The jewels of Anne of Denmark (1574–1619), wife of James VI and I and queen consort of Scotland and England, are known from accounts and inventories, and their depiction in portraits by artists including Paul van Somer.David Howarth, Images of Rule: Art and Politics in the English Renaissance, 1485-1649 (Macmillan, 1997), pp. 127-131. A few pieces survive. Some modern historians prefer the name "Anna" to "Anne", following the spelling of numerous examples of her signature.
Goldsmiths and jewellers Jewels and the royal wedding
James VI and Anne of Denmark were married by proxy in August 1589 and in person when they met at Oslo. Lord Dingwall and the King's proxy, the Earl Marischal bought a jewel in Denmark, given to her at "the time of the contracting of the marriage".Miles Kerr-Peterson & Michael Pearce, 'James VI's English Subsidy and Danish Dowry Accounts', Scottish History Society Miscellany XVI (Woodbridge, 2020), p. 36: Letter from King James to the Earl Marischal, congratulating him and requesting he buy a jewel, 1 August 1589, Folger Shakespeare Library, X.c.108 A diamond ring was involved in these ceremonies, described as "a great ring of gold enamelled set with five diamonds, hand in hand in the midst, called the espousall ring of Denmark". This ring, and a gold jewel with the crowned initials "J.A.R" picked out in diamonds, were earmarked as important Scottish jewels and brought to England by King James in 1603, in the keeping of his favourite, Sir George Home.Thomas Thomson, Collection of Inventories (Edinburgh, 1815), p. 329.
James' goldsmiths returned some royal pieces to him at Leith before he set out, jewels they held as pledges for loans.Clara Steeholm & Hardy Steeholm, James I of England: The Wisest Fool in Christendom (New York, 1938), p. 127. While he was in Denmark, James VI ordered his chancellor, John Maitland of Thirlestane to give jewels to Christian IV and his mother Sophie of Mecklenburg, to other royals at the wedding of Elisabeth of Denmark and Henry Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg on 19 April 1590, and to the admiral Peder Munk. These gifts included four great table diamonds and two great rubies set in gold rings which the master of the royal wardrobe William Keith of Delny had brought to Denmark.Miles Kerr-Peterson & Michael Pearce, 'James VI's English Subsidy and Danish Dowry Accounts, 1588-1596', Scottish History Society Miscellany XVI (Woodbridge, 2020), pp. 38, 57-8: George Duncan Gibb, Life and Times of Robert Gib, Lord of Carriber, vol. 1 (London, 1874), p. 296: See also the payments listed British Library Add. MS 33531 f.290r
When Anne of Denmark arrived in Scotland in May 1590 the city of Edinburgh organised a ceremony of Royal Entry.Daniel Wilson, Memorials of Edinburgh in the Olden Time, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1891), pp. 113, 115: Maureen M. Meikle, 'Anna Of Denmark's Coronation And Entry Into Edinburgh', Sixteenth-Century Scotland: Essays in Honour of Michael Lynch (Brill, 2008), p. 290: Giovanna Guidicini, Triumphal Entries and Festivals in Early Modern Scotland (Brepols, 2020). The queen was led to various sites in the town, and finally a rich jewel was lowered to her on a length of silk ribbon from the Netherbow Gate. This jewel, comprising a large emerald and diamond set in gold with pendant pearls, had been enlarged and remade by David Gilbert, a nephew of Michael Gilbert, from an older royal jewel which James VI had pledged to the town for a loan.Thomas Thomson, Collection of Inventories (Edinburgh, 1815), pp. 310-12: David Masson, Register of the Privy Seal of Scotland: 1585-1592, vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1881), p. 420: Marguerite Wood, Extracts from the Burgh Records of Edinburgh: 1589-1603, vol. 6 (Edinburgh, 1927), pp. 4, 7, 20 The jewel was called the "A", probably referring to the crowned initial or cipher of "A" embroidered with gold thread on its purple velvet case.David Calderwood, History of the Kirk, vol. 5, p. 97: James Thomson Gibson-Craig, Marriage of King James the Sixth (Edinburgh, 1838), p. 42. Her Scottish crown was described in later inventories:A Crowne of Scotland for the Queen garnished with diamondes, rubies, pearles, one sapher and one emerald.Diana Scarisbrick, 'Anne of Denmark's Jewellery Inventory', Archaeologia, 109 (1991), p. 207: TNA SP 16/8 f.106.Soon after her coronation, the Earl of Worcester came as ambassador to Scotland from Elizabeth I. He brought Anne a richly wrought cloak set with jewels, a carkat of pearls with a tablet (a necklace), and a clock or watch.David Moysie, Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1830), p. 84.
