# Jewels of James VI and I

James VI and I (1566–1625), King of Scotland from 1567, and King of England from 1603, had a large collection of jewels. Many were inherited from his mother Mary, Queen of Scots, or recovered from her supporters after the end of the Marian Civil War in 1573. James bought more jewels from goldsmiths. He wore them to emphasise his majesty, gave them as gifts to his favourites, commissioned their depiction in his portraits, and occasionally pawned them with goldsmith-financiers to fund his rule. At the Union of Crowns in 1603, James obtained the jewels of the English monarchy. James favoured hat jewels set with large precious stones.

## Jewels throughout a reign

Anthony Standen, an English servant of James' father Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, wrote that Mary, Queen of Scots, showed him James in his cradle at Edinburgh Castle. The infant Prince was asleep, a cross of diamonds fixed on his breast.

### Childhood at Stirling Castle

After Mary was deposed in 1567, James was brought up at Stirling Castle, in a household managed by Annabell Murray, Countess of Mar. In January 1570, Mary, Queen of Scots, who was in captivity in England at Tutbury Castle, sent a present of clothes to James VI. She wanted these to be his first proper clothes, his first "doublet and long hose" provided by his mother. In her letter to the Countess of Mar, Mary said the gift did not include essential buttons, which with the rest of her jewels were kept from her, "whereto there wants such buttons as were worthy to garnish it, thanks to them who withholds from us suchlike and better." Mary's buttons were obtained for James three years later, when William Kirkcaldy of Grange surrendered Edinburgh Castle.
A coffer containing the jewels of Mary, Queen of Scots, was recovered from Edinburgh Castle, and Regent Morton obtained other jewels which had been pawned by William Kirkcaldy of Grange. On 28 July 1573, Morton sent some of these jewels to Annabell Murray to be sewn on the king's clothes, including gold buttons enamelled in white and red, and white and black, and sets of large "horns" or "points" with enamel and engraving. Morton also had 60 new gold and silver buttons made for James VI. Annabell Murray received a variety of jewels over the subsequent years until 1579 when the King was declared an adult and moved to Edinburgh. These included a fossil shark tooth or "serpent's tongue" mounted in gold as an amulet intended to neutralise any poisons in the king's food.
On 16 September 1577, Mungo Brady was appointed as the King's goldsmith, Brady made gold rings for the King to give as New Year's Day gifts, and silver-gilt buckles for the King's boots. Elizabeth I, Queen of England, sent King James a hat badge set with diamonds and rubies, which was described in Scots as "ane litle targett on his Majesties bonatt send to him be the Quene of England sett with litle diamantis and sparkis of rubyis".

### Esmé Stewart and a diamond cross

James gave several of his mother's jewels to his favourite Esmé Stewart in October 1581, including the "Great H of Scotland" and a gold cross set with seven diamonds and two rubies. He was a second cousin to James. Esmé returned the jewels before he left Scotland for ever. In August 1584, William Davison heard that Elizabeth Stewart, Countess of Arran had new keys made for the coffers in Edinburgh Castle containing the jewels and clothes of Mary, Queen of Scots. She was said to have tried on many of the queen's garments to see if they fitted her, and chosen what she liked. She passed sets of pearl, ruby, and diamond buttons or settings from the garnishings for a French hood to the Master of Gray, who was master of the king's wardrobe. The precious stones were sewn on the king's cloak.
In September 1584, a German travel writer Lupold von Wedel saw James, who was staying at Ruthven Castle, wearing the cross on his hat ribbon in St John's Kirk in Perth. James was accompanied by Esmé Stewart's son Ludovic Stewart, 2nd Duke of Lennox. In October, the king's valet John Gibb returned the cross to the Master of Gray, the newly appointed Master of the Royal Wardrobe. It may have been the same diamond and ruby cross that his grandmother, Mary of Guise, had pawned to John Home of Blackadder for £1000 when she was Regent of Scotland, and Mary, Queen of Scots, had redeemed. Possibly the same gold cross, with seven diamonds and two rubies, was pawned by Anne of Denmark to George Heriot in May 1609.

