OF MARY QUEEN OF
SCOTS IN SCOTLAND (on horseback)
Taken from a catalogue for an exhibition of
old prints showing her life and times. 1907
by T.& A. Constable, Edinburgh.
1561 – Leaves Edinburgh 10th Sept. –
absent about two months.
Visited – Linlithgow, Stirling, Kincardine,
Perth, Dundee, St. Andrews.
1562 – Leaves Edinburgh 10th Aug. –
returns 21st Nov. – absent about three and
a half months
Visited – Stirling,Perth, Cupar Angus,
Edzell Castle, Glamis, Old Aberdeen,
Darnaway, Inverness, Spynie Castle,
Kilavrock Castle, Banff, Old Aberdeen,
Dunottar Castle, Montrose, Stirling. (Battle
of Corrichie took place during this
journey).
1563 – Leaves Edinburgh 1st July. –
returns 1st Sept. – absent about two
months.
Visited – Stirling, Dunipace Glasgow,
Hamilton, Dumbarton, Glasgow,
Inverary, Dunoon, South Annan, Eglinton
Castle, St. John’s, Ayr, Dunure Castle,
Ardmillan, Ardstichar, Glenluce,
Whithorn,(1) Kenmure, Lochinvar, St.
Mary’s Isle, Dumfries, Drumlanrig,
Crawfordjohn, Cowdally, Skirling, Peebles,
Borthwick, Dalhousie, Roslyn, Craigmillar.
1564 – Leaves Edinburgh 7th March –
absent 7 weeks.
Visited - Perth, Falkland, St.Andrews,
Falkland, Perth, Stirling.
Leaves Edinburgh 21st July – returns 18th
Sept – absent about two months.
Visited -- Linlithgow, Kincardine, Perth,
Linkartis (in Glen Tilt), Inverness, Gartly,
Aberdeen, Dunottar, Dundee.
1565 – Leaves Edinburgh 18th Jan. –
returns 24th Feb.-- absent about five
weeks.
Visited - Falkland, Collairnie, Ballanbriech,
Balmerino, St.Andrews, The Struther
(Anstruther), St.Monans, Lundie, Durie,
Wemyss, Queensferry.
Leaves Edinburgh March – returns July –
absent over three months.
Visited – Linlithgow, Stirling, Perth,
Ruthven, Dunkeld, Perth, Callender House
(Falkirk).
Leaves Edinburgh 26th August -- returns
19th Sept. – absent about three weeks.(2)
Visited - Callender, Stirling, Kilsyth,
Glasgow, Stirling, St.Andrews, Castle
Campbell, Loch Leven, St.Andrews,
Dundee, Perth, Stirling.
Leaves Edinburgh 8th Oct. – returns 18th
Oct. – absent about ten days.
Visited – Biggar (to meet her forces,
18,000, to put down rebellious nobles),
Crawford Moor, Lamington, Castlehill,
Dumfries, Lochmaben, Moffat.
th
1566 – Leaves Edinburgh 13 August –
returns 20th August - absent one week.
Visited – Megotland (Megget,
Peeblesshire), Rodono, St.Mary’s Loch,
Cramalt, Traquair.(3)
th th
Leaves Edinburgh 7 Oct. – returns 20
Nov.- absent six weeks.
Visited – Melrose Abbey, Jedburgh,(4)
Hermitage Castle, Jedburgh, Kelso,(5)
Wark Castle,(6) Hume Castle, Langton,
Wedderburn, Berwick, Eyemouth,
Coldingham, Houndwood,(7) Dunbar,
Tantallon Castle, Craigmillar.
Notes :-
(1) Queen Mary’s half-brother, Lord Robert
Stuart, was Abbot of Whithorn.
(2) Includes two military expeditions to put
down the rebellion of her half-brother, Lord
James Stuart, Earl of Moray.
10
(3) Traquair, Lord Traquair, the oldest
inhabited house in Scotland and from
where, with the Castles of Roxburgh and
Peebles, the oldest State documents were
issued.
(4) Queen Mary was seriously ill here after
a long journey, sixty miles to Hermitage
Castle and back in a day, over rough and
mountainous country.
(5) Queen Mary’s half-brother, James, was
Abbot of Kelso and Melrose Abbeys.
(6) Scots and French Army, under the
Regent Albany, and accompanied by
George Buchanan, unsuccessfully
besieged it in 1523.
(7) Residence of John, Prior of
Coldingham, Queen Mary’s half-brother.
Another half-brother, Adam, was Prior of
Charterhouse in Perth. Queen Mary’s
half-brothers, Abbots and Priors, were all
probably laymen, who drew the revenues
and were entitled to sit in Parliament.
Midnight Flights on horseback.
1566 – 11th March - Edinburgh to Dunbar
(about 30 miles), accompanied by
Darnley, two days after Riccio’s murder.
1567 – 24th April – While returning from
Stirling is seized and made prisoner by the
Earl of Bothwell and carried to Dunbar
Castle via Hailes Castle. Distance (from
Linlithgow) to Dunbar 48 miles in one day.
11th June – from Borthwick Castle,
Midlothian, to Dunbar, disguised as a
page, booted and spurred, in a man’s
saddle. Escapes from Borthwick, is joined
by Bothwell, her husband, reaches Dunbar
via Cake Muir Castle and the slopes of the
Lammermuir Hills. Distance about 20
miles in 5 hours - 10p.m.-3a.m.
16th June – Edinburgh to Lochleven
Castle, as a prisoner after the surrender to
the Confederate Lords at Carberry Hill.
Distance 30 miles.
1568 – 2nd May – Lochleven Castle to
Hamilton on her escape from prison via
Queensferry and West Niddry Castle.
Distance 50 miles.
13th May – Langside to Terrgles Castle via
Sanquar. Rode 60 miles without stopping
after the battle.
The Dundee Connection
The Howff (Meeting Place) was gifted to
Dundee in 1564 by Mary, Queen of Scots
as a place of burial. For three centuries,
until 1857, it was the city’s chief burial
ground, formerly having been the orchard
of the Grey Friars monastery founded by
Devorguilla Balliol circa 1270 and
destroyed 1547/48. After Mary gave the
