Beschreibung:

MARY STUART Queen of Scots (1542-1587). Manuscript document signed ("Marie R"), granting the town of St. Andrews a yearly market and fair, St. Andrews, Scotland, 6 May 1563. 1 page, oblong folio, 210 x 305 mm. (8¼ x 12 in.) , written in a clear court hand, headed at the top "Regina," soiled, minor holes at folds affecting some letters of text, integral leaf with faded docket. MARY GRANTS ST. ANDREWS PERMISSION TO HOLD AN ANNUAL FAIR. An unusual document by which Queen Mary grants the privilege of holding an annual fair to the town of St. Andrews: "Our sovereign lady...bears to the commonwealth of this her gracious realm ...Site of St. Andrews...a gift of yearly market & fair with peace, privileges, commodities & liberties...to be made under her gracious higness' great seal...perpetually in time coming to begin the Tuesday next...and to endure continually for fifteen days...and stay yearly in all times coming from age to age and that for all kinds of merchandise and wares to the use of our subjects within our said realm." St. Andrews, with its large cathedral, was long a pilgrimage site until the reformation closed the cathedral in 1559. In the middle ages at least five major fairs were held in the city (only one is still celebrated today). The inhabitants were dependant upon such annual market fairs for both the sale of their produce and manufactures and for the purchase of necessities. Mary was virtually Queen of Scotland from the day of her birth in 1542. Her desire to obtain the English throne and restore Catholicism led to tangled intrigues: her imprisonment by Protestant nobles in 1566, an attempt, after her escape, at an armed invasion of England in 1568, and a final imprisonment by Queen Elizabeth which ended in her execution in 1587. Mary is known to have visited St. Andrews on five occasions between 1561 and 1565. RARE.