Catégorie Scotland
L’enigme de la croix de cristal de Reims
Un jour, ou peut-être une nuit, profitant probablement du chaos créé par le bombardement de la cathédrale de Reims en septembre 1914, un inconnu enlevait une croix en cristal de roche du trésor de la cathédrale de Reims. Le vol de cette croix, une œuvre précieuse datant du XVIe siècle, fut perpétré « sans doute avant […]
Madeleine of Valois, king James V’s first wife
In the first half of the XVIth century, France and Scotland were not only bound by the Auld Alliance, a treaty of mutual military assistance between the two kingdoms dating from the end of the XIIIth century. Many Scots were also permanently living on the Continent: Scottish merchants living in the cities of Rouen and […]
June 1538: Marie de Guise discovers Scottish fashion
After an exhausting sea crossing from France, Marie arrived on a sandy beach on the Scottish East coast near Crail. She was accompanied by the duke of Guise her father, her sister Louise, her ladies in waiting and many Frenchmen. All disembarked the galleys and moved towards castle Balcomie, probably passing fishermen, villagers and townspeople. […]
‘And Yet It Stands’. Mary of Guise’s emblem pictured by Scottish artist Iona Leishman
ADHUC STAT – ‘And yet it stands’ – was the motto of Marie de Guise‘s personal emblem, accompanied by the pictura or image representing, according to French historian Gabriel de Pimodan, a crown set above a rock beaten by winds and waves. It is also the title of this summer’s exhibition of new paintings from […]
22 May 1540: A prince is born to Scotland
In early May 1540, king James V decided to move the Scottish Court to the palace of St. Andrews. Queen Marie, who was heavily pregnant, was lodged with her ladies in confortable chambers containing two beds, one hung with curtains of white damask fringed with white silk, and the second with curtains of yellow damask […]
Philippa of Guelders, Marie of Guise’s prickly grandmother
Much like her granddaughter Marie of Lorraine-Guise, Philippa of Guelders did not receive much attention from French historians. Only the final part of her life, spent in a convent at Pont-à-Mousson in the Lorraine region, inspired some rare biographers. The first was Hilarion de Coste (1595-1661), member of the Order of the Minimes de Saint […]
