The baptism of James VI was celebrated at Stirling Castle in December 1566 with a masque, fireworks, and a staged assault on a mock fortress.Michael Lynch, 'Queen Mary's Triumph: The Baptismal Celebrations at Stirling in December 1566', Scottish Historical Review, 69:187 Part 1 (April 1990), pp. 1-21. The entertainment was devised by George Buchanan and Bastian Pagez.Roger A. Mason, 'George Buchanan and Mary, Queen of Scots', Scottish Church History, 30:1 (2000), p. 14: William Barclay Turnbull, Letters of Mary Stuart (London, 1845), p. xxiv.
Prince James
James was the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, and Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. He was born on 19 June 1566 at Edinburgh Castle."James VI and I (r. 1567—1625)", The Royal Household The midwife was Margaret Asteane.Clare Hunter, Embroidering Her Truth: Mary, Queen of Scots and the Language of Power (London: Sceptre, 2022), pp. 167–168: Rosalind K. Marshall, Queen Mary's Women (John Donald, 2006), p. 171: Accounts of the Treasurer, vol. 11, p. 512.Alison Weir, Mary, Queen of Scots and the Murder of Lord Darnley (Jonathan Cape, 2003), p. 133. He was taken to Stirling Castle where a nursery was prepared for him.Clare Hunter, Embroidering Her Truth: Mary, Queen of Scots and the Language of Power (Sceptre, 2020), p. 168. His cradle was made by the queen's menusier or upholsterer Nicholas Guillebault and placed under a blue plaiding canopy, rocked by a team of five aristocrats including the queen's niece, Christine Stewart,David Hay Fleming, Mary, Queen of Scots (London, 1897), pp. 499-500: HMC Mar & Kellie, vol. 1 (London, 1904), p. 18. Katherine Murray, and Alison Sinclair.Accounts of the Treasurer, vol. 13 (Edinburgh: HMSO, 1978), p. 255. The prince's household at Stirling included Margaret Beaton, Lady Reres.Charles Thorpe McInnes, Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 12 (Edinburgh, 1970), pp. 22, 396: David Hay Fleming, Mary Queen of Scots (London, 1897), pp. 499–500
Clothes and colours In December Lady Reres and the prince's nurse Helen Littil were dressed in black velvet gowns with black satin doublets and skirt fronts. John Balfour, one of the queen's valets, bought this cloth.Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 12 (Edinburgh, 1970), pp. 35-6. Mary was said to have given clothes to members of court above the entitlement of their rank, to reflect her status on the day.Joseph Stevenson, History of Mary Stewart, by Claude Nau (Edinburgh, 1883), p. cxlvii: British Library Cotton Caligula B IV. John Forster, an English border warden, heard in September 1566 that Mary had ordered clothes for Bothwell in blue, the Earl of Argyll in red, and the Earl of Moray in green, "at her own charge". She asked her lords to each bring a certain number of retainers dressed in colours. The preparations at Stirling continued "with all speed".John Guy, The Life of Mary Queen of Scots: My Heart is My Own (Fourth Estate, 2009), p. 286: David Hay Fleming, Mary Queen of Scots (London, 1897), p. 428: Calendar State Papers Foreign Elizabeth, vol. 8 (London, 1871), p. 131 no. 723, TNA SP 59/12 f.105.Jennifer Morag Henderson, Daughters of the North (Whittles, 2025), p. 85.Andrew Burnet, Nicki Scott, Sally Gall, Mary Was Here: Where Mary Queen of Scots Went and What She Did There (Historic Scotland, 2013), pp. 82–83.
It was later said that Mary dressed all her household and nobility in new clothes for baptism at her expense, exceeding their status and degree, the costumes involving cloth of gold and silver and tissue. This is in part a response to George Buchanan's claim that Mary dressed the Earl of Bothwell in magnificent clothes for the events but neglected Lord Darnley.Joseph Stevenson, History of Mary Stewart by Claude Nau (Edinburgh, 1883), p. cxlvii, quoting an anonymous life of Mary in British Library Cotton Caligula B. IV f.149 (now f.151): David Hay Fleming, Mary Queen of Scots (London, 1897), p. 427 fn. 107: Ane Cronickill of the Kingis of Scotland (Edinburgh: Maitland Club, 1830), p. 107. The idea that Mary clothed Bothwell in rich garments for the Stirling baptism was included in the "Book of Articles" written against her by her enemies and presented at the Westminster Conference in 1568.David Hay Fleming, Mary Queen of Scots (London, 1897), 427–8: John Hosack, Mary Queen of Scotland and her Accusers, 1 (Edinburgh, 1869), p. 52.6
According to Buchanan, in response to criticism about disparities in Darnley and Bothwell's dress, Mary blamed the embroiderers and tailors, but it was known that she had embroidered some details for Bothwell's costume herself.James Aikman, History of Scotland of George Buchanan, vol. 2 (Glasgow, 1827), pp. 487-8R. H. Mahon, The indictment of Mary Queen of Scots (Cambridge, 1923), p. 38Thomas Thomson, History of the Kirk of Scotland by David Calderwood, 2 (Edinburgh: Wodrow Society, 1842), p. 327. Mary was said to have designed or devised Bothwell's clothes, and, according to another hostile account "she feigned to be in a great rage and choler against the King's tailors that had not made such apparel as she had devised for him against the triumph". Darnley, it was supposed, was not able to attend the public events at Stirling because Mary had not provided him adequate costume.Thomas Finlay Henderson, Mary Queen of Scots and her environment, 2 (London: Hutchinson, 1905), p. 660, modernised here.
