Sometime in the spring of 1599, Bartilmo Kello, Esther’s husband, travelled from Edinburgh down to London carrying messages for Queen Elizabeth I from James VI along with several manuscripts made by Esther. One of these was for the queen herself: a lovely book of Psalms in French, written out in a large variety of scripts, and decorated with bands of leafy and figurative designs in black and white, as well as Esther’s self-portrait. 

Bodleian, Christ Church Coll. Oxford MS 180, p.1

The binding of this little book displays a crowned Tudor rose embroidered front and back on red velvet, within a floral border picked out with seed pearls.  The rose motif is repeated again in ink line on the title page and at the end of the volume, while an elaborately-framed royal coat-of-arms is drawn on the verso of the title page. It is a stunning volume, which, according to a letter from Bartilmo, the Queen really liked. 

Bodleian, Christ Church Coll. MS 180 front cover

Bodleian, Christ Church Coll. MS 180, p.154

Esther dated her dedication as ‘De Lislebourg [Edinburgh] en Escosse, ce XXVII de Mars, 1599’. It’s an odd date, but represents the fact that she had to have this manuscript along with several others ready to go with Bartilmo. She signs the dedication in French as the queen’s ‘very humble, very affectionate, and very obedient servant forever’. 

After finishing his duties in London, which included bringing manuscripts for Anthony Bacon and the Earl of Essex, for whom he was working, Bartilmo had to sit around and wait to be paid. This delay went on for so long that he wrote a letter to the queen, politely but firmly reminding her that she had approved of the manuscript but that he would like to get home.  Finally he made it back to Edinburgh in August, from where he wrote to Anthony Bacon about the terrible nine-hour storm they sailed into while going up the east coast of Scotland. 

Bartilmo’s letter to Anthony Bacon, BL Add MS 4125, f.357

 The Queen’s little volume now belongs to Christ Church College Oxford and is kept in the Bodleian Library, but it is also fully digitized here.  Enjoy!