John Mosman was an apothecary at the Scottish court. [1]
Mosman worked for the households of James IV of Scotland and the queen consort Margaret Tudor supplying medicines and spices, herbal remedies, and providing treatments.
Other members of the family were goldsmiths, including John Mosman who worked for James V and his son James Mosman, who built the house in Edinburgh known as the "John Knox House". It has been suggested that the Mosman family was of Jewish origin. A branch of the family including a John Mosman and his son Robert Mosman was recorded in February 1490 in connection with their tenancy of the lands of "Easter Gledstanis". [2]
Mosman received a regular fee of £10 from the royal treasurer by 1513. [3] A copy of a household roll of the Scottish court made around 1507 names him and William Foular as the court "pottingaris". [4] "Pottingar" is an old Scots language word for apothecary. [5]
In April 1503 Mosman was sent to Flanders to buy materials for the king. This "stuff" may have been connected with the royal wedding. [6] Mosman supplied sweetened and spiced "Hippocras" wine at the Edinburgh wedding of James IV and Margaret Tudor at Holyrood Palace, at a cost of 18 Scottish shillings. The English herald John Young, who wrote an account of her journey to Scotland, said there was "plenty of Ypocras", served in fellowship to the 41 men that James IV knighted for the queen. [7]
In November 1505 there was a plague scare in Dunfermline while Margaret Tudor was at Dunfermline Palace. [8] [9] Mosman looked after four African people, known as the "More lasses" and probably including Ellen More, at North Queensferry and Inverkeithing. [10]
In August 1505 he helped to heal the arm of Elizabeth Barlay, an English lady in waiting to Margaret Tudor, who married Lord Elphinstone. Mosman was paid 14 shillings for his travelling expenses to Edinburgh "to mak potingary for Mastres Barleis arme." [11]
Mosman was supplied with glass jugs and urinals on 13 September 1505. He went to Stirling Castle in November to fetch a rare imported "must cat". [12] In June 1513 he sent spices for Margaret Tudor to Linlithgow Palace. [13]
He was involved in the king's project to make the fifth element, the "quinta essentia" with furnaces at Holyrood Palace and Stirling Castle. [14] He supplied materials to the alchemists in January 1508 and in January 1513 was given a crown weight in gold to the quintessence. The others alchemists at Stirling were supervised by the Captain of the Castle Andrew Aytoun, and included Caldwell, Valentine McLellane, [15] and the Italian John Damian, who is known for his attempt at flying, the subject of a poem by William Dunbar, The Fenyeit Freir of Tungland . The royal accounts include payments to Mosman for constructing furnaces in December 1503 and for bellows. [16]
The "quintessence" was an imagined healing substance with some of the properties of distilled alcohol or aqua vitae, particularly associated with the 14th-century French alchemist Jean de Roquetaillade. [17] James IV's furnaces may have been intended to represent an image of successful rule and well-being to the king's subjects, his command of supernatural and literal elemental force. [18]
The idea of the quintessence was well known in the sixteenth century. In England, Henry VII was also interested in alchemy. He rewarded a "stranger of Perpignan that shewed quinta essentia" in January 1499, and employed a "multiplier" to make gold in the Tower of London. [19] In 1586 Queen Elizabeth joked that James VI had leapt to conclusions and so made a "quintessence of some humours" to taste a "sour liquid". [20]
The dates of John Mosman's birth and death are unknown.
Another apothecary, William Foular, also served Margaret Tudor. She suffered from nosebleeds, and Foular provided a blood stone or heliotrope as a remedy. Foular also sent the queen medicinal spices including pepper, cinnamon, "cubebarum", and "galiga", with glass urinals. He made citron comfits for the king. [21] Foular had a royal pension of 20 merks paid from the customs of Edinburgh, and was exempted from the burdens of civic duties. [22]
In the 1590s the Scottish court was served by the apothecary Alexander Barclay.
Margaret Tudor was Queen of Scotland from 1503 until 1513 by marriage to King James IV. She then served as regent of Scotland during her son's minority, and fought to extend her regency. Margaret was the eldest daughter and second child of King Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York, and the elder sister of King Henry VIII of England. By her line, the House of Stuart eventually acceded to the throne of England, in addition to Scotland.
John Cor is the name of the friar referred to in the first known written reference to a batch of Scotch Whisky on 1 June 1495.
Janet Kennedy, was a Scottish noble and the mistress of King James IV of Scotland.
Alexander Elphinstone, 1st Lord Elphinstone was a Scottish peer. He was the son of Sir John Elphinstone of that ilk and of Pittendreich.
John Damian de Falcuis was an Italian at the court of James IV of Scotland. His attempts at medicine, alchemy, flying, and his advancement by the king encouraged a satirical attack by the poet William Dunbar.
Ellen or Elen More was an African servant at the Scottish royal court. She probably arrived in Scotland in the company of a Portuguese man with imported animals. There are records of clothing and gifts given to her, although her roles and status are unclear. Some recent scholarship suggests she was enslaved, and her arrival in Scotland can be linked indirectly with the slave trade. She is associated with a racist poem by William Dunbar, and may have performed in Edinburgh as the "Black Lady" at royal tournaments in 1507 and 1508.
Alexander Barclay was an apothecary in Edinburgh.
John Mosman or Mossman was a Scottish goldsmith based in Edinburgh who served the royal court and was involved in gold mining.
Jerome, Hieronimo, or Girolamo Frescobaldi was an Italian financier and textile merchant based in Bruges. He supplied luxury goods to the Scottish court and was described as a "very good friend to the King of Scots". The Frescobaldi family and company, based in Florence, were involved in artistic commissions in England and Scotland. Jerome Frescobaldi was involved in the wool trade with Tommaso Portinari and his sons, and marketed spices obtained by Portuguese traders.
James Hommyll, was a wealthy merchant in Edinburgh.
Andrew Aytoun, was a Scottish soldier and engineer, and captain of Stirling Castle.
Elizabeth Barlay or Barlow was an English lady in waiting to Margaret Tudor the wife of James IV of Scotland.
William Foular was a Scottish apothecary who served the Scottish court.
Robert Spittell or Spittall or Spittale was a Scottish tailor who served Margaret Tudor, queen consort of James IV of Scotland.
Eleanor or Alianor Verney was an English courtier who travelled to Scotland with Margaret Tudor in 1503.
Eleanor Johns or Jones was a Welsh-born courtier of Elizabeth of York and her daughter Margaret Tudor.
Ane Dance in the Quenis Chalmer or A dance in the Queen's chamber is a humorous or satiric Scots poem by William Dunbar.
The More Taubronar was a musician of African origin at the court of James IV of Scotland and his wife Margaret Tudor. His name is unknown. A "taubron" was a kind of drum, the word is related to the modern form "tabor". The word "More" or "Moryen" was used for people of African origin at the Scottish court. Archival records credit the More Taubronar as the producer of a costumed dance or masque performed at the Scottish royal court in 1505.
Matthew Auchinleck or Matho Auchlek was a Scottish goldsmith who worked for James VI of Scotland and Margaret Tudor.
Elizabeth Sinclair was a servant of Margaret Tudor (1489-1541), the wife of James IV of Scotland.