Jacob Kroger She brought a German jeweller Jacob Kroger with her to Scotland in May 1590. Kroger is known to have made fixing and buttons for the queen's costume, he described his work to an English border official John Carey in 1594.Joseph Bain, Calendar of Border Papers, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1894), pp. 538-9 Kroger fled to England with some of the queen's jewels and a French stable worker called Guillaume Martin. He was returned to Edinburgh and executed.Maureen Meikle, 'Anna of Denmark and Scottish Court Finances', Women in Scotland, c.1100-c.1750 (Tuckwell, 1999), p. 107: Mary Anne Everett Green, Calendar State Papers Domestic, Addenda 1580-1625 (London, 1872), pp. 364-5, TNA SP15/33/30-32.
Kroger may have been replaced by a French goldsmith called "Clei" of whom little is known. Clei was dismissed in 1597.Memoirs of George Heriot (Edinburgh, 1822), p. 12 quoting 'Diarey of Robert Birrel' (Edinburgh, 1798), p. 48. Accounts mention a payment to Anne's servant "Kay" in 1591, possibly the same person.Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, 22 (Edinburgh, 1878), p. 122.
Gift-giving and the baptism of Prince Henry
When Anne of Denmark was pregnant in December 1593, it was said that James VI gave Anne of Denmark the "greatest part of his jewels",Maureen Meikle, 'A meddlesome princess: Anna of Denmark and Scottish court politics, 1589-1603', Julian Goodare & Michael Lynch, The Reign of James VI (East Linton: Tuckwell, 2000), p. 130. possibly including the large table-cut diamond and cabochon ruby pendant known as the "Great H of Scotland" which had belonged to Mary, Queen of Scots.Annie I. Cameron, Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1593-1595, vol. 11 (Edinburgh, 1936), p. 237. Her son, Prince Henry, was born at Stirling Castle on 19 February. On 8 April 1594, possibly marking her "churching", James VI gave Anne a group of jewels set in gold by Thomas Foulis including two rubies and 24 diamonds. He sent her an opal ring, a gift described as a "token".Miles Kerr-Peterson & Michael Pearce, 'James VI's English Subsidy and Danish Dowry Accounts', Miscellany of the Scottish History Society Miscellany, XVI (Woodbridge, 2020), p. 76.
In August 1594 her son Prince Henry was baptised at Stirling Castle. The ceremony involved a "ducal crown" which was placed on a table during the ceremony. It was "a low crown competent for a duke, set with diamonds, sapphires, emeralds and rubies". A low crown was a circlet without imperial arches. This crown was placed on tHenry's head by James VI or held by the King after the ceremony when Henry's titles were pronounced in the King's Hall in the Palace.Alexander Nisbet, A System of Heraldry, 2 (Edinburgh, 1804), pp. 155–156: True Reportarie (London: Peter Short), sig. B2v
The ambassadors brought gifts. Joachim von Bassewitz was sent by Anne's grandfather, the Duke of Mecklenburg, with a gold chain or necklace for the queen, described as "very fair and antique". By antique it was meant the piece was made in modern classicising renaissance style. The necklace comprised rubies, chrysolites, and hyacinths set in roses. Bassewitz explained that it represented the combined English roses of York and Lancaster. It was suitable to wear on the front of gown "made after the French fashion, as the Queene now doth use".Michael Pearce, 'Anna of Denmark: Fashioning a Danish Court in Scotland', Court Historian, 24:2 (2019), p. 150: Thomas Rymer, Foedera, 16 (London, 1715), p. 264
Adam Crusius, the ambassador from the Duke of Brunswick brought his master's miniature portrait in a locket with his name set in diamonds and a scene of the death of Actaeon watched by Diana and her nymphs, his blood running from the "byting of the Doggs" picked out with polished rubies.Thomas Rymer, Foedera, vol. 16 (London, 1715), pp. 263-4: British Library Cotton Caligula D II f.176v: Diana Scarisbrick, 'Anne of Denmark's Jewellery Inventory', Archaeologia, vol. CIX (1991), p. 226 no. 322. A large pendant showing a scene of Diana and Actaeon is depicted worn on the sleeve in a 1589 portrait of Frances Brydges, Lady Chandos, by Hieronimo Custodis at Woburn Abbey.Jane Ashelford, Dress in the Age of Elizabeth (London, 1988), pp. 99-100.
