Nicolas Roy (mason)

rdf:langString Nicolas Roy (mason)

rdf:langString Nicolas Roy was a French stone mason who worked in Scotland for James V and his second wife Mary of Guise. Nicolas Roy may have been the leader of the group of stonemasons recruited by Antoinette of Bourbon, Duchess of Guise, the mother of Mary of Guise. The Duchess wrote that she had found a mason with a high reputation who promised to go Scotland and bring a good companion. The masons travelled to Scotland via Paris. The Duchess also sent expert miners to look for Scottish gold. Mary of Guise wrote to her mother that she was pleased with the masons. The miners were looked after by the goldsmith John Mosman and sent to Crawford Moor escorted by a messenger to translate for them until they learnt the Scots language. He was appointed master mason to the king on 22 April 1539 with an annual fee of £6-13-4d over and above any wages for mason work to be paid by the Master of Work, John Scrimgeour. Nicolas Roy was later listed in a household roll of Mary of Guise, and mentioned in her household books. He made some alterations and repairs for Mary of Guise and her infant daughter Mary, Queen of Scots, at Stirling Castle in 1544. The brief account written in French mentions lime for repairing the wall of the park and two carpenters who made wheelbarrows. Other French craftsmen working on the Scottish royal palace include the woodcarver and metal-worker Andrew Mansioun and the painter Pierre Quesnel.