Moubray House

File:Trunk's Close, High Street - geograph.org.uk - 1338346.jpg

Moubray House lies on the north side of the High Street, between Trunk's or Turing's Close and the John Knox House, near the site of Edinburgh's Netherbow Port, the main gate into Edinburgh before its demolition in 1764. On the pavement in front of the property survives the Netherbow Well, one of the wells which formerly supplied water for the Old Town.

In its origins, the tenement is a rare survivor of the Burning of Edinburgh in 1544, when Henry VIII of England ordered the Earl of Hertford to "put all to fire and sword, burn Edinburgh town". In Trunk's close, over a stone vaulted basement, can be seen "massive corbelled projections" which contained straight flights of stairs serving the north wing, perhaps part of Adam Moubray (III)'s building of 1529 and its extension.RCAMS Inventory of Monuments in Edinburgh (HMSO: Edinburgh, 1951), p. 95. One of these stairs rises from the first-floor hall of this "back-land," where a later sixteenth-century painted ceiling of "exceptional quality" was discovered in 1999. This room is lit by a row of windows facing east.Bath, Michael, Renaissance Decorative Painting in Scotland (Edinburgh, 2003), p. 245.

In 1369, the three houses here all belonged to the Turing family, whose name is remembered as "Trunk's Close."Laing, David, ed., Registrum cartarum Ecclesie Sancti Egidii de Edinburgh (Bannatyne Club, 1859), p. 278 The present site was laid out c.1472-7, after reconstruction of the Netherbow Port close to "John Knox's House" by Alexander Bonkill. The street frontage of Moubray House retains the line of the earlier medieval High Street, being the last house east before the defensive narrowing at the gate. The "John Knox House" is on the site of one of four houses built in the new narrow passage to the gate.Smith, Donald, John Knox House (John Donald, 1996), pp. 3-5: Charters and other Documents relating to Edinburgh (Scottish Burgh Records Society, 1871), pp.nxiv-v, 134-5 no. XLVII, orders for fortifying Edinburgh, 1472. During the 16th century the tenement was identified as Andrew Moubray's house in legal records. There were three Andrew Moubrays, although the original builder is called "Robert Moubray" in many sources.RCAMS Inventory of Monuments in Edinburgh (Edinburgh, 1951), pp. 94, 123. The part of house at the back was probably built around 1529 by the third Andrew Moubray (III) and his wife Katrine Hoppar. The plots on Edinburgh High Street were called "lands." The buildings could be divided into "fore, mid, and back-lands." These could also be divided in storeys, leading to complicated patterns of ownership and tenancy.Miller, Robert, John Knox and the Town Council of Edinburgh (Edinburgh, 1898), pp. 75-77.

These were wealthy and well-connected merchant families, and the Moubrays owned other properties in Edinburgh. In 1494 Andrew Moubray (I) disputed the rent of another house he owned in Leith with his tenant the sailor Robert Barton.Acts of the Lords Auditors of Causes and Complaints (Edinburgh, 1839), p. 187. Andrew Moubray (I), a second son, was made a burgess of Edinburgh in 1451, his fee pledged by the Baillie James Bonkill.Marwick, J. D., ed., Extracts Records of the Burgh Edinburgh, vol. 1 (1869) On 18 August 1482, jointly with Laurence Taillefer, he was appointed "Customar of Edinburgh", the collector of royal rents and duties owed by the town to the King.Burnett, George, ed., Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, 1480-1487, vol. 9 (Edinburgh, 1886), p. 213. Andrew Moubray (I) bought the lands of Kirktonhill in Lauderdale from William Moubray in 1486, and with his wife Elizabeth endowed a chaplain at the altar of St Ninian in St Giles Kirk in 1478 and 1492. Their grandson, Andrew Moubray (III) was still patron of the altar in 1533. Their daughter, Agnes Moubray was married to the merchant Patrick Cant by 1492.Register of the Great Seal of Scotland, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1882), nos. 1400, 1660, 2120: Durkan, John, Protocol Book of John Foular, SRS New Series 10 (Edinburgh, 1985), p. 156 no.483, in 1533 Andrew (III), grandson of Andrew (I), as patron replaced Chaplain John Harkness with John Porteous.

