Anna Balfour

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Anna Balfour (died 1649) was a Scottish aristocrat who compiled a recipe book and, with her daughters, a manuscript of lute songs.

Contents

Family

She was a daughter of Robert Balfour, 2nd Lord Balfour of Burleigh (born Robert Arnot), and his wife Margaret, a daughter of Michael Balfour, 1st Lord Balfour of Burleigh.

Marriage

She married David Wemyss, 2nd Earl of Wemyss (1610-1679) in January 1627. [1] At first, according to a marriage contract, they were to live with his father at Wemyss Castle or at a house known as the Chapel of Wemyss. In 1634 Anna Balfour had two gentlewomen companions and two maids called "quins". [2] [3] A "quine" was a Scottish word for a serving woman. [4] They had a herb garden at the Chapel of Wemyss. [5]

David Wemyss was known as the Master of Wemyss. When his father became Earl of Wemyss he was called "Lord Elcho". [6] Anna Balfour, Lady Elcho compiled a book of medical and culinary recipes which was continued by her daughter, Jean, Countess of Sutherland. Her daughter wrote, "This book was my mothers in w[hi]ch are many Receits wch shee had from the most famous Phisitians that lived in her tyme". [7]

Children

During her pregnancies she consulted an Edinburgh physician, David Arnot, who gave her talismans of a stone and a belt. She wrote that the stone was for "the weimen in traveill". [8] Stones used as amulets may have been eagle stone geodes. [9] Her children included:

Death

Anna Balfour, Lady Elcho died on 10 November 1649. [12]

Legacy

Both the recipe book and the music manuscript are now held by the National Library of Scotland. [13]

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References

  1. ↑ William Fraser, Memorials of the family of Wemyss of Wemyss, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1888), p. 239.
  2. ↑ William Fraser, Memorials of the family of Wemyss of Wemyss, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1888), p. 240.
  3. ↑ J. G. Fyfe, Scottish Diaries and Memoirs, 1550-1746 (Stirling, 1928), p. 127.
  4. ↑ 'Quine', DOST/DSL
  5. ↑ William Fraser, Memorials of the family of Wemyss of Wemyss, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1888), p. 240.
  6. ↑ William Fraser, Memorials of the family of Wemyss of Wemyss, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1888), p. 241.
  7. ↑ Suzanne Trill, 'Early Modern Women's Writing in the Edinburgh Archives', Sarah M. Dunningan, C. Marie Harker, Evelyn S. Newlyn, Women and the Feminine in Medieval and Early Modern Scottish Writing (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), p. 208.
  8. ↑ William Fraser, Memorials of the family of Wemyss of Wemyss, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1888), pp. 232-3.
  9. ↑ Jennifer Evans, 'A Toste wett in Muskadine: Preventing Miscarriage in Early Modern English Recipe Books c.1600–1780', Women's Writing, 29:4 (2022), pp. 514-532
  10. ↑ William Fraser, Memorials of the family of Wemyss of Wemyss, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1888), pp. 212, 293-4
  11. ↑ Olive Geddes, The Laird's Kitchen (Edinburgh, 1994), p. 20.
  12. ↑ William Fraser, Memorials of the family of Wemyss of Wemyss, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1888), p. 254.
  13. ↑ Rosemary O'Day, Women's Agency in Early Modern Britain and the American Colonies (Routledge, 2014), p. 403.
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