| Administrative History | Esther Inglis (Esther Anglois, Esther Kello) was born in 1571, one of three children of Nicholas Langlois and his wife Marie Prescot, who fled to London from France about 1569 as
Hugenot refugees. They had settled in Edinburgh by 1574 and apparently appeared on the poor roll for the years 1578 - 1580. At about this time Langlois was appointed Master of the French School, which position he retained until his death in 1611. Esther married around 1596 Bartholomew Kello, a clerk in Holy Orders, however she retained an anglicized version of her maiden name throughout her career. She died in 1624.
The 'Quatrains' of Pybrac were first published under his name in 1574 and consisted of 50 verses, with the first complete version of 126 verses appearing in 1576.
For more on Inglis and a catalogue of manuscripts (not including this MS), see Scott-Elliot and Yeo's 'Calligraphic manuscripts of Esther Inglis (1571-1624): a catalogue, in 'The Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America', vol. 84:I, March 1990. |
| Custodial History | The book belonged to John Gordon, and finally Francis Douglas, who gave it to King's College, Aberdeen. |