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Mary of Lorraine

Bar-le-Duc, 2 Dec 1515 – Edinburgh Castle, 1560

11 facts3 sources

Facts and their sources

A life in time

  1. 2 Dec 1515

    Born in Bar-le-Duc

  2. 1540–1542

    3 children are born

  3. 1560

    Dies in Edinburgh Castle

Family

See the tree

Parents

Partner

Children · 3

During her lifetime

She lived through 6 decades. Pick one to hear and see what it was like around Bar-le-Duc.

General history, not a record about the family: each item says where it comes from.

The 1510s · Mary is born in Bar-le-Duc

In the news1513

Battle of Flodden defeat

The Scottish army suffered a major defeat at the Battle of Flodden in 1513, where King James IV was killed.

At the table

Daily Bread, Porridge, and Soup

Ordinary Lorrainers typically ate one to two pounds of bread daily, often supplementing it with soup, porridge made from grain cooked in lard, and cheese. Vegetables like legumes were dietary staples, while meat was primarily consumed as boiled soup meat.

What people wore

Safe storage for peasant coins

For security, men often wrapped their coins in the long, split tails of their linen chemises.

Getting around

Daily travel distance for pack animals

In level country, merchant trains using pack animals could cover fifteen to twenty-five miles per day.

What it cost

Cost of shoes

The cost of shoemaking, specifically a pair of shoes, ranged from 0.6 to 1.34 sols tournois during the 16th century.

Music

Popular carnival dance at court

The Morisca was the most popular dance at the court of Lorraine, frequently performed by both men and women during the carnival season in costume.

Daily life

Cooking over an open fire

Families cooked pottage or porridge all day in iron or brass kettles over a central fire on a stone hearth. To keep the smoke from filling the room, some homes used a conical hood or funnel to vent the fire toward the roof.