### Jewels of Arbella Stuart

The King's cousin, Arbella Stuart, was bequeathed jewels by her grandmother Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox in 1577. Thomas Fowler, the executor of the Countess of Lennox, brought some of these jewels to Scotland. When Fowler died in 1590, the jewels were obtained by Francis Stewart, 5th Earl of Bothwell, who seems to have passed them on to James.

### Adrian Vanson and Thomas Foulis

King James employed two Flemish painters, Arnold Bronckorst and Adrian Vanson to paint his portraits. The French ambassador in London, Michel de Castelnau sent Mary, Queen of Scots, a portrait of James in a new style in October 1582. In 1586, a French diplomat Charles de Prunelé, Baron d'Esneval wrote to Catherine de' Medici about plans for James to marry. He heard that a new portrait was being made by the best painter in Edinburgh ("n'est retrouvir que luy en tout Lyslebourg"), and hoped to obtain a copy for Mary, Queen of Scots. The painter meant was probably Adrian Vanson. The National Trust for Scotland displays a portrait from this period at Falkland Palace, it shows James with a hat band of diamonds, pearls, and rubies in gold collets, with a large lozenge diamond with plumes of feathers as a hat badge.
The paintings by Vanson and his workshop include such jewels as an "A" for Anne of Denmark and an "H" for Prince Henry" set in diamonds on the King's hat badge and band, so establishing his family as a dynasty. When David Gilbert, a nephew of the wealthy Edinburgh goldsmith Michael Gilbert, had been commissioned by William Fairlie to remodel a royal jewel presented to Anne of Denmark during her Entry to Edinburgh in 1590 its velvet presentation case featured her initial "A", and this "fair jewel" was "called the A".
On 3 October 1594, while his lieutenant Archibald Campbell, 7th Earl of Argyll fought the battle of Glenlivet, James ordered his goldsmith Thomas Foulis to give Adrian Vanson a gold "medal" with his portrait and the portrait of his wife Anne of Denmark which Vanson had probably designed. James signed a precept for Foulis, which survives today in the National Records of Scotland:
   Thomas Fowlis, our goldsmyth, It is our will and we command yow, That upon sicht heirof ye anser our painter Adriane of our pictour weyand twentie crownis gold
Foulis supplied jewels to James VI and Anne of Denmark, while his business partner Robert Jousie supplied clothes and fabrics, paid for in part by a subsidy or annuity provided by Queen Elizabeth, and the rent or "tack" which Foulis owed for running the Scottish gold mines. James VI gave Esmé Stewart's daughter Marie Stewart, Countess of Mar, a ring provided by Foulis in May 1595, set with 11 diamonds and worth £300 Scots. In January 1597, Foulis was paid for a diamond and ruby ring, a ring with a great table cut diamond, a ring set with seven diamonds, a ring with eleven diamonds, a tablet or locket with an emerald and ten diamonds, and a "carcan" necklace with diamonds rubies and pearls. The total value was 790 crowns or £2,765 Scots. James VI had given some of these rings and jewels as New Year's Day gifts to his courtiers. Thomas Foulis sent silverwork including a candlestick and salt cellar to furnish the lodging of Prince Henry at Stirling Castle. The Prince was in the care of John Erskine, Earl of Mar and his mother, Annabell Murray.
From time to time James would leave jewels with John Erskine, Earl of Mar, the husband of Marie Stewart, for safety and as pledges for loans. In December 1601, Mar returned a cross set with seven diamonds and two rubies, a hat string with 89 diamonds, and the "feather" jewel to wear in a hat made in the shape of a capital letter "A" (for Anne of Denmark) made with 110 diamonds, with other pieces. In Scots, the feather was described as "ane fedder for ane hatt maid in the forme of an A, contening ane hundreth and ten diamondis, small and grit".
Foulis took the "Great H" as security for a loan to James, but in January 1598 his financial empire collapsed and the jewel was returned to James and Anne. The goldsmith and financier George Heriot provided James with a great gold chain with the king's portrait in 1601, a miniature or medal presumably designed by Adrian Vanson. This was to be sent as a diplomatic gift to Ulrich, Duke of Mecklenburg, Anne's grandfather. Heriot was paid £611-13s-8d Scots for the chain.

