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State papers collected by Sir James Balfour of Denmilne, volume 8: letters and papers, 1599-1622 (chiefly 1617-1618), undated., 1599-1622, undated.

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Identifier: Adv.MS.33.1.1 [viii]

Scope and Contents

The volume is entitled ‘Staite Bussines for ye yeires 1617 and 1618. Reg. Jacobo 6’, and is marked ‘A.2.45’ and ’Denmilne 47’.

The letters are chiefly addressed to James VI. Included is material on the royal visit to Scotland.

The contents are as follows.

(i) Memoranda of Privy Council of Scotland proceedings concerning Lord Sanquhar and William Crichton, the Laird of Smeaton Hepburn’s appointment to be Sherriff of Haddington, and various preparations for the visit to Scotland of James VI. Dated Edinburgh, 25 and 27 February 1617.

(ii) Memoranda of Privy Council of Scotland proceedings concerning: 21 January 1617: the good order of the middle march; the Laird of Wauchton, Sherriff of Haddington; Lord Carnegie admitted a Privy Councillor; 22 January 1617: a late tumult in Edinburgh; 23 January 1617: a lease of the Torwood to the Laird of Carden; and one of the King’s ships about to be sent to London to bring home his possessions.

(iii) Letter of James VI to the Privy Councillors, in favour of James Douglas to whom he had granted the ward and marriage of the heretrices of Thornidikes. Dated Whitehall, 6 March 1617.

(iv) Letter of the Privy Council of Scotland to James VI, in favour of two patents sought for; the one for making linen cloth, the other for making tiles. Dated Edinburgh, 14 March 1617. Printed in ‘Letters and state papers of James VI’ (Abbotsford Club, 1838), page 299.

(v) Memoranda, 6 March [1617], of communications between the Officers of State and some of the Commissioners of Burghs, as to the necessary preparations for the projected visit of James VI to Scotland. It also mentions that the Council had written to the Constable of Dundee to prepare the house of Dudhope to receive the King.

(vi) Minutes of proceedings, 27 March 1617, of the Privy Council of Scotland with the Justices of Peace in various shires, concerning the visit of James VI. The 16th of April is named as the day for receiving the final reports of several shires as to their preparations.

(vii) Letter of the Senators of the College of Justice to James VI, concerning the extraordinary Lords of Session and the number to which these Lords should be limited. Dated Edinburgh, 13 March 1617. Printed in ‘Melros papers’ (Abbotsford Club, 1837), volume i, page 278.

(viii) Holograph letter of Secretary Lord Binning to James VI, detailing the proceedings in the late Convention of the Scottish Estates, and the difficulties experienced by the Government in obtaining a grant of £200,000 to defray the expenses of the projected visit of the King to Scotland. Dated Edinburgh, 7 March 1617. Printed in ‘Melros papers’ (Abbotsford Club, 1837), volume i, page 270.

(ix) Holograph letter of Secretary Lord Binning to James VI, concerning a vacancy in the Office of Justice Depute, by the death of Sir William Hart, and various preparations for the visit of the King. Dated Edinburgh, 14 March [1617]. This is the second half of (x).

(x) Holograph letter of Secretary Lord Binning to James VI, concerning: a criminal action against Gordon of Gight and the attempts of his lawyers to procure delay; the goodman of Renton and the Sherriff Clerkship of Berwickshire, and the power claimed by Sherriffs to nominate their Clerks; the extraordinary Lords of Sessions and the appointment of Sir George Erskine to be one of them; the exportation og coin to the realm; and Sir James Cunningham’s proposition concerning the ‘Indian Cumpanie’. For the rest of the letter see (x). Printed in ‘Melros papers’ (Abbotsford Club, 1837), volume i, page 281.

(xi) Minute, 16 April 1617, of the preparations made by the Privy Council of Scotland in conjunction with the different shires and burghs for the progress of James VI through Scotland.

(xii) Note, 30 April 1617, of various proclamations and directions issued by the Privy Council of Scotland concerning the visit to Scotland of James VI. Printed in ‘Melros papers’ (Abbotsford Club, 1837), volume i, page 288.

