On 17 May 1590, Anne of Denmark was crowned Queen of Scotland.Maureen Meikle, 'Anna of Denmark's Coronation and Entry', Julian Goodare & Alasdair A. MacDonald, Sixteenth-Century Scotland (Brill, 2008), pp. 277–294. There was also a ceremony of joyous entry into Edinburgh on 19 May, an opportunity for spectacle and theatre and allegorical tableaux promoting civic and national identities, similar in many respects to those performed in many other European towns.Caterina Pagnini, 'Luci sullo spettacolo di corte tra i mari del Nord: Anna di Danimarca da Copenaghen al trono di Scozia (1574–1590)', Il Castello de Elsinore, 78, (2018), pp. 11–28: G. Guidicini, 'Scottishness on Stage: Creating and Performing Scotland's National Identity during Triumphal Entries in the XVI and XVII Centuries', in J. Campbell, E. Ewan, and H. Parker, The Shaping of Scottish Identities: Family, Nation, and the World Beyond, (Guelph Series in Scottish Studies, II, 2011): Robert Chambers, Domestic Annals of Scotland, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1848), pp. 197–201. Celebrations for the arrival of Anne of Denmark in Scotland had been planned and prepared for September 1589, when it was expected she would sail from Denmark with the admirals Peder Munk and Henrik Gyldenstierne. She was delayed by accidents and poor weather and James VI of Scotland joined her in Norway in November.Daniel Wilson, Memorials of Edinburgh in the Olden Time, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1891), pp. 113–115. They returned to Scotland in May 1590.Lucinda Dean, 'Enter the Alien: Foreign Consorts and their Royal Entries into Scottish Cities', in J.R. Mulryne, Maria Ines Aliverti, Anna Maria Testaverde, Ceremonial Entries in Early Modern Europe: The Iconography of Power (Abingdon, 2015), pp. 269–275: Martin Wiggins & Catherine Richardson, British Drama 1533–1642, A Catalogue: 1590–1597, vol. 3 (Oxford, 2013), pp. 27–30.
September 1589
On 30 August 1589 James VI declared to the commissioners of his burgh towns that his marriage negotiations were concluded, and his bride Anne of Denmark was expected to arrive in Scotland. She would be accompanied by Danish aristocrats and dignitaries. James VI wanted the towns to advance £20,000 Scots for entertaining the new queen and her entourage.David Masson, Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, 1585–1592, vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1881), pp. 410–11.
In September and October 1589 James VI waited for Anne of Denmark at Seton Palace and at Craigmillar Castle. where he decided to sail to Norway after receiving Anne's letters.Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), p. 175. There are records for preparations and directions for the queen's arrival from these months made by Edinburgh town and the royal wardrobe. Six velvet saddles and two saddles of "lustered crêpe" were ordered for the queen's entourage, with costumes for two pages and two lackeys.
James VI wrote to his nobles and gentry on 30 August 1589 to send food from their estates for Anne's reception, asking the Laird of Arbuthnott and Sir Patrick Vans of Barnbarroch to provide "fat beef, mutton on foot, wild fowls and venison, to be delivered to Walter Naish Master of the Royal Larder.Robert Vans-Agnew, Correspondence of Sir Patrick Waus, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1887), p. 439: HMC 8th Report: Arbuthnott (London, 1881), p. 302. He also wrote to lairds, including John Gordon of Pitlurg, for hackney riding horses, for himself and the queen.Miscellany of the Spalding Club, 1 (Aberdeen, 1841), pp. 3–4. The Privy Council of Scotland ordered that gunpowder should be reserved and not sold or exported, but be collected for use during the celebrations, in fireworks and cannon salutes.Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1881), p. 412.