ground to the town, it was used not only
for burying purposes but also as a meeting
place for the Incorporated Trades of
Dundee.
According to Alexander Maxwell’s “ History
of Old Dundee”, on September 11th 1564
Mary was in Dundee; but there is no other
record of her presence, excepting the
grant of monastic lands that she then
subscribed, which gave the inhabitants
rights and licence to bury their dead in the
place and yard of the Grey Friars.
James Thomson writes in “History of
Dundee” that in September 1565, a few
weeks after her marriage to Darnley, Mary
made a progress through Fife, wasting the
lands of Kirkaldy of Grange, who with the
Queen’s half-brother, the Earl of Moray,
and many of the nobility had opposed the
alliance, Advancing by St. Andrews to
Dundee, the Queen fines these towns for
the sympathy and support they accorded
to the Lords of the Congregation. Dundee
mulcted (levied) in 5000 merks, and
Provost Halyburton of Dundee was
proclaimed a rebel.
On 15th April 1567 Dundee came in for a
share of largesse. On the second day of
the parliament, by Charter under the Great
Seal, Queen Mary “in consideration of the
duty incumbent on the Sovereign to
provide for the ministers of God’s word,
and that the hospitals should be preserved
within the burgh of Dundee for the poor,
mutilated and miserable persons and
orphans” granted to the magistrates, viz -
1) All lands, houses and revenues which
belonged to any chaplainries, altarages or
prebends, in any church, chapel or
college, within the liberty of the burgh; -2)
The possessions and revenues which
belonged to the Dominicans or Friars
preachers, the Franciscans and the Nuns
11
called the Gray Sisters of the burgh; -3) All
the lands and houses given for the
endowment of altarages and chaplainries,
wherever situated; -4) All duties payable
by the magistrates to any church outwith
the burgh, for church services. These
several subjects were united into one, to
be called in future ‘The Queen’s
Foundation of the Ministry and Hospitality
of Dundee’.
Mary had visited Dundee three years
earlier, and Maxwell writes that within a
month of her arrival from France, on 18th
September 1561, she rode from Perth by
the Braes of Gowrie to Dundee; probably
hawking all the way as it was a sport in
which she took great pleasure. We know
the burgesses entertained her worthily for
“Her Grace’s honourable receiving at her
first entry, and princeley propine (gift or
tribute) given to her in Edinburgh and
Dundee” stimulated the Aberdeen Council
to be at heavy charges for her reception
the following year!
She remained in the town for two days
then crossed the river Tay to St Andrews.
There is no notice of this visit in the
council records but we are able to draw on
the somewhat mortifying inference that the
delicacy of the royal lady had been
offended by the sanitary condition of the
town. When the Council met a few days
afterwards their first business was to
promulgate an imperative edict against
middens and to order the officers to
inspect them daily under heavy penalties.
In November 1562, on her return from the
expedition against the Earl of Huntly, Mary
visited the town again.
Lola Cash wishes to thank Dundee
Library for their help in compiling this
article.
A Note on the Scots Language
“Doth she speak many
languages? Shee speaketh Greeke, Latin,
Italian, French, Spanish, Scottish ,Flemish
and English; All these tongues shee
speaketh very wel and eloquent”
To some of those who speak it and,
perhaps especially, to those who choose
to write it, the Scots language is just that –
its definition no mere question of accent or
even dialect. It is a point of principle for
many that Scots be afforded the status of
a true language in its own right, one which
stands in much the same relationship to
English as does Portuguese, for instance,
to Spanish.
Certainly an historical perspective would
seem to support such a point of view – the
quotation which appears at the top of the
article is taken from the writings of Florio,
an Italian scholar and tutor who spent
some time resident at the court of
Elizabeth I in the 16th Century. His
enthusiastic description of the English
Queen’s linguistic prowess clearly seems
to imply that in Elizabeth’s time Scots was
thought to stand shoulder to shoulder with
the other European tongues, its mastery,
even south of the border, desirable for a
scholar and essential for a diplomat.
Similarly, a letter remains extant from
Elizabeth’s sister, Mary, to her neighbour,
Mary of Guise, queen dowager, and at that
point in 1556, regent of Scotland. The
letter is written in rather faltering Scots,
much as one might expect a similar epistle
to the King of France to be couched, as a
diplomatic courtesy, in French. Ironically,
had French been indeed used in this
instance the gesture would doubtless have
been more appreciated, for Mary of Guise,
as was the way of renaissance monarchs,
had only a passing acquaintance with the
language of her subjects.
Scots, of course, does share a common
