Baronet

The title “Baronet” has been mentioned since the 1300’s.  According to Chambers’ Book of Days, the current order of Baronets was created by James I of England on May 22^nd, 1611.  A little more than two hundred years later (1818), Walter Scott received his Baronet title from the future King George IV of England (then Prince Regent).  Scott received this honor for his role in rediscovering the crown jewels of Scotland.

George Villiers

Sir George Villiers, the Duke of Buckingham, died on August 23, 1628.  Buckingham enjoyed a long period of favor under King James I of England, with James at one point (1625) dissolving Parliament so that Villiers would not be impeached - after the Cadiz expedition against Spain failed.  But James had died three years earlier, and after another botched military effort (to La Rochelle), Buckingham was assassinated by John Felton, who’d been wounded in the expedition. 

Villiers was slain in the Greyhound Pub (now Buckingham House), and like so many stories about people who’ve died under unhappy circumstances, there were reports of Villiers appearing as a ghost.  Sir Walter Scott addressed these in his “Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft”.  ‘…we read in Clarendon of the apparition of the ghost of Sir George Villiers to an ancient dependant. This is no doubt a story told by a grave author, at a time when such stories were believed by all the world; but does it follow that our reason must acquiesce in a statement so positively contradicted by the voice of Nature through all her works? The miracle of raising a dead man was positively refused by our Saviour to the Jews, who demanded it as a proof of his mission, because they had already sufficient grounds of conviction; and, as they believed them not, it was irresistibly argued by the Divine Person whom they tempted, that neither would they believe if one arose from the dead. Shall we suppose that a miracle refused for the conversion of God's chosen people was sent on a vain errand to save the life of a profligate spendthrift? I lay aside, you observe, entirely the not unreasonable supposition that Towers, or whatever was the ghost-seer's name, desirous to make an impression upon Buckingham, as an old servant of his house, might be tempted to give him his advice, of which we are not told the import, in the character of his father's spirit, and authenticate the tale by the mention of some token known to him as a former retainer of the family. The Duke was superstitious, and the ready dupe of astrologers and soothsayers. The manner in which he had provoked the fury of the people must have warned every reflecting person of his approaching fate; and, the age considered, it was not unnatural that a faithful friend should take this mode of calling his attention to his perilous situation. Or, if we suppose that the incident was not a mere pretext to obtain access to the Duke's ear, the messenger may have been impressed upon by an idle dream--in a word, numberless conjectures might be formed for accounting for the event in a natural way, the most extravagant of which is more probable than that the laws of Nature were broken through in order to give a vain and fruitless warning to an ambitious minion.’

Anne of Denmark Crowned Queen of Scotland

'George Heriot, the son, pursued his father's occupation of a goldsmith, then peculiarly lucrative, and much connected with that of a money-broker. He enjoyed the favour and protection of James, and of his consort, Anne of Denmark...'

Sir Walter Scott's "Fortunes of Nigel" is set during the reign of James I and VI, and being James' goldsmith and banker, George Heriot is an important person.  Presumably, James' Queen, Anne of Denmark, was important as well.  The two were married by proxy on August 20, 1589, James not being present, with an in-person follow-up the following November in Oslo.  It took until May 1590 before the couple reached Scotland, and Anne was crowned Queen of Scotland on May 17, 1590.

Gunpowder Plot

"Lord Dalgarno," said Margaret;--"the wickedest man who lives. Under pretence of friendship, he introduced the Lord Glenvarloch to a gambling-house with the purpose of engaging him in deep play; but he with whom the perfidious traitor had to deal, was too virtuous, moderate, and cautious, to be caught in a snare so open. What did they next, but turn his own moderation against him, and persuade others that--because he would not become the prey of wolves, he herded with them for a share of their booty! And, while this base Lord Dalgarno was thus undermining his unsuspecting countryman, he took every measure to keep him surrounded by creatures of his own, to prevent him from attending Court, and mixing with those of his proper rank. Since the Gunpowder Treason, there never was a conspiracy more deeply laid, more basely and more deliberately pursued."


