Thomas Arthur was a Scottish tailor who worked for James V of Scotland. He used a fabric described as "Highland tartan".Rosalind K. Marshall, 'To be the Kingis Grace ane Dowblett: The Costume of James V, King of Scots', Costume, 28:1 (2014), pp. 16, 18.

Career Arthur was made master tailor to the king in 1529. During the previous years of the king's minority, his clothes had been made by Andrew Edgar.Andrea Thomas, Princelie Majestie: The Court of James V (Edinburgh, 2005), p. 229.

Arthur's work is known through the accounts of the treasurer of Scotland, and inventories of the king's clothes.Thomas Thomson, Collection of Inventories (Edinburgh, 1815), pp. 29-113: John G. Harrison, Wardrobe Inventories of James V: British Library MS Royal 18 C (Historic Scotland: Edinburgh, 2008) The published editions of the accounts by James Balfour Paul do not include the detail of the lining and secondary fabrics of costume, described in the original manuscripts in the National Archives of Scotland.Melanie Schuessler Bond, Dressing the Scottish Court (Boydell, 2019), 2. Another tailor, Richard Hills, made some of the King's clothes when he was in France.James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Treasurer, 7 (Edinburgh, 1907), pp. 26–27, 63–64.

In August 1538, Thomas Arthur made clothes for James V using Highland tartan. The "Heland tertane" was used to make hose for a Highland outfit sent to James V at Stirling Castle. Arthur had previously made a tartan "galcoit", which was a gift for the Master of Forbes in February 1533. More tartan for another "galcoit" was bought in Dundee in December 1533. The "galcoit" was worn while riding.Maria Hayward, Stuart Style: Monarchy, Dress and the Scottish Male Elite (Yale, 2020), p. 39 citing National Records of Scotland E21/34 f.63v: Rosalind K. Marshall, "To be the Kingis Grace ane Dowblett: The Costume of James V, King of Scots", Costume, 28:1 (2014), p. 16: James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Treasurer, 6 (Edinburgh, 1905), pp. 79–80, 436–437.

Thomas Arthur made gowns and shirts for Senat or Serat, a French entertainer who was Mary of Guise's fool.James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Treasurer, 7 (Edinburgh, 1907), pp. 102, 149. Arthur made clothes for Lady Jean Stewart, Lord James of Kelso, and Lord James of Saint Andrews, the children of James V who resided in the household of Mary of Guise or at St Andrews.James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Treasurer, vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1907), pp. 148, 312–313.

Some clothes for the women of the royal household were made by the "French tailor", and they collaborated in providing a marriage gown for Jeanne de la Rainville alias Gresmore when she married Robert Beaton of Creich in May 1539.Gordon Donaldson, Scotland's History: Approaches and Reflections (Scottish Academic Press, 1995), p. 71. Arthur's servant carried fabric to the French tailor at St Andrews.James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Treasurer, 7 (Edinburgh, 1907), pp. 166–167. Walter Quhyte, from February 1539,James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Treasurer, vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1907), pp. 136–137. and then a French tailor, probably Jacques de la Grange,Andrea Thomas, Princelie Majestie (Edinburgh : John Donald, 2005), p. 241. made clothes for Lady Jean Stewart, one of the king's daughters,Rosalind K. Marshall, Queen Mary's Women: Female Relatives, Servants, Friends and Enemies of Mary Queen of Scots (Edinburgh: Birlinn, 2006), pp. 90–91. and for Helen and Elizabeth Stewart, sisters of the Earl of Lennox, who were members the household of Mary of Guise at Linlithgow Palace in March 1539 and with her at Pitlethlie in May 1539. He made gowns and kirtles for them of black and red velvet, satin, and taffeta, with French hats, hoods with velvet "saferis" (French hoods), and riding hoods called "barbutes".Rosalind K. Marshall, Mary of Guise (London: Collins, 1977), p. 75: James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Treasurer, 7 (Edinburgh, 1907), pp. 149, 167–168: Robert Pitcairn, Ancient Criminal Trials in Scotland, 1 (Edinburgh, 1833), p. 296.

In January 1540, Arthur made "play coats" of red and yellow taffeta, and a side cape for one of the players.James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Treasurer, vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1907), pp. 276-7. These costumes were for an early performance of David Lindsay's "A Satire of the Three Estates" in the Great Hall of Linlithgow Palace.Sarah Carpenter, 'Plays and Playcoats: A Courtly Interlude Tradition in Scotland?', Comparative Drama, 46:4 (Winter 2012), pp. 475-496.

In February 1540 he made a bonnet to line the crown of Scotland which the goldsmith John Mosman had recently refurbished. The bonnet was made of purple velvet and lined with purple satin.James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Treasurer, vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1907), pp. 278, 285. Thomas Arthur worked in Edinburgh and would bring the clothes to the king at his palaces. His servants brought clothes to Stirling Castle in March 1540 and were given a reward or tip recorded as "drinksilver".Athol Murray, 'Pursemaster's Accounts', Miscellany of the Scottish History Society, X (Edinburgh, 1965), p. 38 At Easter 1541 he brought a coffer of clothes to Stirling Castle, including a black Venice satin doublet with gold buttons, and black hose. He also delivered new clothes to the King's servants, including the pursemaster John Tennent who would "deliver them where the king commanded".James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Treasurer, vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1907), p. 441.

He made clothes for the king's two sons, and mourning cloaks for ladies in waiting to wear at the funeral of Margaret Tudor in Perth in November 1541. In March 1542 he made a nightgown for Mistress Margaret, sister of the Earl of Lennox.James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Treasurer, vol. 8 (Edinburgh, 1908), pp. 35, 39, 63, 147.

A lady-in-waiting Katherine Bellenden worked in the royal wardrobe.Rosalind K. Marshall, Mary of Guise (London: Collins, 1978), p. 68. She sold cloth to Thomas Arthur.Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 6 (Edinburgh, 1905), pp. 298, 380-381, 390. Her niece, also called Katherine Bellenden, married Robert Craig, one of Thomas Arthur's servant-tailors.Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1907), pp. xxxiii, 463.Theo van Heijnsbergen, 'The Interaction Between Literature and History in Queen Mary’s Edinburgh: the Bannatyne Manuscript and its Prosopographical Context', The Renaissance in Scotland (Leiden, 1994), p. 219.Margaret H. B. Sanderson, A Kindly Place? (Tuckwell: East Linton, 2002), p. 108.

Arthur was not employed by Regent Arran. After the death of Thomas Arthur, in 1551 any money he had owed to James V was granted by Regent Arran to the soldier Robert Hamilton of Briggis and William Hamilton of Humbie.James Beveridge, Register of the Privy Seal, 1548-1556, vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1952), p. 201 no. 1258.

A tailor called Thomas Arthur worked in England at this time, and in 1527 joined a company of actors. He entered into a legal dispute with George Maller, who was a glazier by trade, who had undertaken to train Arthur to be a player or "interluder" in the court revels of Henry VIII.Ian Lancashire, Dramatic Texts and Records of Britain (Toronto, 1984), p. 62. It is not clear if this was the same man.

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