source with English. As the Oxford
Companion to English Literature has it:
“Scots is a historical offshoot of the
Northumbrian dialect of Anglo-Saxon,
sharing with Northern Middle English a
strong Norse element in vocabulary and
vowel and consonant developments which
still mark off northern speech from
Standard English. To this Gaelic, French
(Norman & Parisian), and Dutch elements
accrued and the political independence of
Scotland gave this speech a national
status. It also became a vehicle of
considerable literature….”
However, as so often happens, politics got
in the way. The end of the 16th Century
was the point in history at which Scots
retained the status of an independent
language, just as Mary and Elizabeth were
the last foreign monarchs to recognise an
independent Scotland. Ironically, it was
the ascension of a Scottish king to the
12
English throne that rang the death knell for
Scots as a political and national language.
In 1603 James VI succeeded Elizabeth
and Great Britain was born. Court and
capital (if not the Scottish Parliament)
were now in London and Scots, which had
developed as a sophisticated literary
language as early as the 14th century,
quickly found itself out of fashion and
relegated to the level of ‘mere’ vernacular.
This process of linguistic marginalisation
was further advanced by the wide
dissemination of the King James Bible
which established “the King’s English” as
the language of God in the emphatically
protestant new nation of Britain.
The vernacular though, is, of course, the
language in which everyday people
conduct their business. Scots has never
ceased to be spoken and today continues,
with numerous regional variations, to be
used as a matter of course throughout the
country. It has also, at different times,
given life to successive literary
movements.
Thomas Baldwin - London Steward to
the Earl of Shrewsbury
On a recent visit to one of my husband’s
relatives in Shropshire, I discovered that
he had lived as a child in the house in
which Thomas Baldwin (or Bawdewyn)
was born. Much to my delight a visit to this
house, Elsich Manor, was arranged. Still a
private house, we spent a pleasant
afternoon there. Of course, this led to
further research into whether this Thomas
Baldwin had any connection with Mary. I
found that he had indeed been in close
contact, so much so, that he had been
sent to the Tower for a while!
However let us go back a little. Thomas’s
Uncle, William Baldwin was at court and
held the confidential post of Cupbearer to
Queen Mary Tudor. When he died leaving
no heir, he was succeeded by his brother,
Roger, who married Margery, daughter of
Laurence Ludlow of Stokesay Castle. It
was he who built Elsich Manor and there
in 1546 Thomas was born.
When Thomas grew up he spent many
years within the Circuit of the Court of
London as steward to the Earl of
Shrewsbury, who was a great Shropshire
landowner, and who was, according to
records, “engaged in the dangerous office
of guarding the Queen of Scots”. Thomas
performed many services for the Earl
including marriage contract details
between the Earl’s son and the daughter
of one of the landed families in the North.
Shrewsbury was expected to pay for the
cost of keeping Mary as a prisoner, as
Elizabeth was not very forthcoming when
having to pay out of her funds. In 1581,
Thomas was making enquiries about the
going price of plate as the Earl feared he
might have to sell some. We hear later of
Thomas being sent to France with the
Earl’s two sons who had just completed
their education at Oxford and being given
their instructions for the journey home to
Sheffield, so he must have been a trusted
servant.
In 1584 rumours were circulating about a
possible ‘affair’ between Mary and the
Earl. Thomas was instructed to take out a
court action to attempt to stem the
rumours. Also in that year one of Mary’s
secretaries, Gilbert Curle, wrote to
Thomas in a coded letter asking him to
find out what was to happen to Mary. As
we know, Walsingham, Elizabeth’s
Spymaster in chief, intercepted the letter
and Thomas soon found himself in the
Tower for meddling. He was kept in the
Beauchamp Tower and there he scratched
an inscription reading:-
“1585 Thomas Baldwin Juli
As vertu maketh life
So sin causeth death”
On his release he returned home and
married Gertrude, daughter of Sir Robert
Corbel of Stanwardine and they had a
large family. Thomas died in 1614 and his
epitaph in Diddlebury Church records how
“ he escaped the sea, the sword and the
cruel chains of the Tower.” To
commemorate his release he took as his
motto “ By the help of God I shall leap over
the wall”. A few years earlier the family
had been granted the crest of a cockatrice
and this can still be seen in the windows at
Elsich Manor.
A later descendant of the Baldwin family
was Stanley Baldwin, 1867-1949, the
Conservative Prime Minister.
Yet another interesting link to Mary’s story.
13
(Thomas’s memorial tablet in St. Peter’s
church, Diddlebury, Shropshire, is not
easily accessible. Now relegated to a side