(xiii) Letter of the Privy Council of Scotland to James VI, recommending certain fees to be allowed to the four ordinary Macers, at the creation of peers and knights. Dated Edinburgh, 3 April 1617. Printed in ‘Melros papers’ (Abbotsford Club, 1837), volume i, page 285.

(xiv) Note, 6 May 1617, of further proceedings of the Privy Council of Scotland concerning the progress of James VI through Scotland.

(xv) Letter of the Pricy Council of Scotland to James VI, in favour of Sir Andrew Bowy, who on the death of his sister, the King’s laundress, sought that place for his wife. Dated Edinburgh, 6 May 1617. Printed in ‘Melros papers’ (Abbotsford Club, 1837), volume i, page

(xvi) Further arrangements by the Officers of State for the reception and Entertainment of James VI on his visit to Scotland. Dated Edinburgh, 3 May 1617.

(xvii) Letter of the Privy Council of Scotland to James VI, in favour of Anna Home, one of the daughters and co-heiresses of the late Earl of Dunbar, who felt herself aggrieved by the proceedings of the Earl of Suffolk. Dated Edinburgh, 30 May 1612. Printed in ‘Original letters relating to the Ecclesiastical affairs of Scotland’ (Bannatyne Club, 1851), volume i, page 285; and in ‘Analecta Scotica’ edited by James Maidment (2nd series), page 338.

(xviii) Holograph letter of Lord Binning to James VI concerning a clause in a proposed proclamation sent down from Court, which made it capital to intercede for favours to ‘forfeited traitors &ce or to their wives, bairns or others disabled or disinherited persons’. Dated Edinburgh, 6 May [1617]. Printed in ‘Melros papers’ (Abbotsford Club, 1837), volume i, page 293.

(xix) Holograph letter of Lord Binning to James VI concerning a treacherous assault made by Lord Oliphant on his kinsman Patrick Oliphant, whose death was daily expected, and the arrival, after much danger, of the vessels laden with the furniture and other possessions of James VI. Dated Edinburgh, 3 May [1617]. Printed in ‘Melros papers’ (Abbotsford Club, 1837), volume i, page 291.

(xx) Holograph letter of Lord Binning to James VI concerning a draft of a proclamation enclosed, for relieving the King on his arrival in Scotland from the importunities of unreasonable and untimely suitors, and the difficulties in the way of transporting the royal train over the Firths of Forth and Tay, when the King shall proceed to the northward of Edinburgh. Dated Edinburgh, 1 May [1617]. Printed in ‘Melros papers’ (Abbotsford Club, 1837), volume i, page 287.

(xxi) Articles, [1617], given in by the Justices of Peace for Aberdeenshire to the Lords of the Privy Council of Scotland for reformation of certain specified abuses, connected with the administration of the criminal law in that shire. Printed in ‘Letters and state papers of James VI’ (Abbotsford Club, 1838), page 300.

(xxii) ‘A wryt copied containing the first agriements anent the cumpany of the River off amazones, where I sub[t] for 100[lib] starling and delyverit thairof 33[lib] 6[s] 8[d] to Sir W[am] Harnie (?) Ker’, [?1619]. The above is in the hand of Sir James Balfour.

(xxiii) Act of reception of Peter Pollock of Piltoun as a fifth extraordinary Lord of Session, in terms of James IV’s warrant, reponing him against an act reducing the numbers to four (he being now restored solely out of respect to his services); as a supernumerary; and it being provided that his special case was not to be taken as a precedent. Dated Edinburgh, 16 May 1610. Printed in ‘Letters and state papers of James VI’ (Abbotsford Club, 1838), page 186.

(xxiv) Letter of the Privy Council of Scotland to James VI, in favour of Thomas Watson, Merchant Burgess of Edinburgh, who had lost some ships and goods, which being dispatched from a Swedish post, had been made prizes of by the Danes who were then at war with Sweden. Dated Edinburgh, 20 June 1612. Printed in ‘Original letters relating to the Ecclesiastical affairs of Scotland’ (Bannatyne Club, 1851), volume i, page 291.

