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Entry of Mary, Queen of Scots, into Edinburgh
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Entry of Mary, Queen of Scots, into Edinburgh
On 19 August 1561, the 18-year-old Mary, Queen of Scots, returned to Scotland from France following the death of her husband Francis II of France the previous winter. On 2 September the town of Edinburgh organised a celebration of royal entry for her.
Tailors and "boys" made black mourning "dule" riding cloaks and skirts for Mary, Queen of Scots, and her 15 ladies. Mary wore black Florence serge, the other costumes were made from 50 ells of cheaper black stemming.
On the day, Mary rode from Holyrood Palace to Edinburgh Castle where she had dinner. After the meal, she went to the Castlehill on the High Street and joined an escort of 50 young men from Edinburgh who were dressed as "Moors", a disguise representing imagined African people, with rings in their mouths and gilded chains about their necks and arms. The costumes of some of this "Convoy of Moors" were made of white and yellow taffeta. A 16th-century chronicle called the Diurnal of Occurents describes their costume, black face, and chains in Scots language:
thair bodeis and theis [thighs] coverit with yeallow taffiteis, thair armis and leggs from the knee doun bare, cullorit with blak, in maner of Moris, upon thair heidds blak hattis, and on thair faces blak visouris, in thair mowthis rings, garnessit with intellable [set with innumerable] precious staneis, about thair nekkis leggs and armes infynit of chenis of gold.
Mary made her progress under a "paill" or canopy of purple velvet with gold fringes held up by twelve townsmen dressed in black velvet. At the Butter Tron (where dairy products were weighed for sale) at the head of the West Bow there was a pageant stage. A boy dressed as an angel emerged from a globe and gave her the keys to the town, a bible, and a psalter. At the Tolbooth, on a double stage, four damsels (male actors) represented Fortitude, Justice, Temperance, and Prudence. At the Cross, wine poured from a fountain, and four maidens performed an allegory. At another stop at the Salt Tron a pageant representing the Scottish Reformation was abandoned in favour of the destruction of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.
At the Netherbow, the boundary between Edinburgh and the Canongate, the queen was addressed by a dragon which was then burnt. At Holyrood Palace, a cartload of school children spoke in favour of the Reformation and sang a psalm. A cupboard of gilt plate, bought by the town council from the Earl of Morton and Richard Maitland of Lethington, was presented to the queen in her outer chamber in Holyrood Palace, by the "honest men" who had carried and walked beside the canopy.
A Royal Entry was a negotiation and affirmation of the values and meanings of a city and the royal court. The chronicle known as the Diurnal of Occurrents mentions that Mary's mother Mary of Guise had made her ceremonial royal entry to Edinburgh on Saint Margaret's Day (16 November 1538), "with great sports played to her grace through all parts of the town". Guise, according to the Diurnal, entered the town at the West Port gate and progressed down the High Street or Royal Mile to Holyrood Palace.
Some aspects of the 1561 Entry were controversial. The English diplomat Thomas Randolph mentioned the substitution and negotiation of content alluding directly to the Scottish Reformation. John Knox wrote that Mary seemed dismissive when she was presented with the Bible in vernacular, and this is repeated in a chronicle attributed to the Catholic Lord Herries. It is thought that the presentation of the triumph of the Reformation during the Entry was displeasing to the Catholic queen. A month later, after burgh council elections, she required the dismissal of the Provost and four bailies of the town council. The new Provost, Thomas McCalzean, proved to be a supporter of the queen.
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Entry of Mary, Queen of Scots, into Edinburgh
On 19 August 1561, the 18-year-old Mary, Queen of Scots, returned to Scotland from France following the death of her husband Francis II of France the previous winter. On 2 September the town of Edinburgh organised a celebration of royal entry for her.
Tailors and "boys" made black mourning "dule" riding cloaks and skirts for Mary, Queen of Scots, and her 15 ladies. Mary wore black Florence serge, the other costumes were made from 50 ells of cheaper black stemming.
On the day, Mary rode from Holyrood Palace to Edinburgh Castle where she had dinner. After the meal, she went to the Castlehill on the High Street and joined an escort of 50 young men from Edinburgh who were dressed as "Moors", a disguise representing imagined African people, with rings in their mouths and gilded chains about their necks and arms. The costumes of some of this "Convoy of Moors" were made of white and yellow taffeta. A 16th-century chronicle called the Diurnal of Occurents describes their costume, black face, and chains in Scots language:
thair bodeis and theis [thighs] coverit with yeallow taffiteis, thair armis and leggs from the knee doun bare, cullorit with blak, in maner of Moris, upon thair heidds blak hattis, and on thair faces blak visouris, in thair mowthis rings, garnessit with intellable [set with innumerable] precious staneis, about thair nekkis leggs and armes infynit of chenis of gold.
Mary made her progress under a "paill" or canopy of purple velvet with gold fringes held up by twelve townsmen dressed in black velvet. At the Butter Tron (where dairy products were weighed for sale) at the head of the West Bow there was a pageant stage. A boy dressed as an angel emerged from a globe and gave her the keys to the town, a bible, and a psalter. At the Tolbooth, on a double stage, four damsels (male actors) represented Fortitude, Justice, Temperance, and Prudence. At the Cross, wine poured from a fountain, and four maidens performed an allegory. At another stop at the Salt Tron a pageant representing the Scottish Reformation was abandoned in favour of the destruction of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.
At the Netherbow, the boundary between Edinburgh and the Canongate, the queen was addressed by a dragon which was then burnt. At Holyrood Palace, a cartload of school children spoke in favour of the Reformation and sang a psalm. A cupboard of gilt plate, bought by the town council from the Earl of Morton and Richard Maitland of Lethington, was presented to the queen in her outer chamber in Holyrood Palace, by the "honest men" who had carried and walked beside the canopy.
A Royal Entry was a negotiation and affirmation of the values and meanings of a city and the royal court. The chronicle known as the Diurnal of Occurrents mentions that Mary's mother Mary of Guise had made her ceremonial royal entry to Edinburgh on Saint Margaret's Day (16 November 1538), "with great sports played to her grace through all parts of the town". Guise, according to the Diurnal, entered the town at the West Port gate and progressed down the High Street or Royal Mile to Holyrood Palace.
Some aspects of the 1561 Entry were controversial. The English diplomat Thomas Randolph mentioned the substitution and negotiation of content alluding directly to the Scottish Reformation. John Knox wrote that Mary seemed dismissive when she was presented with the Bible in vernacular, and this is repeated in a chronicle attributed to the Catholic Lord Herries. It is thought that the presentation of the triumph of the Reformation during the Entry was displeasing to the Catholic queen. A month later, after burgh council elections, she required the dismissal of the Provost and four bailies of the town council. The new Provost, Thomas McCalzean, proved to be a supporter of the queen.
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