room and in need of a bit of cleaning!)
Anne Hall
BOOKS REVIEWED
On the Trail of the Pilgrim Fathers – by
Keith Cheetham
Published by Luath Press, Edinburgh,
2001.
Price - £7.99 U.K, $14.95 U.S., $19.95
Can.
Readers will recall the launch, in John
Knox’s House, Edinburgh, in 1999 of Keith
Cheetham’s travel-companion type
publication “On the Trail of Mary, Queen of
Scots” also from Luath Press. It was then
that Keith mentioned his intention of
producing a similar work to be entitled “On
the Trail of the Pilgrim Fathers”.
The book is a compact publication written
in simple direct style. Uncluttered
sentences follow one another in an
ordered fashion, aptly reflecting the mood
of a people suffering from a sense of
displacement and unease, yearning for a
settled home.
What is clear from the outset is the
author’s commitment to his subject and his
desire to tell the story of those brave souls
who risked all to secure religious freedom.
Their story is set in perspective with a
backward look at the adventures and
achievements of earlier explorers whose
seafaring exploits paved the way for the
settlement of new lands and emigration to
North America in particular.
But Keith goes on to show how the case of
the Pilgrim Fathers was different.
Himself a committed Methodist he leaves
his readers in no doubt as to what drove
those people of deep religious conviction
to their eventual goal. They were no mere
adventurers in search of discovery, in the
pay of a monarch desirous of adding new
lands to an empire in order to rival that of
other nations engaged in similar pursuit.
Had they not first fled from persecution in
England and Holland?
The author’s stated claim is to answer the
question ”Who were the Pilgrim Fathers?”
By the time we have read the book we are
in no doubt. My own school memories of
them had amounted to little more than a
name; just another dull fact to be learned
from the history book. Keith’s moving
account brings them to life as real human
beings, people of indomitable spirit
prepared to suffer unbelievable hardship
and setback in the assurance that God
would bring them to a better land. In the
author’s words in his introduction these
Pilgrims “were the first group to found their
own colony and run it on a system of
administration and obedience which was
to be the forerunner of the established
American tradition of Government.”
The text is prefaced by a an ample series
of maps of remarkable detail, a number of
line drawings and illustrations, a list of
those who sailed in the Mayflower as well
as a list of useful addresses.
As a development officer in the tourist
industry, Keith takes the opportunity to
include information for the use of the
present-day traveller, visiting places of
interest as these arise in the course of the
narrative. Personally, I find this something
of a distraction, with on occasion a
resultant diminution of emotional impact.
Better, I feel, to have added such notes in
an Appendix at the end of the text.
The book’s positive value, however,
remains and at an inexpensive price it is a
valuable historical contribution.
Lillian Cameron
Mary of Guise. - By Rosalind K.
Marshall
N.M.S. Publishing. Price £6.99
The story of an inspirational leader, the
mother of Mary Queen of Scots. This
intelligent and energetic young
Frenchwoman believed it was her mission
to bring order, peace and justice to
Scotland regardless of personal cost. A
subtle politician, Mary of Guise earned the
respect of her contemporaries and most
historians ever since for her determination
and courage.
The Kings and Queens of Scotland –
edited by Richard Oram.
Tempus Publishing. Price £16.99.
14
An authoritative and accessible illustrated
history of our monarchs from circa 400 to
1714 and Anne, the last Stewart to sit on
the British throne. It is at times punctuated
by such towering personalities as
Macbeth, Robert the Bruce and Mary,
Queen of Scots, yet also directed by a
host of less well known figures too.
Ambition, success and failure as described
here not only shaped modern Scotland,
but also left a legacy throughout the U.K.
and the wider world. Black and white
illustrations complement the text.
The Rough Wooings - by Marcus
Merriman
Tuckwell Press. Price £25
Mary, Queen of Scots still exerts
irreducible fascination for students of
Scottish history, as one of the truly sexy
figures in our nation’s story - distinct from
starched scolds like John Knox and hirsute
brutes like William Wallace. The Rough
Wooings refers to the English attempts by
war to coerce the Scottish Government
into marrying the infant Mary to Edward VI,
so that their eldest son would secure a
British Union. These depredations were
carried out first under Henry VIII and later
under Edward’s protector, the Duke of
Somerset. Merriman – a Baltimore scholar
long resident at Lancaster University –
does full justice to the adult Mary’s
charisma in this leaned yet witty
examination of her dynastic importance as
a child, and its consequences.