The Moubrays main business was textiles and Andrew Moubray (II) sold fine cloth to King James IV in 1496, accepting a gilt cup as payment.Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, vol.1 (1877), pp.15, 271 Some of his mercantile activity in the Netherlands in the 1490s was recorded in the shipping Ledger of Andrew Halyburton, which records his trip to Middelburg and his cargoes carried by Andrew Barton. Andrew Moubray (II) exported wool and imported wine and furs. Laurence Taillefer, Andrew's partner as Customar of Edinburgh was married to Helen, the sister of Andrew Halyburton.Innes, Cosmo, ed., Ledger of Andrew Halyburton (Edinburgh, 1867), pp. 25-6, 89-91, account of "Andrew Moubray younger". Andrew Halyburton died in 1507/8, Protocol Book John Foular (Edinburgh, 1941), no. 423. He was also joint owner of the 60 ton James of Leith and had a licence from Henry VII to sell fish in England in 1490.Bain, Joseph, ed., Calendar of Documents Relating to Scotland, vol. 4 (1888), p. 318 no. 1565

Andrew (II) married Jonet Halyburton, whose brothers James and David Halyburton were soldiers of the Garde Écossaise.Robert Kerr Hannay & Denys Hay, Letters of James V (HMSO, 1954), p. 403. When Andrew Moubray (II) died in 1499, his children were still minors, so James IV gave his property to Patrick Halyburton until they came of age.Register of the Privy Seal of Scotland, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1908), p. 59 no.416. Andrew Moubray (III) sold a crossbow to James V in 1527.James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Treasurer, vol. 5 (Edinburgh, 1903), p. 305.

Andrew Moubray (III) married Katrine Hoppar, daughter of William Hoppar and Elizabeth Carkettill. William Hoppar supplied a chest for the royal wardrobe on the day that Margaret Tudor arrived in Edinburgh.Accounts of the Treasurer, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1900), p. 391. Hoppar and Adam Carkettil were members of the religious confraternity of the Holy Blood, and witnessed the censure of the poet and priest Gavin Douglas when the mass on 27 February 1511 was not properly performed. His son, Adam Hopper was master of the Edinburgh Merchants Guild, established by "seal of cause" in 1518 when it was given the Holy Blood Aisle in St Giles Kirk. A banner of the confraternity made at this time, the "Fetternear banner" is kept at the National Museum of Scotland.Marwick, ed., Extracts Records Burgh of Edinburgh, vol. 1 (1882), pp. 130, 186 seal of cause: The Holy Blood Aisle and the altar of St Ninian, where Andrew (I) endowed a chaplain, were adjacent spaces in St. Giles Kirk, see [http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/arch-352-1/dissemination/pdf/vol_107/107_242_260.pdf George Hay, 'Late medieval St Giles',PSAS (1975/6)], pp. 255, 251. Adam Hoppar (d.1529), Katrine's brother, was married to Katherine Bellenden the seamstress of James V of Scotland.Register of the Great Seal, 1513-1546 (Edinburgh, 1883), p .548 no. 2394: Durkan, John, ed., Protocol Book of Thomas Foular, SRS New Series 10 (Edinburgh, 1985), pp. 34 no.98, 49 no.141