From "The Fortunes of Nigel" by Sir Walter Scott.  This novel focuses on King James I of England's era, particularly after the attempted bombing of November 5, 1605, which was believed to have been a conspiracy undertaken by Catholics to assassinate James.  After the failed attempt to blow up the House of Lords while James was opening a new session of Parliament, Catholics were vulnerable to reprisals from the mainly Protestant members of Parliament.  James, realizing that most Catholics were good citizens, restrained Parliament from more forceful measures.  Instead, he supported legislation which made Catholics swear an oath affirming loyalty to the King and denying the power of the Pope.

More from the text...

"A plague of your similes, dame," replied the apprentice; "for the devil gave me that knowledge, and beggary may be the end on't.--But what has this gentleman done, that he should need to be under hiding? No Papist, I hope--no Catesby and Piercy business--no Gunpowder Plot?"

The Baronetcy of Nova Scotia

'...it is not to be omitted, that through the Swintons Sir Walter Scott could trace himself to William Alexander, Earl of Stirling, the poet and dramatist...'

The above text is from "Memoirs of Sir Walter Scott", by John Gibson Lockhart.  In addition to being a poet and dramatist, William Alexander was a colonizer, receiving, on September 29, 1621, a charter to colonize the Baronetcy of Nova Scotia (from Rampant Scotland).

Alexander's territory, granted to him by King James I of England, stretched through New Brunswick into what is now part of the United States.  An attempt to establish a colony called Port Royal effectively bankrupted Alexander by 1632. 

In 1636, under the regime of Charles I, Alexander was made Earl of Stirling.  Charles also gave him rights to Long Island (now part of New York), from the Plymouth Colony.

Poisoned in the Tower

"I remember it but too well, Mistress Margaret," said Ursula, after a moment's reflection, "and I would serve you in any thing in my condition; but to meddle with such high matters--I shall never forget poor Mistress Turner, my honoured patroness, peace be with her!--she had the ill-luck to meddle in the matter of Somerset and Overbury, and so the great earl and his lady slipt their necks out of the collar, and left her and some half-dozen others to suffer in their stead. I shall never forget the sight of her standing on the scaffold with the ruff round her pretty neck, all done up with the yellow starch which I had so often helped her to make, and that was so soon to give place to a rough hempen cord. Such a sight, sweetheart, will make one loath to meddle with matters that are too hot or heavy for their handling."

Sir Thomas Overbury is referenced above in the text from Walter Scott's "The Fortunes of Nigel".  Overbury was poisoned to death while confined in the Tower on September 15, 1613. 
 
Like Scott, Overbury was a poet and author.  Overbury's trip to the Tower was precipitated by his poem "A Wife".  The wife in question was one Frances Howard, who began an affair with Overbury's friend Robert Carr.  Overbury's poem on wifely virtues was believed by many to show Ms. Howard in a bad light.  The Howards and others were close to King James I, and in an effort to quell a growing dispute, James interceded to offer Overbury a post as ambassador to Russia.  When Overbury refused, James threw him into jail.  The notes to "The Fortunes of Nigel" contain more on the topic of Overbury's death.
 
