Great H of Scotland
The Great 'H' of Scotland was a jewel belonging to Mary, Queen of Scots comprising a large diamond, a ruby, and a gold chain. It was broken up in 1604 and made into the Mirror of Great Britain for James VI and I.
Mary Queen of Scots
The "H" was a pendant known as the 'H' because of its form, and was also called the 'Great Harry'. It appears listed in inventories of jewels belonging to Mary, Queen of Scots. Two of its stones are usually mentioned, a large facetted lozenge diamond, and, hanging or set below, a large cabochon ruby.[2] Mary's inventories refer to "Le Henri", and it was described in French as:
Une grosse bague a pendre facon de .h. en laquelle y a ung gros diamant a lorenge taille a face et dessoubz ung gros rubiz chabochon garniz d'une petitte chesne
A large pendant jewel made as an "h" in which there is a large diamond lozenge facet cut and beneath a large cabochon ruby, fitted with a small chain.[3]
Wedding at Notre-Dame
The Great H may have been the pendant of "incalculable value" which Mary wore at her
In Scotland
Scottish inventories mention the great diamond and ruby of Mary's "H", with an associated small gold chain. Mary was allowed to keep this jewel after the death of her husband Francis II of France in 1561 and brought it to Scotland. She had to return the Egg of Naples and other pieces regarded as French crown jewels.[10][11] In 1578, the Great 'H' was described as:
The jowell callit the greit Hary with the letter H contening a grit diament and a grit ruby.[12]
The jewel, as its name suggests, may have been a present from
Mary hoped to add the "Great H" to the crown jewels of Scotland in memory of her reign, in a list of potential bequests she made in childbed in 1566.[16] She left a second lesser gold "H" which included a cabochon ruby and a pendant pearl to Lord Darnley.[17]
Regent Moray, Regent Morton, and the Earl of Arran
After Mary's abdication, her half-brother
Agnes Keith wrote from
It has been suggested that a portrait of the Countess of Moray depicts her wearing the queen's jewels, with crowns in her hair band, and the jewel worn at her neck includes a large cabochon ruby like that of the Great Harry. However, the picture is usually regarded as a marriage portrait made earlier in the 1560s.[27]
Esmé Stewart, Duke of Lennox and James Stewart, Earl of Arran
After
the greit Hary with the letter H contenand a greit dyamant and a greit ruby[29]
The receipt was signed by witnesses including Elizabeth Stewart and Alexander Hay of Easter Kennet. Lennox returned the jewels when he left for France in 1583.[30]
In 1585, the former royal favourite James Stewart, Earl of Arran was said to have embarked on a boat belonging to Robert Jameson at Ayr carrying royal jewellery including the "Kingis Eitche",[31] but he was forced to give his treasure up to Sir William Stewart aboard ship in the coastal water known as the Fairlie Road.[32] Stewart brought it to the King and the jewel was receipted by Sir George Home.[33] It was noted that William Stewart had negotiated the recovery of the jewels, and delivered the "H" into the "king's own hands".[34] The jewels recovered from the Earl of Arran and his wife Elizabeth Stewart, including the "H" were finally formally returned to the treasurer of Scotland, Robert Melville on 23 February 1586.[35]
James VI and I
James VI gave the 'H' to Anne of Denmark to wear, possibly among a gift of the "greatest part of his jewels" mentioned in December 1593.[36] However, in September 1594 King James pawned the jewel with the goldsmith Thomas Foulis for £12,000 Scots, or £2000 Sterling.[37] With the "H" was a small two inch gold chain. It was noted that the large diamond was in the centre "the middis of the same H". Foulis would be repaid from money sent to James VI by Elizabeth I, now known as the "English subsidy".[38]
James VI needed the money for his military expedition to the north of Scotland against the Earl of Huntly and the Earl of Erroll.[39] The English diplomat George Nicholson heard that Anne of Denmark had offered the "H" to her friend the Countess of Erroll as recompense for the demolition of Slains Castle,[40] and that Foulis had a breakdown in January 1598 when James reclaimed the jewel without payment.[41] Nicolson wrote:
Thomas Fowlis made lately depute-threasurer, fell madd sick this day, some thinck for care of his debtes, others because the King hathe gotten from him the H. which was pawned to him to furnish the Kinges rode last against the papise erles, which H. the King to the Quene who in geistes gave it to the Lady Errol, saying it was litle enoughe that she had it a night for the casting downe of her husbandes house.[42]
The Great H and the Mirror of Great Britain
King James brought the "H" to England, with other jewels deemed to be important, including the "espousall ring of Denmark".[43] Portraits of Anne of Denmark made at this time show her wearing a jewel including a large diamond and cabochon ruby, flanked by four precious stones on both sides.[44] In 1604 or 1605 the Great H was dismantled and the large diamond, which was described as "cut lozenge-wise",[45] was used in the new Mirror of Great Britain which James wore as a hat badge.[46] The Mirror of Great Britain was created to commemorate the Union of the Crowns of 1603.[47] It included the Sancy Diamond, for which the French ambassador Christophe de Harlay, comte de Beaumont was paid 60,000 French crowns.[48][49][50]
The Mirror of Great Britain, including the ruby of the Great H, was annexed to the crown for posterity by James VI and I in March 1606.[51] The remaining components of the Great 'H' were mentioned in 1606 when George Home, now Earl of Dunbar, gave up the office of Master of the Wardrobe and delivered to James Hay, master of the robes, the rest of the jewel including the chain and ruby.[52]
Other royal "H" jewels
King James gave an "old jewel" in the form of an 'H' from the royal collection to
Prince Henry had yet another "H" jewel, described after his death as "a ballas ruby in form of an H with pearls upon every side, with a great pearl hanging thereto."[58][59] It is not clear if this was newly made for Henry or was another heirloom piece.