Katrine Hoppar had a relation, probably an aunt, Isobel Hoppar, the daughter of Richard Hoppar.Cosmo Innes, [https://archive.org/details/ledgerandrewhal00halygoog Ledger of Andrew Halyburton, (Edinburgh 1867)], pp. 211-212, (William Hoppar, Katrine's father, was Richard Hoppar's son) Isobel's first husband was Master John Murray of Black Barony, a clerk of the exchequer, who was killed at Flodden.The families are linked in a transaction recorded in the Protocol Book of John Foular (Edinburgh: SRS, 1941) nos. 548-9, Katrine's father William Hoppar, Isobel's husband John Murray of Barony and Adam Otterburn husband of Eufamia Moubray were witnesses on 31 March 1509. In 1515 Isobel Hopparwas described as a "rich widow of Edinburgh" by Baron Dacre.Letters & Papers Henry VIII, vol.2 (1864), p.205 no.779: Protocol Book of John Foular (Edinburgh: SRS, 1941), no. 858: Godfrey, A. M. Civil Justice in Renaissance Scotland (Brill, 2009), p. 186 record of Isobel Hoppar reserving her Blakbarony liferent. Isobel's second husband was Archibald Douglas of Kilspindie, called Greysteil, brother and advisor of the Earl of Angus.Rosalind K. Marshall, Virgins and Viragos: Women in Scotland (Collins, 1983), p. 37. By the King's gift in 1526, Archibald Douglas of Kilspindie and Isobel Hoppar were given another property on the south side of the High Street, when Kilspindie was Lord High Treasurer and Provost of Edinburgh. The house had belonged to Isobel's former husband and to James Forstar or Forrester, son of Jonet Halyburton and a grandson of Sir Duncan Forrester of Garden.McLeod & Wood, ed., Protocol Book of John Foular (Edinburgh, 1898), pp. 237-8 no.273: Durkan, John, ed., Protocol Book of John Foular, 1528-1534, SRS New Series 10 (Edinburgh, 1985), p. 2 no. 2: Protocol Book Foular, 1514-1528 (SRS, 1941): Register of the Great Seal, 1513-1546 (Edinburgh, 1883), no. 356 cf. no. 649

Archibald and Isobel lost the Forrester house, and the lands she held near Peebles when James V reached his majority and escaped from the Douglases. On 5 September 1528 the Earl of Angus shouted over the Tweed to the Earl of Northumberland's steward that if his family was forced into exile at Norham Castle, Isobel Hoppar would wait on his daughter Margaret Douglas. Isobel continued to serve Margaret as her "gentlewoman" at Berwick Castle. The English diplomat Thomas Magnus wrote that Isobel "totally ordoured" Kilspindie, and in turn Kilspindie and George Douglas had brought the Earl of Angus to his troubles.State Papers Henry Eighth, vol. iv (1836), p.509-510, 539-40, 567: Letters & Papers Henry VIII, vol.4 (1875), no.4709: Jamie Cameron, James V, (1998) p.36-7 & fn.24, calls her "Jonet" and Isobel "Hoppringle" from the same source which does not name Kilspindie's wife. Kilspindie's house was given to the new treasurer Robert Cairncross.Register of the Privy Seal of Scotland vol.1, nos.4077, 4082: Register Great Seal, 1513-1546 (Edinburgh, 1883), p.144 no.649: As a forfeited person, Isobel might not be listed as an heir in later contracts, but was "relict" of Kilspindie in 1536.

Katrine's sister Janet was married to Hugh Rig of Carberry, a lawyer who acted for Isobel Hoppar after Kilspindie's death, and was said to have been an advisor and flatterer of Regent Arran before the battle of Pinkie. George Buchanan wrote that Hugh was notable more for his large size and strength than his knowledge of military tactics.Calderwood, David, History of the Kirk, vol.1, Wodrow Society (1842), p.246: Buchanan, George, History of Scotland, book 15, chapter 48. Elizabeth Hoppar, perhaps Katherine Bellenden's daughter, was married to Patrick Tennent of Cairns, the brother of the King's servant and yeoman of the crossbow, John Tennent. She had four daughters.Protocol Book of Gilbert Grote, 1552-1573 (SRS, 1914), p.71 no.279, Elizabeth Hoppar was a widow in 1566 when her daughter Isobel Tennent married a merchant. Eufamia Moubray, probably a sister of Andrew (III), was married to the diplomat and king's advocate Adam Otterburn.David Laing, David, Registrum cartarum Ecclesie Sancti Egidii de Edinburgh (Bannatyne Club, 1859), p. 234: William Hoppar, Isobel's husband John Murray of Barony and Adam Otterburn were witnesses to the handover of a property on 31 March 1509, Protocol John Foular (SRS, 1941) nos. 548-9.