Note VI. p. 98.--MRS. ANNE TURNER



Mrs. Anne Turner was a dame somewhat of the occupation of Mrs. Suddlechop in the text; that is, half milliner half procuress, and secret agent in all manner of proceedings. She was a trafficker in the poisoning of Sir Thomas Overbury, for which so many subordinate agents lost their lives, while, to the great scandal of justice, the Earl of Somerset and his Countess were suffered to escape, upon a threat of Somerset to make public some secret which nearly affected his master, King James. Mrs. Turner introduced into England a French custom of using yellow starch in getting up bands and cuffs, and, by Lord Coke's orders, she appeared in that fashion at the place of execution. She was the widow of a physician, and had been eminently beautiful, as appears from the description of her in the poem called Overbury's Vision. There was produced in court a parcel of dolls or puppets belonging to this lady, some naked, some dressed, and which she used for exhibiting fashions upon. But, greatly to the horror of the spectators, who accounted these figures to be magical devices, there was, on their being shown, "heard a crack from the scaffold, which caused great fear, tumult, and confusion, among the spectators and throughout the hall, every one fearing hurt, as if the devil had been present, and grown angry to have his workmanship showed to such as were not his own scholars." Compare this curious passage in the History of King James for the First Fourteen Years, 1651, with the Aulicus Coquinarius of Dr. Heylin. Both works are published in the Secret History of King James.

Mary Queen of Scots Marries Lord Darnley

"This is the Castle of Crookstone," said the Lady Fleming, "in which the Queen held her first court after she was married to Darnley..."

Walter Scott refers to Lord Darnley, Henry Stuart, several times in "The Abbot", as above.  The story line of "The Abbot" however, begins with Mary's imprisonment at Lochleven Castle, long after Darnley's murder, and Mary's subsequent marriage to Bothwell.

Mary and Henry's wedding took place on July 29, 1565.  It was an ill-fated union, though it did produce an heir, James VI of Scotland/James I of England and Ireland.  The marriage ended less than two years after it began, with Darnley's murder on February 10, 1567.

James VI of Scotland/I of England

...The reign of James I. of England possessed this advantage in a peculiar degree. Some beams of chivalry, although its planet had been for some time set, continued to animate and gild the horizon, and although probably no one acted precisely on its Quixotic dictates, men and women still talked the chivalrous language of Sir Philip Sydney's Arcadia; and the ceremonial of the tilt-yard was yet exhibited, though it now only flourished as a Place de Carrousel. Here and there a high-spirited Knight of the Bath, witness the too scrupulous Lord Herbert of Cherbury, was found devoted enough to the vows he had taken, to imagine himself obliged to compel, by the sword's-point, a fellow-knight or squire to restore the top-knot of ribbon which he had stolen from a fair damsel;[Footnote: See Lord Herbert of Cherbury's Memoirs.] but yet, while men were taking each other's lives on such punctilios of honour, the hour was already arrived when Bacon was about to teach the world that they were no longer to reason from authority to fact, but to establish truth by advancing from fact to fact, till they fixed an indisputable authority, not from hypothesis, but from experiment...

Walter Scott's "The Fortunes of Nigel" covers James I's reign.  The passage above is from that novel.  James was born on June 19, 1566 to Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, and Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley.  Both his parents were descended from Henry VII of England.  He became king on July 24, 1567, as part of Mary's agreement to abdicate the throne, following her defeat with Earl Bothwell at Carberry Hill.

Football Banned

' Nay, prithee, bailie,' said the provost, ' put it off till thou hast eaten. Some complaint against the rascally jackmen and retainers of the nobles, for playing at football on the streets of the burgh, or some such goodly matter.'

From "The Fair Maid of Perth".

On May 26, 1424, James I'sts Parliament banned the playing of football.  James was not the first to try and control umruly football environments.  In 1314, King Edward II had done the same.   Aside from crowd control, one other common reason for banning footballe was that playing football interfered with the practice of archery; seasoned archers being a necessary resource for warfare.

Union Flag

On April 12, 1606, The Union Flag (or Jack) was officially adopted as the standard of England, Wales, and Scotland.  Though the Treaty of Union would not be signed until 1707, the three kingdoms were united through having a common ruler, James I of England/VI of Scotland.  St. George's cross was joined by that of St. Andrew's.  Wales was not explicitly represented on the Union Flag, as it had already legally incorporated into England.