James VI gave Anne a pointed diamond ring shortly before the baptism of their son Robert at Dunfermline Palace in May 1602.Jemma Field, Anna of Denmark: The Material Culture of the Stuart Courts (Manchester, 2020), p. 212 fn. 64: Letters to King James the Sixth from the Queen, Prince Henry, Prince Charles etc (Edinburgh, 1835), p. lxxxii.
Cardinal Cajetan's jewel In 1595, the Catholic Father John Myreton or Morton brought a jewel of gold with an ivory depiction of the crucifixion set under crystal to the Scottish court, sent by the Cardinal Enrico Caetani, known as "Cardinal Cajetan". Myreton was a brother of the laird of Cambo near Kingsbarns, and had been at college with Thomas Morison, author of Liber novus de Metallorum causis et Transubstantione (Frankfurt, 1593). The jewel, suitable for wearing, was given to Anne of Denmark. The English diplomat Robert Bowes reported this incident, and the Danish diplomat Christian Barnekow also heard about the gift.Maureen Meikle, "Once a Dane, Always Always a Dane? Queen Anna of Denmark's Foreign Relations and Intercessions as a Queen Consort of Scotland and England, 1588-1619", Sara Ayres, The Court Historian, 24:2 (August 2019), p. 174. Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 11 (Edinburgh, 1936), pp. 557, 561, 565: Thomas Birch, Memoirs of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, vol. 1 (London, 1754), pp. 223–224.Peter Wieselgren, Dela Gardiska Archivet, 5 (Lund, 1834), p. 121.
New Year's Day gifts in Scotland It was customary at the Scottish court to give gifts on New Years Day. In January 1596, James VI gave Anne of Denmark a pair of gold bracelets set with stones and pearls, a ruby ring, and a tablet and carcan set with diamonds and rubies. The gifts were supplied by the goldsmith and financier Thomas Foulis from the money James VI received as a subsidy from Elizabeth I and the custom duty of the Scottish gold mines.Miles Kerr-Peterson & Michael Pearce, "King James VI's English Subsidy and Danish Dowry Accounts2, Miscellany of the Scottish History Society, XVI (Woodbridge, 2020), pp. 84–85.
Some jewels appear in costume accounts which were also administered by Foulis. Anne of Denmark owned clothes embroidered with pearls.Calendar State Papers Domestic, Addenda 1580-1625 (London, 1872), p. 368: See TNA SP15/33/46. In 1597 she ordered an elaborate gown embroidered with jet beads and buttons which proved too heavy to wear and her tailor was ordered to start again.Jemma Field, "Female dress", Erin Griffey, Early Modern Court Culture (Routledge, 2022), p. 399.
She gave a jewel set with diamond worth 1,500 crowns, described as a "brassiner", to Henrietta Stewart, Countess of Huntly, in January 1599. The Countess had attended her during her pregnancy and the birth of Princess Margaret at Dalkeith Palace in December 1598.John Duncan Mackie, Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 13 part 1 (Edinburgh, 1969), pp. 353, 399.