William Stewart (courtier)

William Stewart (floruit 1585–1600) was a Scottish courtier.

In 1591 William Stewart was described as a valet in the chamber of James VI. The other valets in 1591 were William Murray, John Gibb, and John Stewart of Rosland.[1]

He may have been the servant of Regent Morton in 1581, mentioned in Morton's confession, who witnessed that the former Regent had slept well through the night before his execution.[2]

William Stewart served the king during his visit to Norway and Denmark, in 1589 and 1590, when he met his bride Anne of Denmark. A Danish record of the royal company listed names in rank, and Gibb and Stewart appear at the very end of the list, next to James VI's English courtier, Roger Aston.[3]

James VI played cards in Denmark, and William Stewart acted as his pursemaster, as John Tennent had done for James V, paying out sums of money lost by the king. James VI staked Danish dalers and rose nobles from his queen's dowry. An account of the dowry mentions that Stewart gave money to the king to play on several occasions, on 4 March 1590 James lost 4 dalers at a game called "mont". The king also played a dice game called "mumchance" and lost 41 dalers.[4] Stewart also handed out tips and gratuities when James visited the ships and at other times.[5] James enjoyed another card game called 'maye' which he played at Kinneil House at Christmas 1588 with Roger Aston.[6]

William and John Stewart of Rosland, both royal servants, were rewarded with the escheat, the forfeited property, of James Hall of Foulbar in 1591.[7] James VI wrote on 29 May 1591 to Mure of Caldwell, requesting him to ask Lord Ross of Halkhead to pay annual rents owed to the royal servants John Stewart of Rosland and William Stewart for the lands of Foulbar.[8]

In April 1592 James VI sent Stewart to warn the Earl of Atholl to attend him at Perth.[9] Stewart was still a valet in the king's chamber in 1594 when clothes costing £300 Scots were bought for him to wear at the baptism of Prince Henry.[10]

John Stewart, a valet since 1583,[11] died in 1593. The royal master of work William Schaw ordered a carpenter in the Canongate, and royal gunner, David Selkirk, to make his coffin. His widow Lucrece Fleming, a daughter of Lord Fleming, married Robert Graham of the Fauld, a borderer, who died in 1600. James VI wrote to the English border warden Lord Scrope for help for her to secure his legacy.[12]

Other contemporaries called William Stewart

There were several men called William Stewart active in this period, including:

References
  1. James Thomson Gibson Craig, Papers Relative to the Marriage of King James the Sixth of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1828), Appendix II, p. 17, Appendix III, p. 24: Amy Juhala, 'For the King Favours Them Very Strangely', in Miles Kerr-Peterson and Steven J. Reid, James VI and Noble Power (Routledge: Abingdon, 2017), p. 174.
  2. John Graham Dalyell, Journal of the Transactions in Scotland, by Richard Bannatyne (Edinburgh, 1806), p. 513
  3. David Stevenson, Scotland's Last Royal Wedding (Edinburgh, 1997), p. 121.
  4. Miles Kerr-Peterson & Michael Pearce, 'James VI's English Subsidy and Danish Dowry Accounts, 1588-1596', Scottish History Society Miscellany XVI (Woodbridge, 2020), pp. 42-3.
  5. Miles Kerr-Peterson & Michael Pearce, 'James VI's English Subsidy and Danish Dowry Accounts, 1588-1596', Scottish History Society Miscellany XVI (Woodbridge, 2020) p. 41.
  6. Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 9 (Edinburgh, 1915), pp. 653-6.
  7. David Masson, Register of the Privy Council of Scotland: 1585-1592, vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1881), p. 833.
  8. William Mure, Selections from the Family Papers preserved at Caldwell, 1 (Glasgow, 1854), pp. 84-5
  9. Calendar State Papers Scotland, vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), p. 670.
  10. National Records of Scotland, E35/13 account of Robert Jousie.
  11. Gordon Donaldson, Register of the Privy Seal: 1581-84, vol. 8 (Edinburgh, 1982), p. 238 nos. 1459.
  12. Joseph Bain, Calendar of Border Papers, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1894), p. 663: National Records of Scotland, E21/70 f. 83.
  13. David Stevenson, Scotland's Last Royal Wedding (Edinburgh, 1997), p. 121.
  14. Annie I. Cameron, Calendar State Papers Scotland: 1593-1595, vol. 11 (Edinburgh, 1936), pp. 196-7.
  15. Miles Kerr-Peterson & Michael Pearce, 'James VI's English Subsidy and Danish Dowry Accounts, 1588-1596', Scottish History Society Miscellany XVI (Woodbridge, 2020) p. 50.
  16. William Boyd, Calendar of State Papers Scotland, 1581-1583 (Edinburgh, 1910), p. 347 no. 368.
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