Andrew Moubray (III) also had two properties on the opposite side of the road to Moubray House, one near a tennis court called a "caichpule", the other next to the house given to Kilspindie.Durkan, John ed., Protocol book of John Foular, SRS New Series 10 (1985), nos. 128, 262, 491 In 1541, Katherine Bellenden, now married to Oliver Sinclair, with John Tennent and other kin who served the royal household donated an adjacent property to the west of Moubray House for a chantry in St Giles and various charities.[https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0c_AAAAcAAJ Laing, David, ed., Registrum cartarum Ecclesie Sancti Egidii de Edinburgh (Bannatyne Club, 1859)] pp. 246-253 no.141: Register of the Great Seal of Scotland, 1513-1546 (Edinburgh, 1883) p. 597 no. 2600.

Also in 1541, Andrew Mowbray (III) travelled to Middelburg as commissioner for the city of Edinburgh to negotiate a trade agreement with Maximilian II of Burgundy.Denys Hay, Letters of James V (Edinburgh, HMSO, 1954), p. 423. Maximilian was prompted to fix the centre for Scottish trade at Veere.Yair, James, Account of Scottish Trade in the Netherlands (1776), pp. 107, 110 Andrew was sent to Flanders again in 1544, carrying a letter of accreditation describing in French the 'great and ancient amity between Scotland and Flanders.' With the Scottish ambassador, he spoke at a meeting in Antwerp with officials and representatives of the Lord of Beveren in April 1545.H. J. Smit, [http://www.historici.nl/retroboeken/handel_engeland/#source=3&page=572&accessor=toc&view=imagePane Bronnen tot de geschiedenis van den handel met Engeland, Schotland en Ierland 1150-1585 ('s-Gravenhage, 1942), p. 572 no. 731]: Smit (1942), pp. 586-8

Andrew Moubray (III) died in 1545 in Flanders. His eldest son Edward Moubray was still a minor. John Danielstoun, Parson of Dysart was appointed guardian of Edward Moubray (who died young).Register of the Privy Seal, vol. 3 (Edinburgh, 1936) p. 219 no. 1418 Andrew had left some possessions in Veere and Middelburg, which were passed to his executor there, Andrew Cupar.H. J. Smit, Bronnen tot de geschiedenis van den handel met Engeland, Schotland en Ierland 1150-1585 ('s-Gravenhage, 1942), p. 667 no. 797 During the war of the Rough Wooing, his widow Katrine Hoppar (died 1551) supplied iron from Gdańsk for entrenching tools sent to Jedburgh in February 1549.Accounts of the Lord High Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 9 (Edinburgh, 1911), p. 283, February 1548/9 "Danskyn irne" for "schule irnis." In 1550 she was refunded money that she had contributed for the "Raid of the Borrowmure", an abandoned military action planned for the Siege of Haddington.Adam, Robert, ed., Edinburgh Records, Burgh Accounts, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1899), pp. 4, 9.

File:Moubray House.JPG

Robert Moubray, a son of Andrew (III) and Katrine Hoppar inherited the house when he came of age. In the 1560s he let another property, which he had inherited from his grandmother Elizabeth Carkettill, to the town council for the use of John Knox.Adam, Robert, ed., Edinburgh records, Burgh Accounts, vol.1 (1899), pp. 343, 457, 458. which, it has been suggested, had grounds which backed onto the Nor' Loch and was in the area of Warriston's Close, west of Edinburgh City Chambers and close to St Giles. The Moubray House and "John Knox House" grounds would have backed onto Trinity College Kirk.Miller, Robert, John Knox and the Town Council of Edinburgh, (1898), p.78-9 The adjacent house to the west of this Warriston's close property had belonged to Richard Hoppar, the father of Isobel Hoppar.Miller, Robert, 'Where did John Knox live in Edinburgh?', in Proceedings Society Antiquaries Scotland, vol. 33 (1899), p. 87.