The Union Flag makes an appearance in Walter Scott's "Waverley":

"...In about two hours' time, the party were near the Castle of Stirling, over whose battlements the union flag was brightened as it waved in the evening sun. To shorten his journey, or perhaps to display his importance, and insult the English garrison, Balmawhapple, inclining to the right, took his route through the royal park, which reaches to and surrounds the rock upon which the fortress is situated..."

King Solomon died in Peace, when he had lived about sixty years...and so you know did King James

The title words were spoken by Bishop John Williams eulogizing James VI of Scotland and I of England, who died on March 27, 1625.  Thus ended the reign of the first Scottish ruler of the United Kingdoms.  Walter Scott mentions the taking of the Stone of Scone by King Edward I of England 300 years earlier as a precursor to James' rule in his "History of Scotland".

"...This fatal stone, as already mentioned, was said to have been brought from Ireland by Fergus, the son of Erie, who led the Dalriads to the shores of Argyllshire. Its virtues are preserved in the celebrated leonine verse -

Ni filial fatum, Scoti, quocunque Iocs turn
Invenieut lapidt-m, regnare tenentur ibidem.

Which may be rendered thus : —
Unless the fates are faithless grown,
And prophets' voice be vain,
Where'er is found this sacred stone
The Scottish race shall reign.

There were Scots who hailed the accomplishment of this prophecy at the accession of James VI. to the crown of England, and exulted, that, in removing this palladium, the policy of Edward resembled that which brought the Trojan horse in triumph within their walls, and which occafioncil the destruction of their royal family. The btone is -till preserved, and forms the support of king Edward the Confessor's chair, which the sovereign occupies at his coronation, and, indei«ndent of the divination so long in being accomplished, is in itself a very curious remnant of extreme Antiquity..."

Saint Baldred (or Balfred)

Saint Baldred was a monk of the 7th century.  Baldred was a Bishop of Scotland, who succeeded Saint Kentigern in Glasgow.  At some point, Balfred bedcame a hermit, establishing a cell/chapel on The Bass Rock.  Baldred died on March 6, 608.

The Bass, situated in the Firth of Forth, was later used as a prison for religious and political prisoners, especially by King James I in the 15th century.  The fort used for this purpose was demolished in 1701.  In 1706, Hew Dalrymple, brother of the Master of Stair, acquired The Bass, and it remains in the family today.

Bass Rock Lighthouse (photo by Don Carter) was built by David Stevenson, grandson of Robert Stevenson, who led Walter Scott on a voyage to the Northern Lights in 1814.  David Stevenson engineered 26 lighthouses; three with his uncle Thomas Stevenson, and twenty-three with his brother Charles.  Bass Rock lighthouse was completed in 1903, well after Scott's lifetime.  The light figures in another Scottish author's novel,  Robert Louis Stevenson's (cousin of David) "Catronia".

Scott makes a melancholy reference to Bass Rock in his journal, on the death of his "Lady Scott":

"May_ 16.(1826) --She died at nine in the morning, after being
very ill for two days,--easy at last.
I arrived here late last night. Anne is worn out, and has had hysterics,
which returned on my arrival. Her broken accents were like those of a
child, the language, as well as the tones, broken, but in the most
gentle voice of submission. "Poor mamma--never return again--'gone for
ever--a better place." Then, when she came to herself, she spoke with
sense, freedom, and strength of mind, till her weakness returned. It
would have been inexpressibly moving to me as a stranger--what was it
then to the father and the husband? For myself, I scarce know how I
feel, sometimes as firm as the Bass Rock, sometimes as weak as the wave
that breaks on it."

Execution of Charles I

Charles I of England met his fate on January 30, 1649.  Charles' birth was mentioned in an earlier post, as well as one incident leading to his downfall, and ultimately the trial that led to his beheading.  Charles is said to have faced his end bravely, displaying no signs of fear.  The execution took place in front of the Banqueting House, Whitehall. 