More Branch Reports – Glasgow and
West of Scotland
Kelvingrove Art Gallery was the meeting
place for the outing on 28th July.
Thom Young had researched his subject
well and he gave us an informative and
interesting discourse concerning the corn
mills on the banks of the Kelvin where the
flour was ground for the bread supplying
Moray’s troops at the battle of Langside.
However, before braving the extremely
inclement weather we had a short stroll
round the gallery. In the central atrium we
were able to discern the Coats of Arms of
all the Glasgow Trades Guilds. “The
Baxters” or bakers bears a sheaf of corn
and two wooden paddles. In the Armoury
section we saw the type of armour worn in
the 16thC., several “Hackbutts” which were
the weapon of choice of Moray’s soldiers
and a cannon made for James V, similar
to those used by both sides at the
confrontation, and of dubious accuracy!
Upstairs we studied the oil painting by
Robert Herdman (1829-88) depicting “The
Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots” She is
dressed in black walking serenely towards
the scaffold. There was a lively discussion
15
as to the identity of the other figures in the
painting but no firm conclusion was
reached.
Outside in the pouring rain we surveyed
the murky river Kelvin from the road
bridge, alongside which runs the gigantic
water main carrying water to the heart of
the Metropolis from Loch Katrine in
Perthshire. The pipe bears the arms of the
City of Glasgow and those of the
Archbishop , as the pipe runs through the
ancient See of Partique, or Partick, a
portion of the wealthy Glasgow
Archbishopbric.
The original cornmills have long since
vanished but at that place, by the site of
the old Partick bridge, is an 18thC. mill
converted into flats with wheatsheaf or
”stook” shaped chimneys as a relic of
bygone days. The street in which they
stand is aptly named “Bunhouse Road”.
Extract from Rambles round Glasgow.
Circa 1850 by Hugh Macdonald:
“the village of Partick is romantically
situated on the Banks of the Kelvin. It is in
several places dammed up for the service
of the Corporation mills. The channel here
is spanned by a time honoured bridge,
built by Captain Thomas Crawford of
Jordanhill. He had been taken prisoner by
the English, while a youth, in Sept. 1547,
at the battle of Pinkie Cleuch. When
released he took service under Francis I of
France as one of the corps of Scots
guards. He returned to Scotland with
Mary, Queen of Scots in 1561, and in
1562 acquired Jordanhill and built the first
mansion there. When Darnley was
murdered he joined the party of Regent
Moray and in the civil war captured
Dumbarton Castle. He was Provost of
Glasgow in 1577 and built the bridge over
the Kelvin the following year. It was taken
down in 1895 to make way for the railway-
line to Dumbarton.
The mills of Partick belong to the
Incorporation of Bakers in our city, to
whom they were granted by the Regent
Moray after the victory at Langside. It is
said “the Baxters” of that day, besides
supplying his army with bread while it was
in the neighbourhood, actually sent an
armed deputation to assist the Regent in
his encounter with the Queen’s forces. On
his return to the city, Moray publicly
expressed his gratitude to the bakers for
services rendered. Mathew Fawside, the
Deacon, seems to have estimated
properly the value of the mere word
“gratitude”, and humbly suggested that a
gift of the Crown mills at “Pertique” would
be highly acceptable to the Incorporation.
The Regent, who was naturally in high
spirits at that time, acceeded. The
establishments have gone on gradually
extending their production as the needs of
the community have increased until today,
when the Incorporation to whom they
belong has become the most wealthy in
the city.”
John Gwynn
Pollock House and Crookston Castle -
25th August.
‘Here raised upon a verdant mount
sublime,
To Heaven complaining of the wrongs of
time,
And ruthless force of sacrilegious hands,
Crookston, an ancient seat, in ruins
stands;
Nor Clyde’s whole course an ampler
prospect yields,
Of spacious plains, and well improven
fields;
Which, here, the gently swelling hills
sourround,
And, there, the cloud-supporting
mountains bound;
Now fields with stately dwellings thronger
charged,
And populous cities, by their trade
enlarged.
(from ‘the Clyde’ by John Wilson, 1803.)
A small band assembled at Pollock House,
once the home of Sir John Stirling-
Maxwell, who donated the Pollock Estate
to the City of Glasgow, enabling the Burrell
Collection to find a permanent home at
last, in a purpose built museum in the
Estate grounds.
From the house the group moved on to
Pollock Shopping Centre to see a display
of Marian effects in “The Kist”. On show
were a ring, reputedly owned by Mary, and
the breast-plate she is supposed to have
worn at Langside.
Crookston Castle was the main object of
the day’s outing. The ruins occupy the
summit of a wooded slope overhanging
the south bank of the White Cart river at its
16
confluence with a burn named the Levern,
about 3 miles south from Paisley.
Walter Scott, in his novel ‘The Abbot’,
made Queen Mary remark on the
commanding position of the castle: “from
thence you may see a prospect as wide as
the peaks of Schiehallion”.
Built, supposedly, around 1175, its
occupants, long since, departed, have
given place to the bat and the owl. It
consisted of a large quarter and two lofty
towers with battlements on the wings. It
contained many spacious rooms, and a
considerable portion remains to the height
of about 50 ft: a rampart and a moat can
be distinctly traced.
The proprietor of this barony was one
Robert Croc; of Norman lineage and one
of the most considerable vassals of the
first Steward. His name occurs in the
Chartulary of Paisley and in succeeding
Charters several other members of the
family are to be found under the name of
de Croc; thus inferring that they took their
name from the place of their habitation -
Croc’s town; town deriving from the
Saxon, meaning a mansion or farm. After
various mutations, Crookston has become
the common usage.
In the 13thC, Marion Croc married a
younger son of the illustrious House of
Stewart, her surname being merged with
the more distinguished one of her
husband. The Croc-Stewarts thus united
held extensive possessions; their regality
of Crookston having comprehended the
baronies of Darnley, Neilston and
Inchinnan in Renfrewshire and that of
Tarbolton in Ayrshire.
Darnley, situated a few miles south of
Crookston formed the distinguishing title of
this branch of the Stewarts who were long
styled as ‘of Darnley’ and whose war cry
was “Avant Darnlé, jamais arrière” (In front
Darnley, never behind.) Several members
of the family served with distinction in the
armies of the King of France, hence their
war cry being expressed in French.
In 1445, Sir John Stewart of Darnley was
created a peer of Scotland, with the title
Lord Darnley; and about 1481, the
forfeited Earldom of Lennox, which had
