William Betoun or Beaton (died 1620) was a Scottish embroiderer who worked for

James VI of Scotland James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until hi ...

and his wife

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. On 25 July 1573

Regent Morton James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton (c. 1516 – 2 June 1581, aged 65) was the last of the four regents of Scotland during the minority of King James VI. He was in some ways the most successful of the four, since he won the civil war that had b ...

appointed Betoun as "browdinstar" to the young king and keeper of his wardrobe. At this time James VI lived at

Stirling Castle Stirling Castle, located in Stirling, is one of the largest and most important castles in Scotland, both historically and architecturally. The castle sits atop Castle Hill, an intrusive crag, which forms part of the Stirling Sill geological ...

. Betoun acquired a house in

Stirling Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...

. In 1575 Betoun had a servant or assistant embroiderer called George Strathauchin, who was bought clothes by the

treasurer A treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury of an organization. The significant core functions of a corporate treasurer include cash and liquidity management, risk management, and corporate finance. Government The treasury o ...

. Strathauchin became a tapissier, in charge of maintaining and repairing the royal hangings and tapestries. Betoun also worked for aristocratic clients, including Lady Ogilvy. He made her a hat string costing £40 Scots to wear at her son's wedding. James VI had a suite of three green velvet hangings embroidered with gold holly leaves and the Longueville arms, which had belonged to his grandmother

Mary of Guise Mary of Guise (french: Marie de Guise; 22 November 1515 – 11 June 1560), also called Mary of Lorraine, was a French noblewoman of the House of Guise, a cadet branch of the House of Lorraine and one of the most powerful families in France. She ...

(as Duchess of Longueville by her first marriage). These hangings were delivered to George Strathauchin for repair in 1594 to be displayed at the baptism of Prince Henry. They were repaired again by Nicolas Elsmeere for use during James' return visit to Scotland in 1617. Betoun made coloured velvet cloths to decorate and identify the ambassador's seats in the Chapel Royal during the baptism, and made bonnets for

Prince Henry Prince Henry (or Prince Harry) may refer to: People *Henry the Young King (1155–1183), son of Henry II of England, who was crowned king but predeceased his father *Prince Henry the Navigator of Portugal (1394–1460) *Henry, Duke of Cornwall (Ja ...

of cloth of gold and cloth of silver. He married Marion Foulis in August 1597. William Betoun died in July 1620.

Margaret Swain Margaret Helen Swain ( Hart; 13 May 1909 – 27 July 2002) was an English embroidery and textile historian. Trained as a nurse in London, she began a career as a historian after noticing no history about Ayrshire whitework embroidery in books fo ...

, ''Scottish Embroidery: Medieval to Modern'' (Batsford, 1986), p. 42.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Betoun, William 16th-century Scottish people 1620 deaths Court of James VI and I British embroiderers 16th-century Scottish businesspeople Material culture of royal courts