Preparations for the baptism and masques In July, Mary commissioned a "chrimatory" of gold for the holy oils used in the ceremony.Allan J. Crosby, Calendar State Papers Foreign Elizabeth, 1566–1568 (London, 1871), p. 110 no. 601. While Mary was hunting with Darnley at Cramalt Tower in August 1566, she wrote invitations to the baptism.Letters and Papers relating to Patrick, Master of Gray (Edinburgh, 1835), Appendix x On 6 October the Privy Council allowed a tax to be raised to entertain the ambassadors at the baptism, £6000 would come from the church, £4000 from the barons and freeholders, and £2000 from burgh towns. Simon Preston of Craigmillar was receiver of the tax.John Hill Burton, Register of the Privy Council, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1877), pp. 485-7.
Most of the expenses of the baptism were paid from this tax of £12,000 Scots, to which Edinburgh contributed 500 merks. John Forster reported that Mary also intended to borrow money from other Scottish burgh towns of Scotland.Calendar State Papers Foreign Elizabeth, vol. 8 (London, 1871), p. 131 no. 723. Some money was allocated from farm produce collected as tiends but there was administrative confusion when Mary gave away the goods leaving a shortfall.Gordon Donaldson, Accounts of the Collectors of Thirds of Benefices, 1561-1572 (Edinburgh: Scottish History Society, 1949), pp. 191–192.
There are records of making the fireworks and costumes for the soldiers,Charles Thorpe McInnes, Accounts of the Treasurer: 1566-1574, vol. 12 (Edinburgh, 1970), pp. 403–409. but few details for the masques, costumes, and props used in the Great Hall.James David Marwick, Extracts from the Records of the Burgh of Edinburgh, 1557-1571 (Edinburgh, 1875), p. 223. The decoration of the Great Hall was in part the responsibility of Mary's wardrobe servant Servais de Condé, and he recorded that the Prince's bed at the baptism had a cover of cloth of silver.Joseph Robertson, Inventaires (Edinburgh, 1863), p. 174. Some older velvet and damask beds and bed hangings were remodelled and refurbished.Michael Pearce, 'Beds of Chapel Form in Sixteenth-Century Scottish Inventories: The Worst Sort of Bed', Regional Furniture, 27 (2013), p. 87. Nicolas Guillebault, the menusier, upholstered chairs, folding stools, and stools of ease with velvet and Morocco leather.Joseph Robertson, Inventaires (Edinburgh, 1863), pp. 169-170, 172. The queen's tailor, Jean de Compiègne, made a cover to wrap Prince James at the baptism from 10 ells of silver damask, and six hanks of silver thread for embroidery were sent to Annabell Murray, Countess of Mar.Joseph Robertson, Inventaires de la Royne Descossse (Edinburgh, 1863), pp. 166, 171.
The staged events at the baptism have been compared with the festival held at Bayonne by Catherine de' Medici and Charles IX of France in 1565, which may have been the model for the programme at Stirling. At Bayonne an artificial castle in the ball room was besieged to illustrate the triumph of Christianity according to a prophecy of Merlin. Arthurian themes were also explored at Stirling.Andrea Thomas, Glory and Honour (Edinburgh, 2013), p. 194: Recueil des choses notables qui ont esté faites à Bayonne (Paris, 1566), British Library At Stirling, three "counterfeit devils" with actors playing "moors"Nandini Das, João Vicente Melo, Haig Z. Smith, Lauren Working, Blackamoor/Moor, Keywords of Identity, Race, and Human Mobility in Early Modern England (Amsterdam, 2021), pp. 40-50 and Highland men unsuccessfully attacked a mock castle.Julian Goodare, Lauren Martin, Joyce Miller, Witchcraft and belief in Early Modern Scotland (Palgrave, 2008) p. 4.
A part of the entertainment was written by George Buchanan, a poet in Latin who would become the young king's tutor. Bastian Pagez, a French valet, worked on the costumes and devised the choreography.Joseph Robertson, Inventaires de Royne Descosse (Edinburgh, 1863), pp. lxxxvi-vii.Michael Bath, Emblems in Scotland: Motifs and Meanings (Brill, 2018), pp. 81-82. The royal accounts record that Bastian was given 40 ells of "taffeteis of cord" in three colours for seven (or some) "preparatives" for the baptism. "Preparatives" here may mean "harbingers," the role of the satyrs at the feast, but may just mean the preparations in general.Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 12, (Edinburgh, 1970), pp. 35, 397: NRS E23/3/18 precept signed by Mary, 3 December at Craigmillar Castle, and by "Bastien Pagez", 5 December, illustrated in R. K Marshall, Mary Queen of Scots (NMS Exhibition, 2013) no. 145, p. 36. Agnes Strickland compared this order for taffeta with Forster's September report of outfits in red, blue, and green for the Earls of Moray, Argyll and Bothwell.Agnes Strickland, Lives of the Queens of Scotland: Mary Stuart, 5 (Edinburgh: Blackwood, 1854), p. 59. Anne of Denmark ordered a comparable amount of taffeta, 48 ells, for a masque performed in September 1591.Michael Pearce, "Maskerye Claythis for James VI and Anna of Denmark", Medieval English Theatre, 43 (Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 2022), p. 120.