“In my End is my Beginning”. Brooch. 2025. Aluminium, white metal, steel. 83mm Diam. x 8 mm
The origins of the great church of Linlithgow date back to the Royal charter of King David I in 1138. Over 400 years later, Mary, Queen of Scots, was born in Linlithgow Palace on December 8th 1542 and baptised in St Michael’s church. Mary was a political prisoner of her cousin Elizabeth I for over eighteen and a half years, before her final execution in 1587. During her imprisonment, Mary crafted a number of embroideries; the rectangular hangings were often surrounded by smaller geometric badges or patch-like “decorated with letters or symbols” (V&A archives).
One lost embroidery, recorded as on a ‘Cloth of State’, was stitched with the words
“En ma Fin gût mon Commencement” … “In my End is my Beginning”.
These words capture a theme that ran throughout her life with the eternal cycle of life and death.
The badge reflects these themes and narratives in its layered construction. The brooch features a central panel of the original 1960s anodised aluminium cladding of the Crown of Thorns (1964 Clarke) removed during the renovation. Themes of eternity are reinforced by the cutting of the spiral motif in the brooch's central panel and the traces of Mary’s words on the reverse silver disc. The historic aluminium is juxtaposed when mounted on a frame of modern 21st-century sintered aluminium.
References:
St Michael’s Parish Church. “The History of St. Michael’s Parish Church.” About US. 2025 https://www.stmichaelsparish.org.uk/about/the-history-of-st.-michaels-parish-church
V&A. ‘The prison embroideries of Mary, Queen of Scots.” Collections. 2025. https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/prison-embroideries-mary-queen-of-scots/
