Walraven III van Brederode (1547–1614) was a Dutch aristocrat and diplomat. He was a son of Reinoud IV van Brederode [Wikidata] and Margaretha van Doerne, and became Lord Van Brederode on the death of his father in 1584. He married Gulielma van Haeften.
Scotland in 1594
He was ambassador to Scotland from the Dutch Republic or United Provinces for the christening of Prince Henry in August 1594, accompanied by "Jacobus Falkius", Jacob Valcke, treasurer of Zeeland (died 1623). Brederode and Valcke wrote a lengthy report of their stay in Scotland.[1] They arrived on 13 August and were greeted by the resident agent of the States General Adrian Damman.[2] They stayed for two weeks in Leith and Edinburgh, meeting Alexander Seton, 1st Earl of Dunfermline, before travelling to Linlithgow and then to Stirling, where they were accommodated in Argyll's Lodging.[3] They had audiences with James VI of Scotland on 3 September, and with Anne of Denmark, and saw the Prince. After dinner and some persuasion, King James danced in the Great Hall of Stirling Castle.[4]
Brederode and Valck described a meeting with the other ambassadors at the castle to discuss the naming of the prince, which was traditional and customary for godfathers.[5] According to their account, the name "Henry Frederick" was chosen to allude to the late Frederick II of Denmark and Henry Julius, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and the late Henry, Duke of Mecklenburg, to Henry IV of France, and Henry VIII of England. Brederode and Valck were lodged in Stirling town and over the next few days came to the Palace for dinners hosted by the Earl of Mar and the other ambassadors. They also joined a hunt in the park.[6]
During the celebrations at Stirling Castle they presented two large gold cups weighing 300 ounces and a letter in a gold box giving Prince Henry a yearly pension of 5,000 "Gelderlings" or "Gudlenes".[7] He also brought a copy of the Scottish ratification of the Treaty of Binche[8] (5 December 1550) which was made on 1 May 1551, and he confirmed this league of friendship between Scotland and the Low Countries at Edinburgh on 13 September 1594. These documents were kept in a round box for many years. For a time the box was kept by William Keith of Delny, who was given the duty of collecting the pension. Delny left it in Edinburgh with John Gourlay, and in 1601 Gourlay delivered it to George Home of Spott.[9] The lawyer Thomas Hamilton examined Brederode's commission in 1619 and noticed useful details regarding East Indian trade.[10]
In the Chapel Royal at Stirling special seating and desks for the ambassadors had been decorated with coloured cloths and heraldry.[11] Brederode and Valcke found their seat was decorated with the wrong coats of arms, and they asked for the arms of Holland and Zeeland to be taken down and replaced with the shields of the six United Provinces.[12]
Brederode and Valke travelled from Edinburgh first to Seton Palace, then to Newcastle upon Tyne where they were welcomed by the town officials and the mayor Lionel Maddison.[16] They were treated to a banquet including baked rabbit, fish, and swan, a barrel of London beer, and sugar confectionaries, to the accompaniment of music by the town waits.[17]
^Esther Mijers, 'Diplomatic Visit', Steven J. Reid, Rethinking the Renaissance and Reformation in Scotland (Boydell, 2024), 261, 266: Thomas Birch, Memorials of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, vol. 1 (London, 1754), p. 184.
^Esther Mijers, 'Diplomatic Visit', Steven J. Reid, Rethinking the Renaissance and Reformation in Scotland (Boydell, 2014), 268.
^Esther Mijers, 'Diplomatic Visit', Steven J. Reid, Rethinking the Renaissance and Reformation in Scotland (Boydell, 2014), 269.
^Esther Mijers, 'Diplomatic Visit', Steven J. Reid, Rethinking the Renaissance and Reformation in Scotland (Boydell, 2014), 269–270: James Ferguson, Papers illustrating the history of the Scots brigade, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1899), pp. 164-5.
^James Ferguson, Papers illustrating the history of the Scots brigade, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1899), p. 170: Miles Kerr-Peterson & Michael Pearce, 'James VI's English Subsidy and Danish Dowry Accounts, 1588-1596', Scottish History Society Miscellany, XVI (Woodbridge, 2020), p. 77.
^James Ferguson, Papers illustrating the history of the Scots brigade, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1899), p. 170.