The town council repaired the East Port or Netherbow, the gate on the Royal Mile that leads to Holyroodhouse. The stonework was harled with lime by specialists called "spargeonars". The painter, James Workman, refreshed and gilded the carved stone coats of arms. He painted the harled surface of the building's façade around the arms as imitation marble, and painted imitation stonework "ashlar lines" in the arched carriage way or pend. His brother John Workman painted props and costumes, and timber scaffold platforms were built for the pageants. Townspeople were requested to deliver their best table linen to Francis Galbraith, the king's pantry man, for the use of the Danish visitors. William Fairlie was to organise the making of a velvet canopy for the queen, and a presentation Bible and psalm book.Marguerite Wood, Extracts from the Burgh Records of Edinburgh: 1589–1603, vol. 6 (Edinburgh, 1927), pp. 3–4, 327–8 William Fairlie's account, Edinburgh City Archives, ‘Bailies Accounts, Unlaws 1564–1664’, pp. 285–289.
Similar royal entries had been provided for James VI in October 1579 when he left his childhood household at Stirling Castle, and for Mary, Queen of Scots, who returned from France in 1561. At Mary's entry the stages and "triumphs" throughout the town were built by the carpenter Patrick Schang and painted by Walter Binning. Town officials wore black velvet cloaks and crimson doublets, as did 12 men appointed to carry the queen's canopy, and young townsmen in taffeta costumes accompanied the "convoy" of the triumphal cart.James Marwick, Extracts from the Records of the Burgh of Edinburgh: 1557–1571 (Edinburgh, 1875), pp. 121–2
Queen Elizabeth planned a masque for her ambassador to present at Anne of Denmark's arrival.Maria Hayward, 'Compass of a Lie', Patricia Lennox & Bella Mirabella, Shakespeare and Costume (Bloomsbury, 2016), 42. The masque would have comprised: six dancers wearing swords or falchions with helmets dressed with feather plumes, presumably representing classical warriors; six masked torch bearers with hats with feathers, their costumes party-coloured in the Stewart colours red and yellow; four speaking parts wearing wigs and flower chaplets. Only the account for making the costumes is known, and the subject of the masque was not recorded.Henry Morley, Masques and Entertainments by Ben Jonson (London, 1890), pp. xii–xiii: James Robinson Planche, A Cyclopedia Of Costume, vol. 2 (London, 1879), p. 394: John Payne Collier, Annals of the Stage, vol. 1 (London, 1831), pp. 270–1, citing British Library Lansdowne MS 59.
On 15 September the resident ambassador in Edinburgh William Ashby mentioned the "great preparation" in Leith to receive the queen. This included a covered walkway called a "trance" from the quayside steps to the King's Wark where there was a temporary wooden stair, platform, and entry into the Queen's Lodging on the first floor. These structures and the pathway would be covered with Turkish carpets and tapestry. At this time the scaffolding was usually secured in old barrels filled with sand.See example in Henry Paton, Accounts of the Masters of Work, vol. 1 (HMSO: Edinburgh, 1957). Old barrels were also used to form washing tubs for linen cloths and clothes. Ammunition for cannon salutes at the Queen's arrival was brought to Leith from Stirling Castle and Tantallon Castle by Archibald Gardiner and John Chisholm.
The ceremony of the welcoming speeches and the king's response in the Queen's Hall was planned in detail. The Earl of Bothwell, Lord Seton, and Sir Robert Melville were to board her ship with Peter Young to make a speech of welcome in Latin. On the Shore of Leith she would be met by the Countess of Mar, with Lady Seton, Lady Boyne, Lady Thirlestane, and Lady Dudhope. James Elphinstone would make a speech on the scaffold at the King's Wark.Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), p. 186. After the king left Anne in the lodging and went to give thanks for his return in South Leith Parish Church the stair would be dismantled. The plan was for Anne to stay in the lodging at Leith for 12 days until the "solemnity" of her entry and coronation.Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), pp. 150, 154–155: Thomson, Thomas, ed., David Calderwood's History of Kirk of Scotland, vol. 5 (Edinburgh, 1844), pp. 60–64, 94: Papers Relative to the Marriage of James VI (Edinburgh, 1828) pp. 37–8.
