Peter Sanderson was an Edinburgh tailor who worked for Anne of Denmark wife of James VI of Scotland. [1]
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Peter Sanderson was an Edinburgh tailor who worked for Anne of Denmark wife of James VI of Scotland. [1]
He became a burgess of Edinburgh in 1587 by his marriage to Alison or Helena Cranstoun, a daughter of Cuthbert Cranstoun, a furrier. [2]
Sanderson's clients in the late 1580s included Christian Douglas, Lady Home, the first wife of Alexander Home, 1st Earl of Home. Lady Home bought textiles from the merchant John Robertson, which were delivered to her tailors Sanderson and David Lyon. They made gowns and clothes for her, her children, her pages, and other family members. Sanderson added passementerie to her gowns and stiffened and formed the shoulders with grey cloth. [3] The library of the University of Edinburgh has a similar account for textiles bought by Margaret Livingstone. [4]
Anne of Denmark brought a number of household servants and artisans with her from Denmark, including a tailor Paul Rey who made clothes for the queen until the summer of 1591. [5] Three Scottish tailors, Sanderson, Peter Rannald, and William Simpson filled his place. [6] In the 1590s James VI's tailor was Alexander Miller, who replaced James Inglis.
The annual wage of the queen's tailor in 1591 was £100 and the foreman tailor had £40. By May 1599, Sanderson received a monthly payment called an "outlivery" of £30 paid from Anne of Denmark's household account (now National Records of Scotland E31/17).
Sanderson made gowns for the queen, and also pairs of baleen bodies of satin lined with green and incarnadine taffeta. He made clothes for several women of the queen's household, as gifts from the queen, including a black velvet wedding gown with gold passementerie for Marie Young, a daughter of the King's former tutor and librarian Peter Young. He made clothes for Princess Elizabeth (and a gown for Beatrix Ruthven to wear at Elizabeth's baptism), [7] for Prince Henry, Prince Charles, Princes Margaret, and a purple velvet side-coat for Lord Gordon when he was a hostage at court. [8]
Accounts of the fabrics supplied to Anne of Denmark and James VI in the 1590s by a Edinburgh merchant Robert Jousie survive in the National Records of Scotland. Jousie worked in partnership with a goldsmith Thomas Foulis administering a subsidy sent by Queen Elizabeth. [9] Sanderson's work is mentioned many times, as in these entries for making two bodices and new sleeves and a bodice for one of the queen's gowns:
Item the 29 of October 1595 deliverit to Peter Sandersone with Sorne (Søren Johnson) fyve ellis and ane half Spainzie taffetie to be tua pair of balene bodeis __ [£38-10s.]
Item the 25 of Januar 1595/6 deliverit to Peter Sandersone thrie ellis and ane halff of blak twa pyle velvot to be new bodeis and slevis to ane velvot goun __ [£49.] [10]
Sanderson, or possibly Peter Rannald, made a gown of "double burret" silk for Anne of Denmark in June 1597 loaded with jet passementerie and buttons. The gown was too heavy to wear and she ordered it to be remade with less jet. [11] In May 1599, he made clothes for the two Princesses to wear at Margaret's baptism. [12]
In 1600 Sanderson went to law over a debt of £54 owed by Libra Hamilton, Lady Ayton and her husband William Hume, for workmanship and merchandise supplied to Lady Ayton and her daughters and servants. [13]
A signed bill from "Peter Sandersoun" for clothes for Princess Elizabeth in 1602 survives at the National Records of Scotland. It includes gowns with "stenting, stiffing, clasps and wire", a farthingale costing 20 shillings, and with a few items for her brothers and clothes for pages, totals £154 Scots. [14] Items mentioned in the treasurer's accounts made for Princess Elizabeth include; a gown of Spanish taffeta lined with plush, a gown of figured velvet with white on incarnate satin sleeves, and a night gown with a "wyliecoit" petticoat for nightwear. [15]
Sanderson went to England after the Union of Crowns in 1603 and joined the household of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Henry at Oatlands as the court tailor. [16] Another Scottish tailor, Patrick Black, was in the Prince's service in 1605, and Edinburgh town council allowed him to be a burgess despite his absence in London. [17]
Peter Rannald, who had been one of the queen's tailors, died in 1609, and his widow Jonnett Birs petitioned for payment of £1,300 Scots from a royal precept dating from 1595. King James asked for confirmation that such an old debt was still outstanding. [18]
Sanderson returned to Edinburgh and there are several records of him pursuing bad debts from aristocratic clients. [19] His daughter Anna married John Cunningham, a tailor, in 1613. [20] In 1630 his widow, Helen Cranstoun, petitioned Charles I for unpaid tailoring bills of Anne of Denmark totalling £3000 Scots. [21]
Anne of Denmark was the wife of King James VI and I. She was Queen of Scotland from their marriage on 20 August 1589 and Queen of England and Ireland from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until her death in 1619.