Within this other house, the Town Council provided John Knox with a "warm study of deals" against the winter of 1561.Miller, PSAS (1899), p. 84-86 see external links In March 1565, Robert Moubray exchanged the house occupied by John Knox with the lawyer Robert Scott for a loan.Sanderson, Margaret H. B., A Kindly Place? (Tuckwell: East Linton, 2002), p. 199 citing NAS Register of Deeds RD1/8 fol.1

Robert had a baker as his tenant in the shop of another house on the south side of the street.Protocol Book of Mr Gilbert Grote, 1552-1573 (SRS: Edinburgh, 1914), p. 49 no. 212.

During the "Lang Siege" of Edinburgh Castle, when William Kirkcaldy of Grange bombarded the town, Robert Moubray and his family left Edinburgh and moved to Leith for safety. When the siege was concluded and the burgesses were required to return, in November 1573 the Town Council granted his wish to remain in Leith over the winter because his wife, Janet Cant, was ill.Marwick, J. D., ed., Extracts Records Burgh Edinburgh, 1573-1589 (1882), p.1 Janet outlived him, and died in 1592.Grant, Francis, ed., Commissariot Record of Edinburgh: Register of Testaments, part 1 (1897), p.48 By this time, James Hoppringle or Pringle of Whytbank and Woodhead and his wife Mariota Murray were already in possession of the Netherbow House.Register of the Great Seal of Scotland, vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1886) p. 560 no. 2135, 2 May 1573 In November 1595, their son, James Pringle of Whytbank made a successful plea to the Privy Council on behalf of seven schoolchildren who had been imprisoned following the shooting of Baillie John MacMorran.D. Masson, ed., Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, vol. 5 (Edinburgh 1882), pp. 236-8. His son, also James Pringle, served in the Garde Écossaise and married Sophia Schöner, a daughter of Anne of Denmark's physician Martin Schöner in 1622. He was fined by Parliament for his support of Charles I in 1646.Life of Andrew Melville, Works of Rev. McCrie (Edinburgh, 1856), p. 498 fn: J. Burke, A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry, vol. 3 (London, 1850), p. 264.

File:Plasterwork heraldic cipher of Alexander Seton, 1st Earl of Dunfermline, Moubray House, Edinburgh.jpg on a first floor ceiling of Moubray House]]

The stone Royal Mile façade dates from around 1630. There is a moulded plaster ceiling of this era in the second-floor front room, which includes the Seton heraldic badge of crescent and cinquefoil, and royal emblems of England and Scotland.RCAMS Inventory of Monuments in Edinburgh (HMSO: Edinburgh, 1951), p. 96. The painted Pringle coat of arms of the wall in this room may indicate that Jean Pringle of Galashiels lived here, who was traditionally identified as the "black eyed lass o' Galasheils" in the ballad "Gala Water."Hall, Robert, The History of Galasheils (Galasheils, 1898), pp. 24-5, 31-2 However, Robert Pringle of Howlatson (Howliston) inherited the right to this heraldry in 1650, the date of the painting, which passed in 1653 to Pringle of Whytbank and Yair. James Pringle was married to Sophia Schöner, a daughter of Anna of Denmark's physician.see [http://www.jamespringle.co.uk/index.html Clan Pringle Association website]: Nisbet, Alexander, System of Heraldry, vol. 1 (repr. 1984), p. 360, & plate 14: [http://home.us.archive.org/details/bordermemoriesor1876carr Carre & Tait, Border memories, or, Sketches of prominent men and women of the Border (James Thin, 1876), p. 318]

