Margaret Hartsyde
As a servant of the queen, Anne of Denmark, Hartsyde's duties included looking after the royal jewels, dealing with the goldsmith George Heriot, and handling large sums of money.
[7] In December 1603 Arbella Stuart discussed with Mary Talbot, Countess of Shrewsbury the delicate issue of buying New Year's Day gifts for Anne of Denmark.
[10] Fowler was clearly jealous of her position and claimed that paperwork sent for Anne to sign was delayed by her women, and "Margaret" had too much authority, and was able to prompt the queen to act for others and "importune procurers".
[11][12] One of her letters to Sir William Livingstone of Kilsyth described how Anne of Denmark was surprised by his leaving the court, and had expected him to deliver a jewel to her which he ought to send to queen as soon as possible.
The allowance for one aristocratic courtier, Jean Drummond was a "diet of 7 dishes" and this might be reduced to the "chamber mess of two" which other ladies at court received.
King James awarded his goods to Margaret Hartsyde, and the Privy Council wrote to Sir Nicholas Bacon to make sure she got full benefit.
[18] This included a plot of land close to the back gate of Holyrood Palace, which they obtained from the royal carpenter and architect John Murray in April 1606.
[19] On 12 June 1606 Anne of Denmark gave them a charter for the Mains of Edmonston near Niddrie and Cauldcotts, lands in the Musselburgh portion of her Dunfermline Abbey estate.
[20] John Buchanan was made a burgess of Edinburgh in August 1606 and the town gave him a gold angel coin for spices and wine for a celebratory banquet.
The French ambassador Antoine Lefèvre de la Boderie gave an account of the story in a letter of 30 October 1607.
It was alleged she had concealed stolen jewels by adding them to the costumes of the royal children's dolls,[23] in the phrase of the time, "to busk babeis".
[25] Anne of Denmark had hoped Hartsyde would be convicted and condemned by the laws of Scotland and wrote to Lord Balmerino expressing her disappointment.
[27][28][29][30] King James wrote to lawyers in Edinburgh querying their judgement, calling them "pettyfoggeris", and ordered the Privy Council to interview anyone who had set their hands to the case.
[33] John Buchanan appealed to the Privy Council in February 1609 to be released from the "bounds of his confining" as he was innocent of the fact of his wife's conviction.
The council now thought Buchanan should be freed, at least within the environs of Edinburgh (but not to go "southwards" to London where, if secretly guilty, he might confer with accomplices about the jewels), unless the King had other considerations.
The council wrote another letter that day, 23 February, to Anne of Denmark, asking her to intercede with King James for the release or enlargement of Buchanan, despite his wife's "damnable ingratitude and heinous offence".
[39] Eventually in October 1619, James declared Margaret Hartsyde innocent, saying she had been "by the sinisterous information of certain of her unfrendis for the tyme, pursued criminallie".
John Lauder, Lord Fountainhall saw their initials "SJB" and "DMH" for Dame Margaret Hartsyde, carved on the windows of the house at Scotscraig in 1671.