(xxv) Holograph letter of the Secretary of the Privy Council of Scotland, Lord Binning to James VI concerning: the rebellion in the South Isles, and the proceedings of Binning with the Earl of Argyll and the Archbishop of At. Andrews concerning it; also, Sinclair and others, resetters of Jesuits; and recommending that the Earl of Cassilis should be made to renounce the heritable bailliary of Carrick. Dated Innerwick, 16 August [1615]. Printed in ‘Melros papers’ (Abbotsford Club, 1837), volume i, page 232.

(xxvi) Note, 20 August 1617, of proceedings of the Privy Council of Scotland with the Lords Sanquhar, Buccleuch and Cranston, Sir John Ker of Jedburgh, Sir Andrew Ker of Oxenham, John Murray of Lochmaben and the Sheriff of Teviotdale, for the good rule of the borders. The note alludes to similar measures to be taken with the landlords in the middle shires, and mentions the Marquis of Huntly and Earl of Errol.

(xxvii) Letter, undated, of John Wolfe, apothecary, to James VI, requesting protection from the interference of one Sires (who had lately procured himself to be appointed Serjeant of the Confectionary and Servitour odoriferous) with Wolfe’s office of Apothecary. Printed in ‘Letters and state papers of James VI’ (Abbotsford Club, 1838), page 376.

(xxviii) ‘His Ma[teis] answere [to the Council] dited by himselfe concerning transporting goodes in stranger bottomes’, a document, [?1618], concerning foreign ships. Printed in ‘Letters and state papers of James VI’ (Abbotsford Club, 1838), page 316.

(xxix) ‘L[tt]re dited by his Majesties selfe to the Counsell before his going to Scotland’, [June 1617]. Printed in ‘Letters and state papers of James VI’ (Abbotsford Club, 1838), page 302.

(xxx) Letter of the Lord Chancellor, Secretary and Lord Advocate of Scotland to James VI, in answer to a communication from him concerning Thomas Ross the author of an ‘infamous libell’ on the Scottish nation. Dated Holyroodhouse, 30 July 1618. Printed in ‘Melros papers’ (Abbotsford Club, 1837), volume i, page 314; and in ‘Ancient criminal trials in Scotland’ by Robert Pitcairn (Edinburgh, 1833), volume iii, page 585.

(xxxi) Questions, undated, to be demanded of the Jesuits.

(xxxii) Holograph letter of Sir Gideon Murray, Treasurer of Scotland, to James VI excusing himself for not paying to the Earl of Abercorn £30,000, contained in a royal receipt. The last paragraph thanks the King for favours shown to the writer. Dated Edinburgh, 15 July 1615.

(xxxiii) Holograph letter of Sir Gideon Murray to James VI concerning a feud between Scott of Bonnington and Scott of Harden. Dated Edinburgh, 9 September 1617. Printed in ‘Letters and state papers of James VI’ (Abbotsford Club, 1838), page 304.

(xxxiv) Minute, 10 September 1617, of proceedings of the Privy Council of Scotland in the following matters: the reconciliation of the Gordons and the Hays; the finding of caution for good rule by the barons and gentlemen of the middle marches; the freighting of stranger’s vessels; and the ‘rouping’ of the customs. The minute was accompanied by the letter at (xxxv).

(xxxv) Holograph letter, 11 September [1617], of Lord Binning to James VI, which accompanied (xxxiv). The letter alludes to the renunciation of the Sheriffships of Teviotdale, sought from the present heritable sheriffs and requests to know the King’s pleasure concerning the skippers of the Low Country coal ships imprisoned at Edinburgh in consequence of orders from the King to seize upon all Flemings then in Scotland. Printed in ‘Melros papers’ (Abbotsford Club, 1837), volume i, page 295.

(xxxvi) Minute, 1 October 1617, of Privy Council of Scotland proceedings concerning the rouping of the customs of Scotland (which were left in the hands of the Crown); the rewarde and consideration of those who attended the King’s service; and some of the landlords of the middle marches.

