The lavish lives of Edinburgh’s ‘Moorish Lassies’
Samuel Wilson of Historic Environment Scotland looks at the luxury lifestyle of some of Edinburgh Castle’s most intriguing residents
Two young African girls referred to as ‘Moorish lassies’ arrived at Edinburgh Castle in 1504.
Acting as ladies-in-waiting to the Lady Margaret, the king’s daughter, they soon found themselves at the heart of elite Scottish society.
Now 500 years later, a new Historic Environment Scotland report has delved into records of their life at the castle. They feature intriguing details of fashionable clothing, lavish gifts and exclusive courtly activities.
We suspect from the references to the girls as ‘Moorish lassies’, they were likely Muslim and possibly travelled from their homes in North Africa.
Their stories became closely intertwined with another young woman of unusual status. Known simply as ‘the Lady Margaret’, she was an illegitimate daughter of James IV and Margaret Drummond, one of James’ mistresses who may have secretly married the King before she died in curious circumstances around 1502.
Young Margaret was given the title of royal princess and was present in court from childhood until marriage.
In the summer of 1503, James moved to Holyrood Palace. Margaret became head of her own household in Edinburgh Castle where the ‘Moorish lassies’ were welcomed. They became known as Ellen and (confusingly enough) Margaret. The names they arrived in Scotland with were not recorded in the history books.
The Lady Margaret’s household was a prestigious place. And in the ‘Moorish lassies’ she boasted a prime ‘status symbol’. It was highly fashionable in Spain, Portugal and Italy for women of a princely rank to have African girls as attendants. Adopting this custom in Edinburgh added exotic flair to the court, subtly emphasising the status of the Stewart royal family.
That some Renaissance rulers regarded young Africans like the ‘Moorish lassies’ as status symbols to be bought and sold or given as gifts strikes a very unsettling note. It is possible that Edinburgh’s ‘Moorish lassies’ were liberated from slavery before coming to Scotland.
What we know for sure is that both ‘Moorish lassies’ were quickly involved in courtly life as respected ladies-in-waiting to the Lady Margaret. All three were probably about ten years old.
The annual expenses of Lady Margaret’s household were £100, equivalent to the salary of a senior courtier. They covered dancing lessons and sewing classes with the girls also taught to ride horses.
The best evidence of the fashionable life led by Margaret and the ‘Moorish lassies’ are the records of their lavish clothing with the African girls dressed in gowns of russet-coloured cloth and red petticoats, along with “double-soled shoes.”
After Lady Margaret’s marriage to Lord Gordon, heir to the Earl of Huntly, in 1510, Ellen stayed in Edinburgh, transferring to the royal household. She was probably the “black maiden” mentioned in 1512 as an attendant to the queen.
Margaret almost disappears from the records until 1513, but the ‘lassies’ seem to have been reunited around Christmas. “The two black ladies” were given a joint New Year present of ten gold coins.
On St Margaret’s Day that year, a “black Margaret” was gifted a new gown, creating a tantalising potential connection with an attendant called Margaret Prestoun who had ridden north with the Lady Margaret in November 1512.
Margaret Prestoun is recorded elsewhere as having received a gown at the same time as “black Margaret.” Could they be one and the same? If so, the surname Prestoun suggests that one of our ‘Moorish lassies’ married a Scotsman.
The trail for the ‘Moorish lassies’ goes cold after 1513, but Ellen and Margaret remain a fine example of the high-profile black immigrants present in Scotland in the early 16th century.