The Scottish royal tapestry collection was a group of tapestry hangings assembled to decorate the palaces of sixteenth-century kings and queens of Scotland. None appear to have survived.
Tapestry at the Royal Court of Scotland
Like other European monarchs, the kings and queens of Scotland sought to impress their subjects and diplomatic visitors in costly surroundings.Guy Delmarcel, 'Tapestry', Erin Griffey, Early Modern Court Culture (Routledge, 2022), pp. 277-88. 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.Letters & Papers, Foreign and Domestic of Henry VIII, vol. 16, no. 276, 17 November 1540. In Scotland, James V's tapestries were listed in two inventories, along with the crown jewels and fine clothes. 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. The rooms were decorated with a painted frieze at the top of the wall and plain beneath where the tapestries hung. In England, Henry VIII had nearly 2000 tapestries and James V had 200.John G. Harrison, Rebirth of a Palace: The Royal Court at Stirling Castle (Historic Scotland, 2011), p. 106: Andrea Thomas, Princelie Majestie (John Donald: Edinburgh, 2005), pp. 79–80: Simon Thurley, The Royal Palaces of Tudor England (Yale, 1993), pp. 222-4.
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.Joseph Robertson, Inventaires de la Royne Descosse (Edinburgh, 1863), p. 51 The names of many others were recorded, and the subjects are the same as those listed in other royal collections,Iain Buchanan, 'The Battle of Pavia and the Tapestry of Don Carlos', The Burlington Magazine, vol. 144, no. 1191 (June, 2002), pp. 345–351. and some examples survive in museums around the world. 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.
Tapestry and the court of James IV James IV owned tapestries, which are usually called the "arras" in records of his court, because the city of Arras, now in France, had been a centre of tapestry-weaving. The tapestries were frequently carried between the palaces as the royal family moved. The tapestry was also deployed to impress foreign diplomats. In January 1495, tapestries were put in the king's chamber at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh for the visit of the Chancellor of Denmark by James Dog. He was a wardrobe servant and was described in two poems by William Dunbar, Of James Dog and He Is Na Dog, He Is a Lam. Soon after, the tapestries were packed up and taken to Stirling Castle, where the king celebrated Easter.Thomas Dickson, Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1877), pp. 240-1, 327. In November 1495, the King's cupboard, tapestries, and chapel goods were carted from Edinburgh to Stirling for the reception of Perkin Warbeck.James Gairdner, Letters and papers illustrative of the reigns of Richard III and Henry VII, 2 (London, 1861), p. 327.
Ripped and torn tapestries were mended in 1497 by a priest John Kilgour of Dunblane.Thomas Dickson, Accounts of the Treasurer, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1877), p. 386. In March 1498, James IV ordered a suite of tapestry for his lodging at Stirling Castle from James Makysone, a merchant based in Leith.Thomas Dickson, Accounts of the Treasurer, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1877), p. 384. In 1501, new hangings of damask and scarlet cloth were made for chambers at Stirling by John Steel and his workmen.James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1900), pp. 110–111.
The reception of Margaret Tudor at Holyroodhouse In preparation for the arrival of his bride Margaret Tudor at Holyroodhouse on 8 August 1503, James IV bought new tapestries.Morvern French & Roger Mason, 'Art, Artefacts, Artillery', Alexander Fleming & Roger Mason, Scotland and the Flemish People (John Donald, 2019), p. 107. A group was bought from a merchant called James Hommyll, who imported textiles from Flanders, which cost £160 Scots. These were a piece with the subject of Hercules, two pieces of Susanna sewn together, a Susanna bed cover, a Solomon, and a Marcus Coriolanus.Morvern French, 'Ostentatious by nature: Flemish Material Culture at the Marriage of James IV and Margaret Tudor', International Review of Scottish Studies, 46 (2021), p. 41Alexander Fleming and Roger Mason, Scotland the Flemish People (Birlinn, 2019), p. 107. The total measurement which, combined with quality, dictated the price, was 209 square ells. The tapestries were lined with canvas.James Balfour Paul, Accounts of Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1900), p. 214. A set of six verdure tapestries were bought for hanging in the gallery and on the stairs, each costing £3. Five other smaller verdures of various sizes cost £11-4s. Ten fine verdures were bought from John Stewart; three with 'beasts' cost £4-10s each, seven with no beasts cost £4 each (the 'beasts' may have been unicorns). Four other verdures bought for beds were in quality, 'nocht sa gude', and cost only 40 shillings each.Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1900), pp. 216, 217.
Before Margaret left England, the tapestry agent of Henry VII of England, Cornelius van der Strete, had been paid £7-8s (English money) for making or supplying 74 Flemish ells of tapestry for the Scottish Consort Queen.Bain, Joseph, ed., Calendar of Documents relating to Scotland: 1357–1509, vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1888), p. 441, Particular account of Robert Lytton, pp. 319–441 The historian and curator Thomas P. Campbell suggests these may have been simple armorial tapestries or borders to be attached to figural tapestries purchased elsewhere.Thomas P. Campbell, Henry VIII and the Art of Majesty (Yale, 2007), pp. 91–92, citing a corresponding account, PRO TNA E101/415/7, fol. 98.