### Union of the Crowns

At the Union of the Crowns in 1603, following the death of Elizabeth I, James travelled to London without his family. As soon as he reached Berwick-upon-Tweed, on 6 April, he ordered the Privy Council of England to select jewels from the Tower of London to send to his wife Anne of Denmark, when she crossed the border at Berwick. In a second letter, James requested that the jewels were to be selected by the "ladies attendant" of the late queen, and "meet for the ordinary apparelling and ornament of her". A hairdresser or "tire-woman", Blanche Swansted, who had worked for Elizabeth I, was also sent north to meet her. Anne would thereby come to represent England's queen.
William Herrick and John Spilman made and refurbished jewels for James and Anne of Denmark in 1603 and 1604. Their bill survives in the collections of the University of Edinburgh. They made a "J" or "I" shaped hat badge which included included two balas rubies and a great and a small diamond, and a lozenge diamond taken from a jewel in Anne of Denmark's collection. Herrick and Spilman provided imitation stones set in gold and silver-gilt collets to embroider a cloth-of-estate for the coronation on 25 July 1603 in Westminster Abbey.
Spilman and Herrick were involved in the valuation and disposal of the late Queen Elizabeth's jewels. One piece was sent to the goldsmith and financier Peter Vanlore in exchange for a new jewel including a large rectangular ruby and two lozenge diamonds. Spilman and Herrick also valued a collection of jewels that had been kept by Mary Radcliffe for the Queen's immediate use.
Jewels were prominently featured in the January masque entertainments at court, starting with the 1604 The Masque of Indian and China Knights at Hampton Court. In the performance, William Herbert, 3rd Earl of Pembroke, gave an expensive jewel to the king, but in reality James had the jewel on approval from the financier Peter Vanlore. The masque was produced by Esmé Stewart's son, Ludovic Stewart, 2nd Duke of Lennox. The jewel, which impressed the eye of the French ambassador Christophe de Harlay, Count of Beaumont, was perhaps a great diamond with a pendant pearl delivered by Peter Vanlore with a ruby ring to the king on 1 January, which cost £760.

### Mirror of Great Britain

Soon after, the Mirror of Great Britain was created, using stones taken from the pendant known as the "Great H" or "Great Harry of Scotland", which had a been a wedding present to Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1558, with the Sancy diamond, and other elements presumably from the legacy of the jewels of Elizabeth I. The Mirror represented the kingdoms of England and Scotland, and the traditional claim to the French throne.
The distinctive many facetted 53 carat Sancy diamond was suspended below the four main stones of the Mirror. James had bought Sancy diamond in London from the French ambassador in London, Christophe de Harlay, Count of Beaumont, and his cousin, Robert de Harlay, Baron de Monglat, who was a brother of the owner Nicolas de Harlay, seigneur de Sancy. They showed the diamond to Robert Cecil, and King James bought it for 60,000 French crowns.
John de Critz painted James' portrait with the Mirror of Great Britain. Several contemporary versions, workshop copies, and copies of the portrait were made. John de Critz also painted James with a diamond feather or aigrette jewel and contemporary copies were made of this portrait. In 1606, James declared his prized jewels to be "individually and inseparately for ever hereafter annexed to Kingdom of the Realm". A schedule of these royal jewels mentions the Mirror of Great Britain, the "J", and the feather with its "fayre table diamond in the middest and five and twentie diamonds". One version of the portrait with the feather is held at Dulwich Picture Gallery, another is now displayed at Edinburgh Castle.
The making of jewelled aigrettes and "diamond feathers" is associated with the goldsmith Arnold Lulls, whose manuscript book of designs is kept at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. James gave Anne of Denmark the ruby from the Mirror of Great Britain as a New Year's Day gift in January 1608, set in an aigrette with twenty eight small diamonds. In February 1610, the Venetian diplomats Francesco Contarini and Marc' Antonio Correr noted King James wearing on his hat a jewel "made of five diamonds of extraordinary size" at dinner in February 1610, perhaps the Mirror of Great Britain in an alternative configuration or another jewel. Daniël Mijtens's 1621 portrait of King James displayed at the National Portrait Gallery, London, shows such a jewel as the Mirror of Great Britain on the king's hat resting on a table beside him.