The painter George Jamesone lived in the property. Daniel Defoe edited the Edinburgh Courant newspaper from the house in 1710. In the 18th century the building housed a tavern, and until 1822 the shop on the street front was the premises of the publisher and bookseller Archibald Constable, proprietor of the Scots Magazine, the Edinburgh Review and the Encyclopædia Britannica.Robert Taylor Skinner, The Royal Mile, Edinburgh Castle to Holyroodhouse (1928), p. 48: Wilmot Harrison, Memorable Edinburgh Houses (Edinburgh, 1893) p. 46. A more recent publishing connection is with Moubray House Press, later Moubray House Publishing, which was established here in 1984 before moving across the High Street to premises in Tweeddale Court.

Moubray House was restored by the Cockburn Association in 1910, and in the 1970s by the architect Nicholas Groves-Raines. In the mid-1900s, Moubray House was the home and shop of an antiques dealer, Esta Henry.{{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/edinburghcultura0000camp | url-access=registration | quote=1953 esther henry. | title=Edinburgh: A Cultural and Literary History | publisher=Signal Books | author=Campbell, Donald | year=2003 | pages=[https://archive.org/details/edinburghcultura0000camp/page/277 277] | isbn=9781902669731}} An American benefactor, Debra Stonecipher acquired the various sub-divided flats and further restored the house and gave it to the nation, in the care of Historic Scotland in 2012.{{cite web|url=http://www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/news_article.htm?articleid=37340 |title=Agreement sees Moubray House safeguarded for the future |publisher=Historic Scotland|date=24 August 2012 |url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304054136/http://www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/news_article.htm?articleid=37340|archivedate=4 March 2016}}

• Scottish Renaissance painted ceilings
• Clan Pringle

{{Reflist|33em}}

• Scottish Renaissance Interiors, Moubray House Press (1987), cover, & p. 79, picture of attic interior.

• [http://canmore.rcahms.gov.uk/en/site/52320/details/edinburgh+51+and+53+high+street+moubray+house/ Moubray House, record and pictures from RCAHMS Canmore]
• [http://www.scotlandsplaces.gov.uk/search_item/index.php?service=RCAHMS&id=52320&image_id=SC426631 Moubray House, higher resolution pictures at Scotlands Places]
• {{Historic Environment Scotland|num=LB29034|desc= 51-55 (odd nos) High Street, Moubray House|cat=A|access-date=25 March 2019}}
• [https://archive.org/details/ledgerandrewhal00halygoog Ledger of Andrew Halyburton, HM Register House (1867)] Import account of Andrew Moubray (II) younger, pp. 89–91
• [http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/arch-352-1/dissemination/pdf/vol_033/33_080_115.pdf Miller, Robert, 'Where did John Knox live in Edinburgh?', in Proceedings Society Antiquaries Scotland, vol.33 (1899) 80-115]
• [https://books.google.com/books?id=VhY5AAAAMAAJ Yair, Thomas, Staple Contract between the Royal Burrows of Scotland and Campvere in Zealand, (1749)], trade agreement, Andrew Moubray (III), pp.xi-xii.
• [https://books.google.com/books?id=mXdbAAAAQAAJ Yair, Thomas, Account of Scottish Trade in the Netherlands, (1776)], trade agreement Andrew Moubray (III), 1541, pp. 105–117
• [http://nms.scran.ac.uk/database/record.php?usi=000-190-000-728-C The Fetternear Banner, used by the Confraternity of the Holy Blood in St Giles, c.1520. NMS]

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Category:Houses completed in the 15th century

Category:Buildings and structures completed in 1477

Category:Category A listed buildings in Edinburgh

Category:Category A listed houses in Scotland

Category:Renaissance in Scotland

Category:Royal Mile

Category:Foreign relations of Scotland

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