Editing Linlithgow Palace (section)

==James IV and Margaret Tudor==
James IV bought crimson satin for a new doublet to wear while formally welcoming the Spanish ambassador Don Martin de Torre at Linlithgow in August 1489. Silverware and tapestries were brought from Edinburgh for the event, and the wardrobe servant David Caldwell brought cords and rings to hang the tapestry in the palace. New rushes were brought from the Haw of Lithgow for the chamber floor. Entertainment included a play performed by Patrick Johnson and his fellows.<ref>Thomas Dickson, ''Accounts of the Treasurer'', vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1877), pp. 117–8, 132–3, 142.</ref> After a visit to [[Stirling Castle|Stirling]] the King returned to Linlithgow and played dice with the Laird of Halkett and his Master of Household, and on 17 September rewarded stonemasons working on the palace with two gold angel coins.<ref>Thomas Dickson, ''Accounts of the Treasurer'', vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1877), p. 120.</ref> In November 1497 he played cards and bought [[Jess (falconry)|jesses]] and leashes to go [[Falconry|hawking]]. James gave the masons working on the building a tip of 9 shillings, known as "[[drinksilver]]", and ordered the master mason to go to Stirling Castle to provide a plan for his new lodgings there. Andrew Cavers, Abbot of [[Lindores Abbey|Lindores]], was made supervisor of construction at Linlithgow.<ref>Thomas Dickson, ''Accounts of the Treasurer'', vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1877), pp. 366–9.</ref>

James IV spent Easter 1490 at the palace, visited the town of Culross, and returned on 18 April to play dice with [[Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Angus]] and the Laird of Halkett, losing 20 gold unicorn coins.<ref>Thomas Dickson, ''Accounts of the Treasurer'', vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1877), pp. 132–3.</ref> The King spent Christmas 1490 and Easter 1491 at Linlithgow. On 9 April he bought seeds for the palace gardener. The poet [[Blind Harry]] came to court at Linlithgow at least five times. James IV was interested in medicine and experimented taking blood from his servant Domenico and another man at Linlithgow.<ref>Thomas Dickson, ''Accounts of the Treasurer'', vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1877), pp. 175–6: Anne McKim, ''The Wallace'' (Canongate, 2003), p. viii.</ref> [[Perkin Warbeck]] was a Christmas guest in 1495.<ref>William Hepburn, ''The Household and Court of James IV of Scotland'' (Boydell, 2023), p. 67.</ref> The king's mistress [[Margaret Drummond (mistress)|Margaret Drummond]] stayed at Linlithgow in the autumn of 1496.<ref>Marilyn Brown, ''Scotland's Lost Gardens'' (Edinburgh, 2015), p. 71: Thomas Dickson, ''Accounts of the Treasurer'', vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1877), p. 323.</ref> The park dykes were rebuilt in 1498.<ref>Thomas Dickson, ''Accounts of the Treasurer'', vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1877), p. 380.</ref>

On 31 May 1503 the palace was given to [[Margaret Tudor]] the bride of James IV.<ref>''Foedera'', vol. 8, p. 71: Joseph Bain, [https://archive.org/details/calendarofdocume04edin/page/344/mode/2up ''Calendar of Documents Relating to Scotland, 1357–1509, Addenda 1221–1435'', vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1888), p. 344 no. 1713]</ref> It was to become the new queen's favourite home in Scotland.<ref>[[Linda Porter (historian)|Porter, Linda]] (2024), ''The Thistle and the Rose: The Extraordinary Life of Margaret Tudor'', [[Head of Zeus|Head of Zeus]], London, p. 108, {{isbn|9781801105781}}</ref> A mason, Nichol Jackson, completed battlements on the west side of the palace in the summer of 1504. An African drummer known as the "[[More taubronar]]" performed at the palace.<ref>Imtiaz Habib, ''Black Lives in the English Archives, 1500–1677: Imprints of the Invisible'' (Routledge, 2017): ''Accounts of the Treasurer, 1500–1504'', vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1900), pp. 440, 444.</ref> When the King stayed at Linlithgow in July 1506 a coat was bought for a fool, and James IV visited the building work at the [[Choir (architecture)|quire]] of [[St Michael's Parish Church, Linlithgow|St Michael's Church]]. He gave the master mason a tip of 9 shillings.<ref>''Accounts of the Treasurer, 1506–1507'', vol. 3 (Edinburgh, 1901), pp. 204–5.</ref> The son of James IV and [[Margaret Tudor]], the [[James V of Scotland|future James V]], was born in the palace in April 1512. The captain of the palace, Alexander McCulloch of Myreton, took on the role of the Prince's bodyguard.<ref>William Hepburn, ''The Household and Court of James IV of Scotland'' (Boydell, 2023), p. 134.</ref>

The household of Margaret Tudor at Linlithgow included the [[African presence at the Scottish royal court|African servants]] Margaret and [[Ellen More]].<ref>James Balfour Paul, ''Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland'', vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1902), pp. 339, 324, 401, 404.</ref> In April 1513 the roof of the chapel was altered and renewed, and a new organ was made by a French musician and craftsman called Gilyem and fixed to the wall. Timber was shipped to [[Blackness Castle]] and carted to the Palace. The windows of the queen's oratory, overlooking the Loch, were reglazed.<ref>''Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland'', vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1902), pp. 442, 523–5.</ref> An English diplomat, [[Nicholas West]], came to the palace in April 1513 and was met by Sir John Sinclair, one of the courtiers featured in [[William Dunbar]]'s poem ''[[Ane Dance in the Quenis Chalmer]]''.<ref>Michelle Beer, ''Queenship at the Renaissance Courts of Britain'' (Woodbridge, 2018), p. 93.</ref> West talked to Margaret Tudor and saw the baby Prince. He wrote "verily, he is a right fair child, and a large of his age".<ref>Henry Ellis, ''Original Letters'', vol. 1 (London, 1824), p. 74.</ref>

After the death of his father at the [[Battle of Flodden]], the infant James V was not kept at Linlithgow, but came to the palace from Stirling Castle dressed in a new black velvet suit accompanied by minstrels in April 1517, and went on to take up residence in [[Edinburgh Castle]].<ref>''Accounts of the Treasurer'', vol. 5 (Edinburgh, 1903), p. 111.</ref> Margaret Tudor rewarded the King's nurse and governess, Marion Douglas, with a grant of the lands near Linlithgow Palace called the Queen's Acres in July 1518. Marion's daughter, [[Katherine Bellenden]], made the king's shirts.<ref>''HMC 14th Report, part III: Roxburghe'', vol. 1 (London), pp. 28–9: ''The Douglas Book'', vol. 3, p. 388.</ref>