(xxxvii) Letter of the Lord Deputy of Ireland (Sir Oliver St John) to James VI, in favour of Lord Cromwell. Dated Dublin, 25 November 1617. Printed in ‘Letters and state papers of James VI’ (Abbotsford Club, 1838), page 310.

(xxxviii) Letter of the Privy Council of Scotland to James VI concerning a dispute between the lairds of Kirkmichael and Drumlanrig. Dated Edinburgh, 7 November 1612.

(xxxix) Scroll letter of the Privy Council of Scotland to James VI concerning a proclamation ‘anent the restrent of transporting of tymmer’. Printed in the ‘Register of the Privy Council of Scotland’, volume viii, page 543.

(xl) Scroll, [?1616], of the King’s decreet arbitral in the dispute concerning the Lordship of Sanquhar between William Crichton of Ryhill and William Crichton, natural son to the late Lord Sanquhar; along with which are two other scrolls, one of a royal letter to some of the principal Scottish lawyers concerning that dispute; and the other of a Royal letter to the Privy Council of Scotland with the libel of Thomas Ross – see also (liii). The contents of the first and second scrolls – (xl) and (xla) – are printed in ‘Miscellany of the Abbotsford Club’, volume 1 (1837), page 201 and 199, respectively; and of the third scroll (xlb) in ‘Ancient criminal trials in Scotland’ by Robert Pitcairn (Edinburgh, 1833), volume iii, page 584.

(xli) Holograph letter of Lord Binning to James Douglas at Court, concerning the fishing by the Scots on the coasts of the Faroe Isles, and by the Dutch on the coast of Scotland. Dated Edinburgh, 12 March [?1618]. Printed in ‘Melros papers’ (Abbotsford Club, 1837), volume i, page 303.

(xlii) Letter of the Privy Council of Scotland to James VI concerning a claim by George and Margaret Hays, children and executors of the late Andrew, Earl of Erroll, for a sum of money belonging to the late Earl and lent to Government in 1596, but of which no payment could be made. Dated Edinburgh, 19 March 1618. Printed in ‘Melros papers’ (Abbotsford Club, 1837), volume i, page 305.

(xliii) Letter of the Privy Council of Scotland to James VI, recommending the claims of Sir James Wemyss of Bogie, to the favourable consideration of James VI. Dated Edinburgh, 4 April 1618. Printed in ‘Melros papers’ (Abbotsford Club, 1837), volume i, page 308.

(xliv) Holograph letter of the Earl of Angus to James VI concerning a conversation Angus was reported to have had at Paris with the Pope’s nuncis, derogatory to the King of Great Britain. See also Adv.MS.33.1.1, volume 3, (vi). Printed in ‘Letters and state papers of James VI’ (Abbotsford Club, 1838), page 160.

(xlv) Letter of the Lord Chancellor of Scotland and other Privy Councillors to James VI, concerning the encroachments of the Dutch fishermen and the best way to check such encroachments. Dated Edinburgh, 4 April 1618. Printed in ‘Melros papers’ (Abbotsford Club, 1837), volume i, page 306.

(xlvi) Letter of the Privy Council of Scotland to James VI, representing that a proclamation of 12 April 1615 placing Scottish traders on the same footing as to customs in England and Ireland as the native English and Irish traders had not been attended to in Ireland, and desiring that measures might be taken to enforce the proclamation in that country. Dated Edinburgh, 13 May 1618. Printed in ‘Melros papers’ (Abbotsford Club, 1837), volume i, page 309.

(xlvii) Letter of the Privy Council of Scotland to James VI, concerning that article of the resolutions touching the government of the middle shires, which proposed to banish the most notorious and lewd persons in these districts to Virginia or elsewhere to serve in the wars or in colonies. Dated Edinburgh, 13 May 1618. Printed in ‘Melros papers’ (Abbotsford Club, 1837), volume i, page 311.