On 22 September 1589 John Colville brought a magnificent cupboard of silver from England to banquet the queen.HMC Salisbury Hatfield, vol. 3 (London, 1889), p. 440.Maureen Meikle, 'A meddlesome princess: Anna of Denmark and Scottish court politics 1589–1603, Julian Goodare & Michael Lynch, The Reign of James VI (Tuckwell: East Linton, 2000), p. 129: Conyers Read, Lord Burleigh and Queen Elizabeth (London: Jonathan Cape, 1960), p. 454. The silver plate and silks, and other goods to the value of £2,000 sterling were supplied by the London goldsmith Richard Martin and the mercer William Stone.Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), pp. 160–162: Annie I. Cameron, Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1593–1595, vol. 11 (Edinburgh, 1936), p. 130: HMC Salisbury Hatfield, vol. 3 (London, 1889), p. 430 no. 920.Felicity Heal, 'Royal Gifts and Gift Exchange in Anglo-Scottish Politics', in Steve Boardman, Julian Goodare, Kings, Lords and Men in Scotland and Britain 1300–1625, Essays in Honour of Jenny Wormald (Edinburgh, 2014), pp. 296–297. The silver service seems to have been received by John Maitland of Thirlestane and taken to Denmark where King James distributed gifts as rewards to the nobles he met in Denmark and Norway.Miles Kerr-Peterson & Michael Pearce, "James VI's English Subsidy and Danish Dowry Accounts, 1588–1596", Miscellany of the Scottish History Society, XVI (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2020), pp. 8–9, 67.
William Ashby tried with the Border Wardens to coordinate gifts of food sent from the northern counties of England. The Earl of Derby sent "a brace of fat stags baked in the English fashion".Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), pp. 157, 159–161. Clothes and textiles for the wedding for James were bought in London by John Colville and "certain merchants of Edinburgh".David Moysie, Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1830), p. 79. James VI sent Roger Aston to Lord Scrope at Carlisle for actors to perform in Edinburgh from the Queen's Players, Lord Essex's Players,Stanley Papers: Derby Housebook, vol. 2 (Manchester, 1853), p. 65. or possibly Lord Dudley's players,Lord Dudley's Players, '31 Aug. 1589 -6 Sep. 1589, Lancashire', REED database who were at Knowsley Hall the home of Ferdinando Stanley, 5th Earl of Derby. These players may have performed for the Earl of Bothwell after James VI had sailed for Norway.Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), pp. 157, 179, BL Egerton MS 2,598/82 & BL Cotton Caligula D. I/408: Anna Jean Mill, Medieval Plays in Scotland (Edinburgh, 1927), p. 299: Helen Ostovich, Holger Schott Syme, Andrew Griffin, Locating the Queen's Men, 1583–1603 (Routledge, 2009), p. 54, locates the Queen's Men at Knowsley on 12–13 September 1589, other authors suggest 5–6 September.
A queen delayed by contrary winds
Anne of Denmark sailed on 5 September 1589 with Peder Munk and Henrik Knudsen Gyldenstierne, admiral of the fleet, and 18 ships.Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), pp. 150, 164. The Danish fleet included the Gideon, Josaphad or Josafat their flagship, Samson, Joshua, Dragon, Raphael, St Michael, Gabriel, Little Sertoun (Lille Fortuna), Mouse, Rose, the Falcon of Birren, the Blue Lion, the Blue Dove (Blaa Due) and the White Dove (Hvide Due).Kancelliets brevbøger vedrørende Danmarks indre forhold i uddrag (Copenhagen, 1908), pp. 242–3: Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), p. 289. The Gideon began to leak, and Peder Munk told Anne that the hold was filling with water despite the prayers and requests of the learned academics and diplomats Paul Knibbe and Niels Krag. Two ships, the Parrot and the Fighting Cock were scattered from the fleet.Ethel Carleton Williams, Anne of Denmark (London, 1970), p. 16.