been held by his paternal grandfather, was
revived in his favour. In 1565, Henry, Lord
Darnley became the husband of Mary,
Queen of Scots.
The ruins of the castle are invested with a
melancholy interest, from their connection
with the Queen’s name, forming one of the
mansions of her husband, Darnley’s
family. Tradition tells that Crookston has
been graced by the presence of the
beautiful and accomplished Queen, to
where Darnley triumphantly conducted his
royal bride after the celebration of their
nuptials at the Palace of Holyroodhouse;
but this is scarcely reconcilable with a
contemporary statement that Darnley
“came to preaching” in Edinburgh on the
two Sundays following the ceremony.
Suffice it to say they did come to
Crookston sometime after their marriage.
Another incorrect tradition gives Crookston
as the place from which Mary beheld the
rout of her last army at Langside. Walter
Scott adopted this report and unfortunately
this error has been allowed to pass
uncorrected into his popular History of
Scotland.
On a small mound, close to the east of the
castle there stood a stately yew, called the
Crookston Tree. Its situation meant it
formed a conspicuous object for miles
around. Under the branches of this
funereal tree, Mary and Darnley were
accustomed to sit in the sunshine which
they enjoyed on their visit. In 1782, the
trunk rose to 7ft. from the ground and
measured 10ft. in circumference. About
this time the tree was unfortunately and
inexpertly pruned, upon which it withered
and died. Its extinction was hastened by
relic collectors who cut down and carried
away large chunks seemingly without any
qualms! At length the proprietor, securing
his right to what was left, took the remains
into his own possession. Fragments of
this celebrated tree are to be found
disseminated throughout the country as
ornaments, snuff boxes and drinking cups,
and at Pollock House a model of
Crookston Castle is to be seen.
Connected with the old tree is the popular
error that in the reign of Mary, there was
minted silver coinage of three sizes
(Ryals) bearing on the reverse a tree,
crowned with the ” Dat Gloria Vires”. It is
generally believed that this is the
Cookston Yew, to commemorate the
dalliance of Mary and Darnley under its
branches: the largest coin, accordingly,
17
goes under the name of the Crookston
Dollar. However, the Privy council in
1565, ordered that the coinage shall bear
on ‘the ane side, ane palm-tree, crownit’
giving the lie to the supposition that it was
the Crookston Yew.
The Castle ruins are a favourite subject for
artists and the story of Mary and Darnley
also maintains interest in the site.
Researched and compiled by Thom
Young from the “History of Renfrewshire”
by G. Crawford.
Edinburgh - 12th November - The Genial
Bastien Pages
Mr. Graham Cruikshank was speaker for
the first of the winter lectures. He
introduced the subject by announcing that
he had made a discovery, of which he
hoped nobody else was already aware.
The object of the lecture was Bastien
Pages, one of Mary’s servants, whose role
in her life was as versatile as the spelling
of his name. Bastien, or Sebastien, was a
Frenchman from the Auvergne, who joined
Mary’s retinue some time after her return
to Scotland. The date is uncertain as his
name was not among those who
accompanied Mary to Scotland in 1561.
It is clear form the slides that Mr.
Cruickshank showed us, that Mary held
Bastien in high esteem. Copies of
accounts reveal that he was entrusted with
substantial sums of money destined for
the purchase of various fabrics and dress
materials, some of which were to make
garments for events such as the baptism
of Mary’s son James, and also as a gift for
the wedding dress of Bastien’s own bride.
Bastien was responsible for a very
narrowly averted diplomatic disaster
during the christening festivities at Stirling
Castle in 1566. He, like Mary, was fond of
masques and organised the entertainment
for the French and English representatives
who had convened for the celebrations.
The merry atmosphere turned sour when a
bunch of performers dressed as satyrs
entered, lifting and wagging their long tails.
The English party took great offence but
Mary tactfully diffused the situation by
persuading them that no insult was
intended. In the 16thC the ’long tails’ were
a common derogatory reference to the
English, probably generated by the type of
coats that were in fashion at that time.
There is no evidence to suggest that Mary
reprimanded Bastien for this faux pas.
On Feb. 9th 1566, the eve of the Kirk o’
Field explosion during which Darnley
mysteriously lost his life, Bastien was
again part of the picture. As is well known
to those familiar with Mary’s story, she had
just returned to Holyrood after spending
the evening with Darnley at Kirk o’ Field
where he was convalescing. She
promised the reluctant Darnley that she
would return later to spend the night there.
Her reason for returning to Holyrood at this
late hour was to attend the festivities given
in honour of Bastien’s marriage to
Christian Hogg (or Heggie). Bastien and
Christian had been joined in matrimony
earlier at the Abbey adjacent to the
Palace; a remarkable fact in itself since
most marriages of any rank, in this area,
took place at the Kirk of the Canongate
(now at the bottom of the Royal Mile).
Following the explosion, placards started
to appear accusing Bothwell, represented
as a crested hare (his family crest), and
Mary as a mermaid (meaning whore), as
the perpetrators of the crime. Later other
placards named three foreigners
Francisco Busso, Joseph Riccio and
Bastien. Consequently Francisco and
Riccio were imprisoned in the Tolbooth for
a time. This was probably no more than a
xenophobic attack, but shows the
influence Bastien was perceived to hold in
Mary’s household.
attended her funeral in Peterborough
Cathedral.
But what of Mr. Cruikshanks’s discovery?
There is, indeed, a twist in the tail of the
tale of Mary’s loyal servant. To find it one
needs to examine the records of the Kirk
of the Canongate referred to earlier. In the
16thc, the Canongate was a completely
separate burgh with its own Tollbooth
(prison) and Parish Church. The Kirk,
anxious to rid the streets of the burgh of
‘whoredom and harlots’ took upon itself to
pull up those offenders during a process
which lasted two days, so many there
were!! To our surprise, we heard that a
certain Christian Hogg had been accused
of providing such services. As for Bastien,
there it was in black and white, on one of
our speaker’s slides: Bastien Pages stood
accused of availing himself of the services
of an anonymous woman of ill
repute….could it have been Christian?
Mary could not have failed to have known
about the nature of the relationship
between Bastien and Christian, and her
conciliatory attitude towards them shows
that she was indeed ahead of the times
and very tolerant in an age when moral
standards were high on the agenda of
newly established Presbyterianism.
Pascale Jooste

