Secret correspondence of James VI
In the history of the British monarchy, King James VI of Scotland communicated in secret with the administrators of Queen Elizabeth I of England between May 1601 and her death in March 1603.
In this period it was settled that James would succeed Elizabeth, his distant relative, but this result was kept a secret in a small diplomatic community.
Meanwhile, the Scottish diplomat Richard Cockburn of Clerkington wrote in friendly terms to Sir Robert Cecil, who replied on 17 September 1594.
Cockburn wrote to Hudson on 22 May 1595 in the "spirit of prophecy" about the fortunes of his uncle the Chancellor of Scotland, John Maitland of Thirlestane and his adversaries.
[6] The request of Anne of Denmark, the Scottish queen, for portraits of the Earl of Essex and his sister, meaning Lady Rich, reached Bacon in December 1595.
[11] John Erskine, Earl of Mar, and Edward Bruce went to London as ambassadors in February 1601, attempting to secure the throne of England for James VI.
[16] At a meeting at the Duchy of Lancaster House, on the Strand, Cecil requested James not to seek an English parliamentary recognition of his claim to the throne, and that future correspondence with the Scottish ambassadors should be a secret from Elizabeth herself.
She demanded to see it, and Cecil made to open the satchel (which Wotton called a 'budget') but told the Queen it was filthy and smelled bad, and she could have the letters after they were aired.
[24] Wotton later wrote that his mission was from Ferdinando de' Medici to advise James of a poison plot against him and bring a gift of antidotes.
[25] Some of the letters, as was quite usual in diplomatic correspondence, used numbers to refer to individuals rather than names; James was '30', Mar was '20', Robert Cecil was '10', Bruce '8', and Northampton '3'.
[26][27][28] By June 1602, James wrote of how Cecil and his colleague "40" had "so easily settled me in the only right course for my good, [and] so happily preserved the Queen's mind from the poison of jealous prejudice.
Foulis criticised a scheme, "a purpose", involving the Duke at the instigation of James Sempill of Beltrees and the lawyer Thomas Hamilton and thought the king should threaten them with hanging.
James VI sent Henry Howard, later Earl of Northampton, a jewel with three precious stones including a ruby as "his first token".
[35] The 19th-century historian Patrick Fraser Tytler noted the excessive flattery used by Howard and the effort made to exclude others from the discussions.
[36]According to Godfrey Goodman, King James "wrote and did acknowledge that for some six years before the Queen died he held correspondence with [Cecil], and that he found him a very wise, able, faithful servant.
[42] Kildare had already impressed James Sempill, in September 1599 her Scottish servant named Dicksoun struck up an acquaintance with him in London, and said she had spoken in favour of the king's succession to the English throne at dinner with the Lord Admiral.
[43] Kildare sent useful information to James VI from Elizabeth's court, and was rewarded for her service Henry Brooke, 11th Baron Cobham when her husband was disgraced.
