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William Murray (valet)

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Scottish courtier

William Murray was a Scottish courtier, a household servant of James VI of Scotland as a "valet of the king's chamber".

William Murray was a servant in the king's bedchamber at Stirling Castle, and decorated his study, a small room through the door by the fireplace

Background

According to the register of privy seal letters, he was a son of James Murray, who had been the barber of James V. Mary, Queen of Scots mentions William Murray as a barber who practiced surgery. He had served her husband Lord Darnley and was travelling to France in July 1571.

Career

William Murray served the young James VI at Stirling Castle as a valet. The royal household was managed by Annabell Murray, Countess of Mar. Another servant, William Broig, was the king's barber. Murray was sometimes described as a "cubicular", a Latinate word for a bedchamber servant. A valet since 1569, in 1577 he was given a second appointment as a "varlet of the wardrobe".

In 1571, William Murray brought tapestry from Stirling Castle to decorate Stirling Tolbooth for the Parliament. There are several records of purchases made for James VI by Murray. In July and August 1574 he organised the decoration of the king's study or cabinet in the palace at Stirling with green paint, copper tacks, and broad green woollen cloth. In 1576 he bought bird seed for the king's parrots, supervised the construction of a bird cage from wire for the king's chamber, bought cord to hang up bird cages, and bought tennis rackets. Murray brought clothes made by the king's tailors in Edinburgh to the king at Stirling.

For New Year's Day 1579, Murray bought 24 gold rings for James VI to distribute as gifts. Records of his purchases for the court show that he must have been one of the chief household servants at this time. The varlets slept in beds the King's chamber or bed chamber.

In 1591 the four valets were William Murray, William Stewart, John Gibb, and John Stewart of Rosland.

It was said that during the Earl of Bothwell's Raid of Holyrood in July 1593, James VI was surprised emerging from the privy with William Murray and unable to reach safety in the Queen's chamber had to confront the Earl. Possibly the same William Murray appears in financial records connected with the household of Prince Henry at Stirling Castle, named in receipts in 1595 for silverware used by the Prince, including candlesticks and a trencher plate with salt cellar in 1595.

Contemporaries of the same name at the Scottish court

Another William Murray was Master of Carriage to James VI, in charge of transporting the king's luggage. His wife Christian Lindsay baked the king's shortbread and oatcakes and may have been a poet.

Master William Murray, a son of William Murray of Tullibardine (died 1583) and a nephew of Annabell, Countess of Mar, was made a gentleman in the king's bedchamber or "forechamber" in June 1580.

A third, and younger William Murray, a son of Catherine Murray, Lady Abercairny, a sister of the Countess of Mar, was a schoolroom companion of James VI at Stirling. He became a Master of Horse to Anne of Denmark.

References

  1. Alexandre Labanoff, Lettres de Marie Stuart, 5 (London, 1852), p. 324.
  2. Gordon Donaldson, Register of the Privy Seal, vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1966), pp. 267 no. 1667, 270 no. 1686.
  3. Charles Thorpe McInnes, Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 13 (Edinburgh, 1978), p. 26.
  4. Gordon Donaldson, Register of the Privy Seal, vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1966), pp. 178 no. 1187, 242 no. 1551.
  5. Steven J. Reid, The Early Life of James VI, A Long Apprenticeship (Edinburgh: John Donald, 2023), p. 59.
  6. Charles Thorpe McInnes, Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 13 (Edinburgh, 1978), pp. 21-2, 27, 97, 316.
  7. Maria Hayward, Stuart Style (Yale, 2020), p. 184.
  8. Charles Thorpe McInnes, Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 13 (Edinburgh, 1978), p. 230.
  9. Steven J. Reid, The Early Life of James VI, A Long Apprenticeship (Edinburgh: John Donald, 2023), p. 79.
  10. Steven J. Reid, The Early Life of James VI, A Long Apprenticeship (Edinburgh: John Donald, 2023), p. 173.
  11. James Thomson Gibson Craig, Papers Relative to the Marriage of King James the Sixth of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1828), Appendix II, p. 17, Appendix III, p. 24: Amy Juhala, 'For the King Favours Them Very Strangely', in Miles Kerr-Peterson and Steven J. Reid, James VI and Noble Power (Routledge: Abingdon, 2017), p. 174.
  12. Alexander Courtney, James VI, Britannic Prince: King of Scots and Elizabeth's Heir, 1566–1603 (Routledge, 2024), p. 139.
  13. Miles Kerr-Peterson & Michael Pearce, "James VI's English Subsidy and Danish Dowry Accounts", Scottish History Society Miscellany, XVI (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2020), pp. 90, 92.
  14. Gordon Donaldson, Register of the Privy Seal, vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1966), p. 403 no. 2461.
  15. Pamela Giles, 'Lindsay, Christian', Elizabeth Ewan, Siân Reynolds, Rose Pipes, Jane Rendall, Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Women (Edinburgh, 2018), p. 246.
  16. Gordon Donaldson, Register of the Privy Seal, vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1966), p. 392 no. 2388: RMS, iv, 3023: Gordon Donaldson, All the Queen's Men: Power and Politics in Mary Stewart's Scotland (Batsford, 1983), p. 65.
  17. Steven J. Reid, The Early Life of James VI, A Long Apprenticeship (Edinburgh: John Donald, 2023), p. 140.
  18. HMC 3rd Report (London, 1872), p. 419.
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