### George Home and the Scottish jewels in the Tower of London

George Home, 1st Earl of Dunbar was keeper of the royal wardrobe, and signed Spilman and Herrick's bill in June 1604. An inventory of royal jewels made by the auditor Francis Gofton mentions that he had been the keeper of James' diamond feather jewel.
In July 1606, the office of keeper of the wardrobe in Scotland was given to Sir James Hay, a gentleman of the king's bedchamber. The Earl of Dunbar was receipted for jewels from the Scottish collection held in the Tower of London and elsewhere, including; the ruby and chain from now the (dismantled) pendant called the "Great Harry of Scotland", a hat badge with the crowned monogram "J.A.R" in diamonds with three pendant pearls, a gold ring with five diamonds and clasped hands called the "espousal ring of Denmark", a band for hat or cap with 23 links including twelve pieces with two pearls and six pieces with letters made of diamonds, and a cross with five diamonds. These were pieces which had been brought from Scotland with James for their value and significance, "the jewels of most importance and value that were brought forth of that our kingdom with us".

### Ruby buttons and Elizabeth of Bohemia

When Princess Elizabeth, later Queen of Bohemia, was at York in June 1603, on her way from Scotland, James VI sent her a chain of pearls (which presumably had belonged to Elizabeth I). Elizabeth swopped the pearls with her mother, Anna of Denmark, for a set of ruby buttons. These ruby buttons may be the four-leafed roses of rubies depicted on a portrait of Elizabeth at the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich.
Years later, Elizabeth gave the set of ruby buttons to her maid of honour Frances Tyrrell. Tyrrell left Elizabeth's service in 1615 and travelled to London. King James discovered that she had a set of ruby studded buttons which Elizabeth had given to her, was displeased, and made enquiries. Elizabeth explained in a letter to Ralph Winwood that she had given Tyrrell the buttons in recompense for her service. Elizabeth offered to take the buttons back and give Tyrrell the money instead. Her master of household, Hans Meinhard von Schönberg, made the arrangements for Tyrrell to receive £300. George Calvert brought the buttons back to Heidelberg. Many years later, Elizabeth wrote to Frances, now Lady Broughton, at Marchweil, and mentioned the "business of the buttons".
James was also unhappy to hear that Elizabeth had pawned a royal jewel with Jacob Harderet, to cover her expenses travelling to Heidelberg in 1613 and giving gifts to her many well-wishers. Before she left England, Elizabeth had sent some of Jacob Harderet's bills for the tokens given to her "affectionate friends" to Sir Julius Caesar, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, hoping that they would be allowed for payment by her father.

### Jewels and the Duchess of Lennox

Joseph Mead related a story of life at court in May 1622, concering Frances Stewart, Duchess of Lennox, the third wife of Esmé Stewart's son Ludovic Stewart, 2nd Duke of Lennox. King James asked for a gold chain to give to an ambassador as a parting gift. A chain that had belonged to Anne of Denmark was brought for his approval, but he thought it was too valuable. Prince Charles suggested that he should instead present this chain to Frances Stewart, the new Duchess of Lennox. The King agreed, and Charles presented the chain to her and placed it around her neck. According to Joseph Mead, this made Mary Villiers, Countess of Buckingham jealous and she decided to acquire the chain by sending a messenger to the Duchess, pretending the King had asked for its return. Frances Stewart was surprised, and questioned the messenger and the fraud was exposed. The Countess of Buckingham was asked to leave court for a while. Mead wrote that this court gossip came from Sir William Bourser of Uppingham.
However, the story Mead heard was likely a rumour to discredit the Countess of Buckingham, based on well-documented gifts of jewellery at court. Records show that the Duchess of Lennox was given a jewel set with diamonds in the form of the letter "H" around this time (which had belonged to Anne of Denmark), and she had already been given a New Year's Day gift of a gold collar set with rubies, diamonds, and pearls, (which represented the roses of York and Lancaster). The Countess of Buckingham also received a gold collar at New Year.

