Thomas Foulis was an Edinburgh goldsmith and financier, and was involved in the mint and coinage, gold and lead mining, and from May 1591 the receipt of money given to James VI by Queen Elizabeth, known as the English annuity or subsidy.
[8] Michael Gilbert and his former apprentice Foulis provided rings and other jewels for James VI to give to courtiers as New Year's Day gifts.
In June 1589 Foulis provided the king with two gold chains and rings worth £953 Scots to give to the captains of an English fleet commanded by George Beeston.
[10] James VI sent Foulis and Robert Jousie to London in July 1589 to buy clothes and ornaments in preparation for his marriage to Anne of Denmark.
At Leith, Foulis also returned a large table cut diamond which he had held in pledge since January 1586 for the jewelry supplied to the king for New Year's Day gifts.
[12] When James returned to Scotland in May 1590, Foulis provided gold chains for gifts to the Danish Admiral Peder Munk and his companions.
[18] According to the Scottish diplomat and intriguer Archibald Douglas, James VI gave a valuable ring to Anthony Bacon, the secretary of the Earl of Essex.
[21] Foulis also operated a copper mine near Edinburgh for the king and was permitted to use wood from the forest of Torwood to make charcoal for refining.
[22] In January 1594 he had a tack or lease given in acknowledgement of money owed to him by the king and queen, to mine and export all minerals and metals in the Friarmoor in Lanarkshire, a former possession of Newbattle Abbey.
[23] In March 1594 one of his mining experts Bernard Fechtenburg was tempted away by Lord Menmuir, Master of Metals, to work for Sir David Lindsay of Edzell Castle.
The site at Hilderston was developed by Bulmer, the "knight governor of the works of his majesty's mines under ground", with George Bruce of Carnock acting as treasurer.
[32] This may be the cupboard of silver plate which James VI took to Norway, in Maitland's keeping, from which he gave gifts to Steen Brahe and Axel Gyldenstierne on 15 December 1589.
Some of the original orders signed by James VI survive, In May 1594 he wrote he to Foulis, who was in London, to buy lead to repair the roof of Linlithgow Palace and an alabaster stone for the new Chapel Royal at Stirling Castle.
[42] Roger Aston wrote that Foulis was treasurer in all but name and after twenty days "fell by his wits" and lay "in great extremity".
Aston wrote that he had hoped Foulis and Joussie would lend him money to buy land, but they had received no English subsidy for two years.
James had given the jewel to Anne of Denmark who, Nicolson says, had offered it to her friend Elizabeth Douglas, Countess of Erroll as recompense for the demolition of Slains Castle.
[45] The immediate cause of Foulis' financial disaster was a legal move by one of the Octavians, John Lindsay of Menmuir, Master of Metals, to suspend payments by the comptroller, George Home of Wedderburn.
[48] The Parliament of Scotland observed that Foulis and Joussie had incurred debts for the royal clothing, jewels, ready money, and other outlays.
Walter Stewart, 1st Lord Blantyre was asked to give them rights over the mint to recoup their funds, and the comptroller George Home of Wedderburn promised to supply the royal households (for James, Anna, Prince Henry, and Princess Elizabeth), and repay Foulis and Jousie and their creditors in installments.
It includes the Edinburgh Company of Tailors, the merchant and poet John Burell, the English courtier Roger Aston, the Countess of Cassilis, and Bartholomew Kello, the husband of the calligrapher Esther Inglis.
[50] In February 1599 the Privy Council declared that in future the Treasurer would administer the English annuity or subsidy, spending it on clothes for the royal family and the household of Prince Henry.