Charles appears in a happier, more innocent age, as Babie Charles in Scott's "The Fortunes of Nigel". 
"He shall have our own advice," said the king, "how to carry on his studies to maist advantage; and it may be we will have him come to Court, and study with Steenie and Babie Charles. And, now we think on't, away—away, George—for the bairns will be coming hame presently, and we would not as yet they kend of this matter we have been treating anent. Propera fedem, O Geordie. Clap your mule between your boughs, and god-den with you."

Trial of Gunpowder Plot Conspirators

The Gunpowder Plot was uncovered on November 5, 1605.  Conspirator Guy Fawkes was caught with approximately 1,800 pounds of gunpowder in a basement under the House of Lords.  After mastermind Robert Catesby and other conspirators were rounded up or killed, a trial began - on Janaury 27, 1606.  The punishment imposed by the court was death by being drawn and quartered.  Fawkes himself escaped this form of death by leaping from the scaffold, and breaking his neck.

Walter Scott sets his "The Fortunes of Nigel" during the reign of James I, and after the Gunpowder Plot:

"...In James's reign, on the contrary, the

coarsest pleasures were publicly and unlimitedly indulged, since,
according to Sir John Harrington, the men wallowed in beastly
delights; and even ladies abandoned their delicacy and rolled about in
intoxication. After a ludicrous account of a mask, in which the actors
had got drunk, and behaved themselves accordingly, he adds, "I have
much marvelled at these strange pageantries, and they do bring to my
recollection what passed of this sort in our Queen's days, in which I
was sometimes an assistant and partaker: but never did I see such lack
of good order and sobriety as I have now done. The gunpowder fright is
got out of all our heads, and we are going on hereabout as if the
devil was contriving every man should blow up himself by wild riot,
excess, and devastation of time and temperance. The great ladies do go
well masqued; and indeed, it be the only show of their modesty to
conceal their countenance, but alack, they meet with such countenance
to uphold their strange doings, that I marvel not at aught that
happens."

Charles I of England

Yet another Dunfermline connection. Charles I was born on November 19, 1600, in Dunfermline Palace.  Charles appears as an infant in Scott's "The Fortunes of Nigel".  This novel focuses on King James I, who enjoyed bestowing nicknames on people he was fond of.  In this passage, "Steenie" (George Villers) and "Babie Charles" (Charles I):

"To grant the truth," he said, after he had finished his hasty perusal, "this is a hard case; and harder than it was represented to me, though I had some inkling of it before. And so the lad only wants payment of the siller due from us, in order to reclaim his paternal estate? But then, Huntinglen, the lad will have other debts—and why burden himsell with sae mony acres of barren woodland? let the land gang, man, let the land gang; Steenie has the promise of it from our Scottish Chancellor—it is the best hunting-ground in Scotland—and Babie Charles and Steenie want to kill a buck there this next year— they maun hae the land—they maun hae the land; and our debt shall be paid to the young man plack and bawbee, and he may have the spending of it at our Court; or if he has such an eard hunger, wouns! man, we'll stuff his stomach with English land, which is worth twice as much, ay, ten times as much, as these accursed hills and heughs, and mosses and muirs, that he is sae keen after."

The Gunpowder Plot

The gunpowder plot, led by Robert Catesby and Guy Fawkes, occurred in 1605. The plotters (through Thomas Percy) rented a house adjacent to Parliament, and eventually rented a coal cellar below the House of Lords, which was to serve as a place to set their 36 barrels of gunpowder off. The plot was discovered, by means that are far from clear, and the conspirators fled London. Guy Fawke was caught in London, and executed. Catesby, along with two others was slain when apprehended.

Scott's "The Fortunes of Nigel" was written for a timeframe immediately around the Gunpowder Plot, during the reign of James I. His introduction contains a reference to it:

"...The gunpowder fright is got out of all our heads, and we are going on hereabout as if the devil was contriving every man should blow up himself by wild riot, excess, and devastation of time and temperance...."