Blanche Swansted or Swanstead was a hairdresser and tirewoman to

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudo ...

Anne of Denmark Anne of Denmark (; 12 December 1574 – 2 March 1619) was the wife of King James VI and I. She was List of Scottish royal consorts, Queen of Scotland from their marriage on 20 August 1589 and List of English royal consorts, Queen of Engl ...

, and Princess Elizabeth. In May 1603, she travelled to

Berwick-upon-Tweed Berwick-upon-Tweed (), sometimes known as Berwick-on-Tweed or simply Berwick, is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, and the northernmost town in England. The 2011 United Kingdom census recor ...

to meet Anne of Denmark, the queen consort of

James VI and I 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 King of Ireland, Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 M ...

. A tire was a dressing for hair including a wire frame, jewels, and ribbons. Much of what is known about Blanche Swansted comes from the petitions she wrote for payment following the death of Anne of Denmark in 1619 and in 1620s. She had been a tirewoman to Princess Elizabeth and had a fee of 2 shillings daily. A petition in

The National Archives National archives are the archives of a country. The concept evolved in various nations at the dawn of modernity based on the impact of nationalism upon bureaucratic processes of paperwork retention. Conceptual development From the Middle Ages i ...

gives more information on her career. At the

Union of Crowns The Union of the Crowns (; ) was the accession of James VI of Scotland to the throne of the Kingdom of England as James I and the practical unification of some functions (such as overseas diplomacy) of the two separate realms under a single i ...

in 1603,

travelled to London from Scotland, leaving Anne of Denmark and his children in Scotland. In April 1603 he ordered that some of Elizabeth's jewels, and a hairdresser, Blanche Swansted, should be sent to

so that Anne of Denmark would appear like an English queen as she crossed the border. James reiterated this request, explaining the jewels were to be selected by Elizabeth's household attendants for Anne's "ordinary apparelling and ornament". Swansted's petition for payment explains that she had travelled north to meet the new queen and joined her service as "tirewoman in ordinary". Anne of Denmark appointed a Scottish "attire-maker" James Taylor, confirmed by privy seal letter on 17 May 1603 in Edinburgh. A young Scottish woman in Princess Elizabeth's household in England, probably Anne Livingstone, kept an account book. She wore the same hairstyles as the Princess, and bought "a tire of pearl to wear on my head", "a wire to my head with nine peaks" and, "a periwig of hair to cover the wire" and, "a French wire to my head with an hoop of hair". She paid for "dressings" to be made up with emeralds, pearls, garnets, green silk and feathers. The pearls and precious stones were her own. Swansted or another tire-maker got between 9 and 20 shillings for making these dressings, depending on how much material they added and sold. Swansted's annual wage in Princess Elizabeth's household was £9-2s-6d. In December 1617 the Venetian ambassador Piero Contarini described the appearance of Anne of Denmark at

Somerset House Somerset House is a large neoclassical architecture, neoclassical building complex situated on the south side of the Strand, London, Strand in central London, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. The Georgian era quadran ...

. Her hair was dressed with diamonds and other jewels and was extended in rays, or like the petals of a sunflower, with artificial hair.Allen Hinds, ''Calendar State Papers, Venice: 1617-1619'', vol. 15 (London, 1909), pp. 80-1.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swansted, Blanche Court of James VI and I British hairdressers Household of Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia Material culture of royal courts