About King James I and an Inventory of the Crown Jewels

When King James came to the throne, he wanted to be sure that all of the crown jewels were in the possession of the crown and he did an inventory, collecting all the gem stones that had been lent to nobles during the reign of Elizabeth.

One of the first acts of JAMES I on arriving in England was to order an inventory to be made of all the jewels and valuables left by Elizabeth; and to collect those she had allowed to remain in the charge of certain lords and ladies. The Earl of Suffolk was asked to replace a quarter of a million's worth, but he put in a plea of condonation. Among the crown jewels inventoried by the order of King James, was a crown imperial of gold; two circlets of gold; fifteen gold collars; "a great and rich jewel of gold called the 'Mirror of Great Britain,' containing one very fair table diamond, one very fair table ruby, two other large diamonds cut lozenge-wise, garnished with small diamonds, two round pearls, and one fair diamond cut in fawcets."

With regard to the Stuarts, James I, in 1617, was much offended with the aldermen of London because they refused to advance him pound 100,000 upon the crown jewels, that sum being wanted to defray the moiety of the cost of his progress into Scotland; however, he contrived to raise pound 60,000 upon them in some other quarter. Two years afterwards, Chamberlain, writing to Sir Dudley Carleton that the King intended making a petty "progress" to Oatlands, Oking, and Windsor, says, "We are driven to hardships for money, and all too little, so that we are fain to make sale of jewels for twenty thousand pounds to furnish out this progress;" but it seems that his Majesty, or her Majesty--for they were the Queen's jewels that were pledged on this occasion--could not persuade Master Peter Van Lore to advance more than Pound 18,000. Chamberlain consoles himself with the reflection, that "the choice of pearls and other rare jewels are not touched, among which there is a carquenet of round and long pearls, rated at pound 40,000, in the judgement of Lord Digby and others, the fairest that are to be found in Christendom."


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