When Mary completely lost her footing in

Scotland and escaped to England, Bastien
followed her as ‘Groom of the Chamber’,
accompanied by his wife. While in
England, Mary continued to show great
magnanimity towards her servants, which
was a source of constant acrimony
between her and her jailors. While Mary
was in the custody of Amyas Paulet,
Christian gave birth to a child, but then
found herself expelled from the Queen’s
household as part of the strict curtailment
of her entourage in the aftermath of the
thwarted Babington Plot. Bastien was
always regarded suspiciously by the
English. Paulet described him as ‘cunning
in his kind, full of sleights to corrupt young
men’. Bastien probably played a significant
role in the facilitation of Mary’s secret
correspondence. Both he and his wife
remained loyal to Mary until the end and

18
From a cutting found in an old history
book on Mary, Queen of Scots:
To the Editor of the “Galloway Gazette”
MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS IN
GALLOWAY
Sir, - In your issue of the 2nd inst., the
writer of the note about the repair of
Glenluce Abbey, now being carried on by
H.M. Office of Works, observes that “some
historians state” that Mary Queen of Scots
visited the Abbey on her way to Whithorn.
I do not think that it was in the power of
any historian to make that statement until
M. Math, a clerk in the office of Messrs
Dundas & Wilson, W.S. discovered in the
Record Office a roll of daily expense kept
by Queen Mary’s French equerry during
her tour through the South-West of
Scotland in 1563. I owe it to my friend,
Captain A. M. Cormick that I was enabled
to examine this document, which conveys
the only information we have that Queen
Mary had ever been in Galloway except in
her flight from the stricken field of
Langside in 1568.
From this document we learn that on
Sunday, 1st August 1563, Queen Mary
was at Eglinton, the guest of Hugh, 3rd Earl
of that ilk, leaving next day for Ayr, where
she stayed till Wednesday, 4th. Thence
she passed to Lord Cassillis’s castle of
Dunure on Saturday, 7th, to Ardmillan, and
on Sunday 8th, to Ardstinchar, whereof the
ruined tower still stands conspicuous on
the steep bank of the Stincher at
Ballantrae. Next day she moved on to the
Abbey of Glenluce (written Glainleoux by
the French equerry). Remaining there one
night, she went next day to Whithorn,
where doubtless she would have been
entertained by the Prior – Malcolm
Fleming – a son of the second Earl of
Wigtown, had not he been imprisoned on
being convicted of having celebrated
mass.
From Whithorn the Queen went to Clary,
the residence of Alexander Stewart, a
direct ancestor of the present Earl of
Galloway. Staying there for a couple of
nights, she left Wigtownshire on Friday
13th, for Kenmure whither we need not
follow her, save to note that, crossing the
Cree by the Black Ford above the
confluence of the Penkiln, she and her
19
numerous retinue must have ridden over
the ancient bridge at Cumloden Mill, which
is still popularly known as Queen Mary’s
Bridge. – I am, yours, etc.
HERBERT MAXWELL
Odds and Ends
On a plaque set into the wall of the Great
Hall in The Crown Square of Edinburgh
Castle are engraved these words:- Mary of
Lorraine, Queen of James V, Mother of
Mary, Queen of Scots and Regent of
Scotland, of singular judgement; full of
humanity, a great lover of justice and
helpful to the poor.
The plaque which supposedly came from
Mary of Guise’s house in Leith, shown in
issue 26, bears the date 1560, so it must
have been carved before her death in
June of that year. A member of the Leith
Preservation Trust, who was present at
the unveiling of our Leith Plaque, was
sceptical of its perpetrated origin, as Mary
of Guise was living mainly at her house on
Castle Hill, Edinburgh by then. Can
anyone come up with any other
suggestions as to the origin of the plaque?
The Erskines of Mar are one of Scotland’s
most distinguished families and are still
the hereditary keepers of Stirling Castle.
As a small child, Mary lived under the
guardianship of the family before being
taken to France. According to legend,
Mary’s son died at birth and a son of the
Earl of Mar was substituted. The man who
became James VI, bore a striking
resemblance to the Erskines!
The present Earl took up his seat in the
House of Lords in 1994 but was expelled
in 2001 when hereditary peers were
slashed from 600 to 92. However, he was
a valued member of the assembly and six
months later, Prime Minister Blair,
included him in a list of 33 working peers
after he was recommended for a life
peerage by Charles Kennedy, Leader of
the Liberal Democrats.
A ring, featuring a portrait of Mary, which it
is believed she gave away on the eve of
her execution, recently fetched £5, 000 at
auction in Tavistock, Devon. The 16thC
oval gold ring features a crystal-glazed
miniature of the Queen as a child. It was
sold to a private bidder. Measuring less
than ¾ of an inch it was put up for sale by
a member of the Strickland family from
Dartmoor. According to family legend, the
ring had been given by Mary to her God-
daughter, Mary Strickland.