### Spanish Match

In 1623, Prince Charles travelled with the Duke of Buckingham to Spain to attempt to contract a marriage with Maria Anna of Spain, an adventure known as the Spanish Match. Thomas Edmondes and George Heriot chose jewels from the Jewel House at the Tower of London, and Heriot refurbished them. James sent Charles and Buckingham parcels of jewels, including several pieces that had belonged to his wife, Anne of Denmark, to wear and give to Spanish royals and courtiers.
Robert, Lord Carey of Leppington took jewels to Spain, including the Three Brothers or the "Three Brethren, newly set", and a second parcel was entrusted to a distant cousin, Francis Stuart, who served in the navy. Stuart sailed to Castile in the St George with a parcel of jewels that included the jewelled sword presented to Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales during the masque Tethys' Festival, the "Portugal diamond", the "Cobham pearl", jewelled head attires, and a ring with a diamond frog and a ruby set in its head.
Charles wrote two warrants in Madrid at the end of August 1623 with the names of the potential Spanish recipients of his gifts, and jewels described in detail, and these were published by William Prynne in his Hidden Workes of Darkenes Brought to Publike Light (1645). According to these warrants, Inés de Zúñiga y Velasco, Countess of Olivares, would have received an "I" made of two table diamonds and a diamond cut in facets, with a pendant pearl and diamond.
James Howell described the return of some the jewels in a letter included in his Epistolae Ho-Elianae. Howell said Charles and Buckingham left the jewels with a Spanish secretary of state until the wedding day, the Infante "waiving to receive them". As the marriage plan foundered the jewels were returned. Howell mentions a great table diamond of 18 carats intended as a gift for Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares. When the convoy of ships with the jewels landed at Plymouth, Howell rode to James at Theobalds with the news.

### Buckingham and Sackville Crowe

After the death of King James, many of his jewels and jewels which had belonged to Anne of Denmark were sent to the Low Countries and The Hague to raise money for Charles I, to fund the navy and the alliance in the Thirty Years War made by the Treaty of The Hague (1625). The scheme was devised by the Duke of Buckingham. In October 1625, the auditor Frances Gofton was asked to make a list of suitable jewels. Fulke Greville, 1st Baron Brooke, the former Chancellor, was asked for any jewels remaining in his custody, and Henry Mildmay, Master of the Jewel House was asked for jewels of value.
On 8 November, Spencer, Lord Compton, who served as Master of the King's Robes delivered jewels to two courtiers of Charles I, Lord Conway and Endymion Porter, at Hampton Court. These included the famous diamond hat jewel known as the Mirror of Great Britain (now configured with a diamond instead of a ruby, which James had given to Anne of Denmark), a gold feather set with diamonds, a jewel called the "Brethren" or the "Three Brothers", collets (segments set with precious stones) from collars with the ciphers of Anne of Denmark and James, a hatband of two ropes of pearls, and the jewel in shape of an initial "J" or "I".
A few of these pieces and some of Buckingham's own jewels and some royal silver plate were pawned by the Duke of Buckingham and his agent Sackville Crowe. Crowe and a merchant in Amsterdam, Philip Calandrini, obtained money from Frederick V of the Palatinate. In 1634, some of the pieces pledged by Crowe, including the "Three Brothers", were in the hands of Garret van Schoonhoven and Francis Vanhoven of Amsterdam. Charles I gave Sir William Boswell and the London goldsmith Nathaniel Gerrard a commission to redeem and dispose of some of these jewels. Gerrard quarrelled with the financier Philip Burlamachi over the value of the jewels.
Most of the jewels sent to the Low Countries in 1625 could not be sold or pawned. In February 1626, Sackville Crowe reported that the Dutch were unwilling to purchase the royal jewels, believing they belonged to the crown rather than King Charles, and the forthcoming Parliament might object. The ships The Nonsuch and The Garland with an escort were sent to bring Crowe and the remaining jewels back from Amsterdam in May 1626.

### Cletcher's book

Some of the jewels from the court of James VI and I were recorded in an illustrated manuscript made by Thomas Cletcher (1598–1668), a nephew of the court painter Daniël Mijtens. The jewels were brought to The Hague by Henrietta Maria of France in 1642, despite the opposition of Parliament. Cletcher worked with Joachim de Wicquefort (a brother of Abraham de Wicquefort) to market the jewels. Cletcher's book is held by the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam.
The Cletcher drawings include; a diamond hat jewel made for James, similar to the Mirror of Great Britain, which can be related to the workshop of Arnold Lulls; the Sancy diamond; the diamond known as the "Mirror of Portugal"; and the Cobham diamond. The Sancy diamond, once part of the Mirror of Great Britain, is now displayed in the Galerie d'Apollon of the Louvre Palace.