Jean Ker, Countess of Roxburghe, néeDrummond (c.1585–1643) was a Scottish courtier, serving Anne of Denmark in Scotland and England.
Patrick Gray, 6th Lord Gray, known most of his life as Patrick, Master of Gray, was a Scottish nobleman and politician during the reigns of Mary, Queen of Scots and James VI of Scotland.
Sir Peter Young (1544–1628) was a Scottish diplomat, Master Almoner, and tutor to James VI of Scotland.
Lady Audrey Walsingham was an English courtier. She served as Lady of the Bedchamber to queen Elizabeth I of England, and then as Mistress of the Robes to Anne of Denmark from 1603 until 1619.
Anne Livingstone, Countess of Eglinton was a Scottish courtier and aristocrat, and lady-in-waiting to Princess Elizabeth and Anne of Denmark.
Tom Durie, Duri, Dury or Derry was a Scottish fool or entertainer to Anne of Denmark.
Johannes Sering or Johan Seringius was a chaplain to Anne of Denmark in Scotland and England.
Margaret or Margrethe Vinstarr, was a Danish courtier in Scotland to Anne of Denmark commemorated by the ballad "The Laird o Logie" for rescuing her imprisoned lover.
Margaret Livingstone, Countess of Orkney was a Scottish courtier and landowner. She was a daughter of William Livingstone, 6th Lord Livingston and Agnes Fleming.
James Inglis was a Scottish tailor who served James VI of Scotland.
Alexander Miller or Millar (1559-1616) was an Edinburgh tailor who served James VI and I.
Anna Kaas was a Danish lady in waiting or chamberer serving Anne of Denmark, queen consort of James VI and I.
Catherine Murray was a Scottish aristocrat and courtier.
Anne of Denmark (1574–1619) was the wife of James VI and I, King of Scotland, and King of England after the Union of Crowns. In 1617, she was depicted in a painting by Paul van Somer with an African servant holding her horse at Oatlands Palace. There are archival records of Africans or people of African descent, often called "Moors" or "Moirs", in her service. One of the first publications to mention Anne of Denmark's "Moir" servant in Scotland was edited by James Thomson Gibson-Craig in 1828.
Hans Poppilman was a Danish cook who served Anne of Denmark in Scotland and England.
Peter Rannald was a Scottish tailor who worked for Anne of Denmark, the wife of James VI of Scotland. He made her gowns and the costumes she wore at masques.
Søren Johnson was a Danish courtier in Scotland, serving Anne of Denmark, queen consort of James VI and I as master of the wardrobe.
A safeguard or saveguard was a riding garment or overskirt worn by women in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Some safeguards were intended to protect skirts or kirtles worn beneath. Mary Frith, dramatised as the character Moll Cutpurse in The Roaring Girl, wore a black safeguard over breeches.
Much is known of the wardrobe of Anne of Denmark (1574–1619), queen consort of James VI and I, from her portraits and surviving financial records. Her style included skirts supported by large farthingales decorated with elaborate embroidery, and the jewellery worn on her costume and hair.