Add Roll 77740/2

This roll contains a copy of a set of financial accounts relating to the upkeep of Mary, Queen of Scots (b. 1542, d. 1587), and her household at Wingfield Manor, in Derbyshire, and Tutbury Castle, in Staffordshire, compiled by the cofferer's clerk Bryan Cave between 18 December 1584 and 27 February 1585. Mary had been held prisoner in England for the previous 17 years following her exile from Scotland, and had recently been transferred from the custody of George Talbot (b. c. 1522/8, d. 1590), 6th Earl of Shrewsbury, and his wife Bess of Hardwick (b. c. 1527, d. 1608), to Sir Ralph Sadler (b. 1507, d. 1587), Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.

The accounts provide a detailed record of monies received and paid out in the running of the Scottish Queen's household over this period. They feature payments for a wide range of food items, from bread, eggs, meat (beef, mutton, lamb, veal, boars, poultry) and fish (cod, salt, salmon, stockfish, eels, herring) to spices (pepper, saffron, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, sugar), exotic items (oranges, olives, capers, almonds and figs), wine and ale.

Costs for a number of other household expenses are also recorded. These include household supplies such as lighting, fuel, ‘matting for the Quenes lodginge’ and soap ‘for washing the Quenes linen and the nappe of the home’; stable expenses (lanterns, rushes, hay, oats and litter); the salaries of soldiers, other staff and purveyors; and charges relating to the removal of the Queen from Wingfield to Tutbury, including an overnight stay in Derby (with tips to local innkeepers). The total costs amount to £1337 14s 9 1/2d.

The dorse of the roll's parchment wrapper features a summary of the contents, and the year '1584' inscribed in a different hand.

The original roll is now housed separately as Add Roll 77740/1.