James Dog fixed hooks in the rooms of Holyrood Palace for tapestry.Accounts of the Treasurer: 1500-1504, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1900), pp. 391-2. The English Somerset Herald, John Young, described some of the tapestry at Holyroodhouse on the two days of celebration. Young noted the hangings in the two outer rooms of the King and Queen's suites where meals were served.Dunbar, John G., Scottish Royal Palaces (Tuckwell, 1999), pp. 132–133. The Queen's hall was hung with the History of Hercules, and her great chamber with the History of Troy Town. The King's hall was hung with the History of Old Troy, and his great chamber with Hercules and other stories.Leland, John ed., Collectanea, vol. 3 (London, 1770), pp. 295–6. Possibly some of these tapestries were brought to Scotland by Margaret, perhaps with new borders including Tudor heraldry supplied by Cornelis van der Strete.
The royal treasurer's accounts record payments for carrying tapestry between the palaces: six dozen hooks were bought for hangings in the new Great Hall of Stirling Castle in November 1503;Accounts of the Treasurer: 1500-1504, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1900), p. 408. in February 1506, the 'Cloths of Hercules' were taken from Edinburgh to Linlithgow Palace.Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland: 1506-1507, vol. 3 (Edinburgh, 1901), p. 181. There was a fire in October 1506 and burnt tapestries were packed in barrels and taken to Leith.Accounts of the Treasurer: 1506-1507, vol. 3 (Edinburgh, 1901), pp. 27-8. The Italian merchant Jerome Frescobaldi, who was based in Bruges, made arrangements for their repair in Flanders.Accounts of the Treasurer: 1507-1513, vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1902), p. 348. The merchant James Hommyl hosted the king's African servants including Ellen More in the winter of 1504.George Burnett, Exchequer Rolls of Scotland: 1502-1507, vol. 12 (Edinburgh, 1889), pp. 374-5.
Tapestry inventories James V Two inventories of 1539 and 1543 list the tapestries of James V.Harrison, John G., Wardrobe Inventories (Historic Scotland, 2008), 9. Some of these had belonged to James IV, though Gavin Douglas said that Regent Albany had cut up royal crimson and purple hangings to make clothes for his servants and pages,Paterson, W., ed., The Poetical Works of Gavin Douglas, vol. 1 (1874), cviii. but many were bought by James V, or were presents from Francis I of France on his marriage to Madeleine of Valois.Rosalind K. Marshall, Scottish Queens: 1034-1714 (John Donald: Edinburgh, 2007), p. 106. 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.Morvern French & Roger Mason, 'Art, Artefacts, Artillery', Alexander Fleming & Roger Mason, Scotland and the Flemish People (John Donald, 2019), p. 107.
An inventory of September 1561 made by Servais de Condé lists tapestries and other hangings belonging to Mary of Guise, and another compiled on 25 November lists Mary, Queen of Scots' collection.Thomas Thomson, Collection of Inventories (Edinburgh, 1815), pp. 126-7, 143-5. These lists have marginal notes describing the later locations of the tapestries. Mary Queen of Scots added to the royal collection by confiscating 45 tapestries belonging to the Earl of Huntly at Huntly Castle in October 1562. These included one set of large leaf verdures and other set with leaves and birds. Five of the eleven tapestries destroyed at Kirk o' Field were from Huntly, the other were from a suite depicting a "Rabbit Hunt".Joseph Robertson, Inventaires (Edinburgh, 1863), p. 51: Thomson (1815), p. 157.
Regent Moray and Mary's goods After the battle of Langside in May 1568, the Regent Moray took back from Hamilton Palace rich silk tapestry and beds that had belonging to James V.Calendar State Papers Domestic, vol.8 (1871), nos. 2230, 2232. Packing canvas bought for goods seized from the castle at Hamilton (Cadzow Castle), including some of the royal tapestries. Packages and trunks from Hamilton were carried to Edinburgh by horses supervised by the gunner Harry Balfour.Charles Thorpe McInnes, Accounts of the Treasurer, vol. 12 (Edinburgh, 1970), pp. 120-1. Mary had loaned some tapestry and furnishings to James Sandilands, 1st Lord Torphichen, which had been taken to Hamilton. 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".Thomas Thomson, Collection of Inventories (Edinburgh, 1815), pp. 186-187.
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.Labanoff, A., Lettres de Marie Stuart, vol. 7 (Dolman, London, 1852), pp. 129–134. 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.Calendar of State Papers Scotland, vol. 3 (Edinburgh, 1902), p. 289 no. 393.
At Stirling Castle