When James VI travelled to Denmark to meet his bride Anna of Denmark, he sent the royal master of work William Schaw to Edinburgh in March 1590 to make preparations for his return. Accounts of payments made from the queen's dowry record that Schaw returned with a Danish or German turner or wright. One entry…
William Bruce was a diplomat in Poland, and wrote letters with news to Robert Cecil.1 King James gave him a yearly allowance of £100 in May 1604.2 Bruce became involved in a plan to send a portrait of a Polish prince (Władysław IV Vasa) to Anna of Denmark in 1608. Bruce's draft letters explain the…
James VI of Scotland, like other renaissance monarchs, kept unusual or exotic pets. We know a lot about his lion from the complaint made by its keeper, Wilhelm Froelich, who had brought the animal from Denmark. Not all of these animals were diplomatic gifts with an obvious heraldic tie-in. A skipper from Leith, John Downy…
James VI explored various opportunities to maintain his via media in Scotland and secure his accession to the throne of England. When Anne of Denmark’s 19 year old brother Ulric, Duke of Holstein, visited Scotland in 1598 it was intended he would depart with a Scottish embassy to Denmark and the Holy Roman Empire. The…
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