(xlviii) Incomplete warrant, 1599, of James VI to the Lord Chancellor, the President and the Lords of Council and Session, to receive Walter, Lord Blantyre (who had lately resigned the office of Treasurer and extraordinary Lord of Session, and had been replaced in both offices by Alexander, Master of Elphinstone) as a supernumerary extraordinary Lord of Session, providing that this appointment should not be taken as a precedent for increasing the original number of four extraordinary Lords.

(xlix) Holograph letter of Sir Gideon Murray to James VI, against a suit made by the Bishop of Galloway for relief from payment of the last half of the taxation due from his benefices towards the expenses of the King’s late visit to Scotland. Dated Edinburgh, 2 May 1618.

(l) Holograph letter, 2 June 1618, of Lord Chief Justice Montagu to James VI, on the subject of the examinations he had been directed by the King to make, concerning a complaint made by the Countess of Exeter. Printed in ‘Original letters relating to the Ecclesiastical affairs of Scotland’ (Bannatyne Club, 1851), volume ii, page 559.

(li) Letter of the Privy Council of Scotland to James VI concerning the claims of the relict of the late William Murray, Groom of the King’s Bedchamber, to the lands of Cornton. Dated Holyroodhouse, 16 July 1618. Printed in ‘Melros papers’ (Abbotsford Club, 1837), volume i, page 313.

(lii) Copy of the proceedings in the trial and conviction of Thomas Ross for a libel on the Scottish nation. Dated Edinburgh, 20 August 1618. Printed in ‘Ancient criminal trials in Scotland’ by Robert Pitcairn (Edinburgh, 1833), volume iii, pages 449, 586, 588.

(liii) Scroll letter, [1618], of James VI to the Principal Officers of State in Scotland directing the trial and punishment of Thomas Ross for libel. See also (xlB). Printed in ‘Ancient criminal trials in Scotland’ by Robert Pitcairn (Edinburgh, 1833), volume iii, pages 584.

(liv) Holograph letter of J Stewart (possibly the son of Lord Blantyre) to James VI. The subject matter is not distinctly stated, but the writer talks of his father, and mentions the Earl of Atholl as an opponent. Dated Edinburgh, 16 October, 1608.

(lv) Letter of Campbell of Lundie and others of that name to James VI, thanking him for his care for the prosperity of the house of Argyll, notwithstanding the proceedings against their chief the Earl of Argyll, and requesting him to give further instruction as to paying the Earl’s creditors. Dated Edinburgh, 22 October 1618.

(lvi) Note, 15 November 1618, of Privy Council of Scotland proceedings regarding : the Earl of Argyll; the encroachment and oppressions committed by the Hollanders in the fishing on the Scottish coasts; and enquiries about a patent alleged granted to the Dutch states concerning the Scottish fisheries.

(lvii) Holograph letter of the Earl of Cassilis to James VI, for authority to put the Laird of Auchindrain and his son to the torture over the charges of murder against them. Dated Edinburgh, 3 December 1608. Printed in ‘Letters and state papers of James VI’ (Abbotsford Club, 1838), page 155.

(lviii) ‘Note to be schowne to his Majesty of materis done in the Counsell of Scotland since the beginning of November 1618’. The note is in the hand of Lord Binning and is signed by him. The note comprehends: an investigation in Galloway concerning a man’s hand found in the midden of John Kennedy, notary; the question between the merchants and seamen concerning foreign bottoms (i.e. ships); and, reporting a discussion between the Privy Council of Scotland and the merchants, concerning a duty on foreign corn lately imposed by the former. Printed in ‘Melros papers’ (Abbotsford Club, 1837), volume i, page 318.

(lix) Memoranda, [1622], in the hand of James VI concerning a lawsuit by the Earl of Mar. Printed in ‘Letters and state papers of James VI’ (Abbotsford Club, 1838), page 342.

Dates

  • Creation: 1599-1622, undated.

Conditions Governing Access

Normal access conditions apply.

Extent

61 Items

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English

Existence and Location of Copies

Microfilm available: Mf.Sec.MSS.4.

Repository Details

Part of the National Library of Scotland Archives and Manuscripts Division Repository

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