In 1540 Henry VIII gave Katherine Howard an "hache of gold wherin is vj feir diamondes" with an emerald and four pendant pearls, which differs from the pieces described above.[60][61] Among jewels with the letters "H" and "K" in a coffer marked as the "Queen's Jewels" in 1547 was an "H" with seven diamonds and three pendant pearls.[62]
Anne Seymour, Duchess of Somerset who died in 1587, owned "a fair square tablet of gold like an H, with four diamonds, and a rock ruby or ballas in the midst, garnished with pearl, with a pearl pendant".[63]
References
- ^ Anne of Denmark (1574–1619), Queen Consort of James I: Government Art Collection
- ^ Thomas Thomson, Collection of Inventories (Edinburgh, 1815), pp. 196-7, 200, 265, 291, 307, 318.
- ^ Joseph Stevenson, Inventaires de la Royne Descosse (Edinburgh, 1863), pp. 75, 90.
- ^ Agnes Strickland, Lives of the Queens of Scotland, 3 (Edinburgh, 1852), p. 81
- ^ John Guy, Mary Queen of Scots: My Heart is My Own (Fourth Estate, 2009), pp. 86–7.
- ^ William Bentham, Ceremony at the marriage of Mary, Queen of Scots (London: Roxburghe Club, 1818), p. 6.
- ^ Hector de la Ferrière, Lettres de Catherine de Médicis: 1533–1563, 1 (Paris, 1880), p. xlii
- ^ Germain Bapst, Histoire des joyaux de la couronne de France (Paris, 1889), p. 55 fn. 2
- ^ Herbert Van Scoy, Bernerd C. Weber, Julio Alvarotto, 'The Marriage of Mary Queen of Scots and the Dauphin', The Scottish Historical Review, 31:111, Part 1 (April 1952), pp. 43, 46: Jane T. Stoddart, The girlhood of Mary Queen of Scots (London, 1908), pp. 145–6
- ^ Thomas Thomson, Collection of Inventories (Edinburgh, 1815), pp. 196-7, 200, 265, 291, 307, 318: Joseph Robertson, Inventaires de la Royne Descosse (Edinburgh, 1863), pp. xv, 197 no. 10: National Records of Scotland, 'Memoire des bacgues de la Couronne', E35/4, "+ Une autre bague a pandre faict d'une h, garnye d'ung grand dyamant l'ung de lozange l'autre toute taille a face, ou pand ung groz rubiz cabochon" (this configuration describes two large diamonds).
- ^ John Guy, Mary Queen of Scots: My Heart is My Own (Fourth Estate, 2009), p. 120 citing BnF MS FF 5898: Germain Bapst, Histoire des joyaux de la couronne de France (Paris, 1889), pp. 53, 72–77: Jane Stoddart, The girlhood of Mary Queen of Scots from her landing in France to her departure (London, 1908), pp. 308, 315-7
- ^ Thomas Thomson, Collection of Inventories (Edinburgh, 1815), p. 265 no. 36.
- ^ Germain Bapst, Histoire des joyaux de la couronne de France (Paris, 1889), pp. 68-9
- ^ Agnes Strickland, Life of Mary, Queen of Scots, vol. 1 (London, 1873), p. 30.
- ^ Thomas Thomson, Collection of Inventories (Edinburgh, 1815), p. 65.
- ^ Joseph Robertson, Inventaires de la Royne Descosse (Edinburgh, 1863), pp. xxxii, 93.
- ^ Joseph Robertson, Inventaires de la Royne Descosse (Edinburgh, 1863), p. 122.
- ^ HMC 6th Report: Moray (London, 1877), pp. 638, 653.
- ^ Steven J. Reid, The Early Life of James VI, A Long Apprenticeship (Edinburgh: John Donald, 2023), p. 90.
- ^ HMC 6th Report & Appendix: Lord Moray (London, 1877), pp. 653, 658: NRS E35/9/3: Joseph Stevenson, Inventaires de la Royne Descosse (Edinburgh, 1863), pp. cxxxvii–cxxxviii footnote
- ^ William Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 3 (Edinburgh, 1903), p. 417 no. 550.
- ^ William Boyd, Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 3 (Edinburgh, 1903), p. 427 no. 559.
- ^ Amy Blakeway, Regency in Sixteenth-Century Scotland (Boydell, 2015), p. 90.