20
NOTICES

SCOTLAND’S ILLUSTRATED HISTORY, ARCHAEOLOGY & HERITAGE MAGAZINE.

History Scotland is an essential read for anyone interested in Scottish history, archaeology and
heritage. The magazine is lavishly illustrated, printed in full colour and contains the latest
research and new thinking on a wide range of themes.

Some recent articles include:

The Roman Gask frontier ~ Cromwellian Shipwreck ~ the Battle of Prestonpans ~ Aberdeen
Typhoid Epidemic ~ An Alternative History of Mary, Queen of Scots ~ Regular Features on Place
Names.Also Book reviews, news, events.

SUBSCRIPTION COST (includes postage)

UK:£21 - EUROPE:€35 - CANADA:Can$ 60 - USA/world: US$ 40

History Scotland , P.O. Box 23454, Edinburgh, EH5 3WF, Scotland. Tel/Fax 01224-273511
E-Mail: info@historyscotland.com

Secure ordering on-line: www.historyscotland.com All major credit cards accepted

Thistle Books - www.thistlebooks.net

Thistle Books aim to provide you with quality history books at good prices.
Our specialities are books on the Scottish Nobility from c.1400 to 1750. We also stock a selection
of history books on the English Plantaganet, Tudor and Stuart dynasties.
Stocks are always being updated. We also offer a Book Search Service.

contact@thistlebooks.net

FORTHCOMING EVENTS.

Edinburgh Branch Meetings take place at the Quaker Meeting Rooms,7 Victoria Terrace,
Edinburgh on the second Tuesday of the month at 7.30 p.m.

December 11th: Donald Smith talks about John Knox and gives a tour of John Knox’s House in
the Netherbow. Meet outside the house at 7.15p.m. Refreshments available Entrance fees:
Adults £2.25. Concessions £1.75.

January 14th: Doreen Grove - ‘Scottish Castles’.

Febrary 11th: Christopher Fleet - ‘Timothy Pont’s maps as a snapshot of the late 16th Century
Scotland.’

March 11th: Dr. Rosalind Marshall. - Subject ro be confirmed.

21
NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY St. Martin’s Lane, London, WC2H 0HE. Room 16.

Mary,Queen of Scots; Fact or Fiction?

Over the centuries since her execution for treason in 1587, the character and appearance of
Mary, Queen of Scots have been the subjects of continuing fascination. Drawing on work from
the Gallery’s reference collection, this display looks at the ways in which she has been depicted,
particularly in prints, from the 16th-19th centuries.

The exhibition continues until April 2003. Admission is free.

The Gallery is open Mon. – Wed., Sat. & Sun.- 10am-6pm. Evening Openings Thurs. & Fri.
10am-9pm.

The Gallery is located opposite the Church of St. Martin in the Fields, north of Trafalgar Square.

KANDLE WITCH’S CAULDRON – www.kandlewitch.co.uk

Innovative hand-made candles. Hand-painted candles, scented candles, gel landscape candles,
candles for Halloween, Easter, Christmas and the four seasons. Natural products used such as
real bark, shells, pressed flowers etc. Rabbits, cats, owls and other unusual designs.

CONTACT:- pascale@kandlewitch.plus.com

22