- ^ Joseph Robertson, Inventaires de la Royne Descosse (Edinburgh, 1863), pp. cxxxi-cxxxii: HMC 6th Report & Appendix: Lord Moray (London, 1877), pp. 653, 658: National Records of Scotland E35/11/15.
- ^ John Hill Burton, Register of the Privy Council, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1878), pp. 330-1.
- ^ Agnes Strickland, Lives of the Queens of Scotland and English Princesses, vol. 7 (New York, 1859), pp. 60-1.
- ^ David Masson, Register of the Privy Council of Scotland: 1578-1585, vol. 3 (Edinburgh, 1880), p. 392.
- ^ Thomas Thomson, Collection of Inventories (Edinburgh, 1815), p. 307.
- ^ Thomas Thomson, Collection of Inventories (Edinburgh, 1815), pp. 306-8.
- ^ John W. Mackenzie, Ane Cronickill of the Kingis of Scotland (Edinburgh: Maitland Club, 1830), p. 139.
- ^ David Moysie, Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1830), pp. 55-6.
- ^ John W. Mackenzie, A Chronicle of the Kings of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1830), p. 139.
- ^ David Masson, Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, 1585–1592, vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1881), p. 41.
- ^ Thomas Thomson, Collection of Inventories (Edinburgh, 1815), pp. 316-320.
- ^ Annie I. Cameron, Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1593-1595, vol. 11 (Edinburgh, 1936), p. 237.
- ^ Thomas Birch, Memorials of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, vol. 1 (London, 1754), p. 186.
- ^ David Masson, Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, vol. 5 (Edinburgh, 1882), pp. 172-3.
- ^ David Masson, Register of the Privy Council, vol. 5 (Edinburgh, 1882), p. 172.
- ^ Maureen M. Meikle & Helen M. Payne, 'From Lutheranism to Catholicism: The Faith of Anna of Denmark (1574-1619)', Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 64:1 (2013), p. 55.
- ^ Register of the Privy Council, vol. 5 (Edinburgh, 1882), pp. 433-4: Amy L. Juhala, 'Edinburgh and the Court of James VI', Julian Goodare & Alasdair A. MacDonald, Sixteenth-Century Scotland (Brill, 2008), p. 342.
- ^ Joseph Bain, Border Papers, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1894), p. 504 no. 891.
- ^ Thomas Thomson, Collection of Inventories (Edinburgh, 1815), p. 329.
- ^ Anne of Denmark (1574–1619), Queen Consort of James I: Government Art Collection
- ^ Francis Palgrave, Antient Kalendars of the Exchequer, vol. 2 (London, 1836), p. 305
- ^ John Nichols, The progresses, processions, and magnificent festivities, of King James the First, vol. 2 (London, 1828), pp. 46-7: Joseph Robertson, Inventaires (Edinburgh, 1863), p. cxxxviii.
- ^ Genevieve Warwick, Cinderella's Glass Slipper: Towards a Cultural History of Renaissance Materialities (Cambridge, 2022), p. 85.
- ^ HMC Salisbury Hatfield, vol. 17 (London, 1938), pp. 91-2.
- ^ Thomas Rymer, Foedera, vol. 16 (London, 1715), pp. 644
- ^ Francis Palgrave, Antient Kalendars of the Exchequer, vol. 2 (London, 1836), p. 305
- ^ Thomas Rymer, Foedera, 16 (London, 1715), 644.
- ^ Thomas Thomson, Collection of Inventories (Edinburgh, 1815), p. 329
- ^ Elizabeth Cooper, The Life and Letters of Lady Arabella Stuart, vol. 1 (London, 1886), pp. 48-50, 100-2.
- ^ CSP Domestic James I: 1619-1623, vol. 3, p. 520, TNA SP 14/139 f.114.
- ^ John Nichols, Progresses of James the First, vol. 4 (London, 1828), p. 1113.
- ^ Robert Lemon, 'Warrant of Indemnity and Discharge to Lionel Earl of Middlesex, Lord High Treasurer, and to the other Commissioners of the Jewels, for having delivered certain Jewels to King James the First, which were sent by his Majesty into Spain', Archaeologia, XXI (1827), p. 157
- ^ Diana Scarisbrick, 'Anne of Denmark's Jewellery Inventory', Archaeologia, 109 (Torquay, 1991), pp. 208-9, 211: Francis Palgrave, Antient Kalendars of the Exchequer, vol. 3 (London, 1836), p. 307.
- ^ John Brand, 'An Account of the Revenue, the Expences, the Jewels of Prince Henry', Archaeologia, XV (1806), p. 19.
- ^ Maria Hayward, Stuart Style (Yale, 2020), p. 215.
- ^ Diana Scarisbrick, 'Anne of Denmark's Jewellery Inventory', Archaeologia, 109 (Torquay, 1991), p. 209.
- ^ Anna Somer Cocks, Princely Magnificence: Court Jewels of the Renaissance, 1500-1630 (London, 1981), p. 39.
- ^ David Starkey, The Inventory of King Henry VIII, vol. 1 (London, 1998), p. 78 no. 2640.
- ^ John Strype, Annals of the Reformation, 3:2 (Oxford, 1824), p. 448 no. 30.