Edinburgh,11 is an act of the Privy Council ordering two new silver coins to be struck, of nine penny fine; one to weigh 11 den. 12 grains, and to pass current for 13/4. It was to have on the obverse the royal arms crowned with the legend, "Jacobus Dei gratia Rex Scotorum;" and on the reverse a crowned thistle with the legend, "Nemo impune ledet, 1571," and the value marked on the sides of the thistle. If this money ever was minted, it must have been in very small quantities, for I am not aware of the existence of a single specimen. Though this act is not noticed either by Cardonnel or Lindsay, it is referred to by Ruddiman in his Preface to Anderson's 'Diplomata Scotia."12 In this year we first find the appointment of a "counter wardane" (David Adamsone), mentioned in the Treasurer's accounts at a yearly salary of £40. The other officials remain unchanged. 1572. Towards the end of the month of March, of the following year, the Mint erected in the Castle of Edinburgh was employed, according to the author of the "Diurnal of Occurrents,"13 in producing the xxx/ pieces of the Queen. If this was the case, either the old dies, with the former date, were used, or the quantity minted was very small, since no "ryall" with that date is known. On the 12th of May, an act of the Privy Council11 was passed at Leith, ordering two new coins immediately to be issued, one to be called the half-merk piece, and to be current for 6/8; and the other to be known as the "forty-penny piece," to be current for 3/4. The type and legends are minutely specified, but the fineness is "Haddington MSS., fol. 158a. 12 "Dip. et Numis. Scot. Thes.," p. 74. 14 P. C. R., pp. 118, 119. not mentioned. Other authorities, however, show that it was very base. In the "Diurnal of Occurrents,"15 it is mentioned that they were only six penny fine, and were proclaimed at Leith to have passage throughout the realm for good and lawful money.16 The base coinage was minted at Dalkeith, as appears from a letter of Sir William Drury to Lord Burleigh, preserved in the State Paper Office.17 The Mint at Edinburgh was also in operation at the same period, but the money produced there was not recognised by the Regent and his party, though one account says it was seized and broken down to be recoined into the half and quarter merks.18 The mint at Dalkeith does not seem to have been in operation for any length of time, as in 1573 an entry occurs in the accounts of the Treasurer of“ xiijli x3 . . . payit . . . for carrying and transporting of the haill necessaris and worklumis appartening to the cunzehous fra the Castele of Dalkeyth to the Palice of Halyrudhous." In August, 1572, an act of the Privy Council was passed, directing that in consequence of the placks with the date 1557 having been counterfeited, as well as the half-merk and forty-penny pieces lately issued, no one is to take payment in these placks until the Parliament takes order in the matter, which did not take place till March, 1574. No one, under pain of treason, was permitted to sell silver, coined or uncoined, to any one who counterfeited or adulterated the half-merk or forty-penny 15 Pp. 297, 298. 16 Crauford's "Memoirs," p. 224; "Historie of James Sext," p. 274. 17 Cal. State Papers, Scot., i. p. 343. 18 Cal. State Papers, Scot., i. p. 357; "Diurnal of Occurrents," p. 312. pieces. All bullion was ordered to be brought to the master coiner, and Provosts and other officers of boroughs were directed to search for and imprison all who contravened this act. 1573. Great quantities of false and adulterated money being imported into the country, especially from Flanders, the Privy Council ordered, by an act passed at Holyrood on the 12th July, that all importers of false coins were to be strictly punished. 1574. The Regent applied in 1574 to the Provost, Baillies, and Council of Edinburgh, to supply him with fine silver for the use of the "cunzehous;" but this request was declined. 19 Soon after all the boroughs were summoned to pay up the arrears of bullion due by them. The convention offered to compound this for one payment of 10,000 merks, but the Regent would not accede to their proposal. Shortly afterwards, however, "efter lang resonyng," he was prevailed on to take £10,000 in full of all arrears in time past, and for all sums payable during his reign. In October an act of Privy Council was passed at Dalkeith, forbidding any one to transport gold or silver out of the kingdom till the next meeting of Parliament, under heavy penalties. On the 5th of March, the Parliament of Scotland passed an act which is identically the same as a proclamation ordered by the Privy Council of the same date.20 This act provided that the placks of 1557 were to be current for two pence, and the lions or hardheads for one penny; and that all persons having these, were to bring them to John Carmichael, Warden of the Mint, who was directed to clip all that were false, 19 Records of Convention of Boroughs," pp. 28, 37, 43. 20"Scots Acts," vol. iii. p. 92; Cal. State Papers, vol. i. 385. and to countermark those that were good with a heart and star. This is another corroboration of the opinion formerly hazarded, that the placks of Mary's reign were those with the legend "servio," &c., and the date 1557; and that the "babeis" were the Edinburgh and Stirling billon pieces now generally, though erroneously, known as placks. 9921 1575. The author of the "Diurnal of Occurrents,' notes a proclamation made at the beginning of 1575, forbidding any one to refuse any "mucats," or hardheads, or half-merk pieces, under pain of death. It is not certain what coin is referred to as "mucats." Another proclamation was made in April,22 calling down the Dalkeith money to its real value, or nearly one-half of what it was formerly current for. The originals of these proclamations are not at the Register House, and the exact terms of the acts are not given. It is said that these regulations about the money made the Regent very unpopular.23 He had apparently some desire to improve the coinage, for in October he wrote to Walsingham for permission to get some tools for coining for one Michael Sim, whose name, however, does not appear in the records of the Mint.2 In November the fine and rare twenty-pound piece, weighing one ounce Scottish, was struck in the Castle of Edinburgh. The author of the "Historie of James Sext" (printed by the Maitland Club), expressly tells us that this beautiful piece was intended for circulation, and was not a medal as some 21 P. 347. 22 Crauford's." Memoirs," p. 279. 23 State Papers Scotland, Eliz., vol. 26, m. 74. "Cal. State Papers, Scot., vol. i. p. 893. 25 Crauford's Memoirs," p. 285; "Historie of James Sext," p. 158. have supposed. He relates, that "before that year (1575) was ended, he (the Regent) caused a new piece of gold to be imprinted of the weight of one ounce, and ordained it to have course in the country for the avail of 20 pounds in money." In Melville's" Memoirs "26 it is stated that on one occasion the Regent presented twenty-five of these pieces to some friend, which he would hardly have done had they been struck as medals. False money was evidently still in circulation, for in November the Privy Council took some action with Uthrid Macdowell, of Mondork, for issuing false money. 1576. The gold seekers in Craufurd Moor, Roberton and Henderland, were ordered, by an act of the Privy Council, to bring all the gold they found to the Royal Mint at the accustomed rates, and not to sell it for exportation. On the 5th of March a contract "anent the cunze," was entered upon between the Regent Morton, John Acheson, Master of the Mint, and Abraham Petersoun, "flemyng," in which it was provided that Acheson should receive all the silver brought to him, and should hand it over to Peterson to be reduced to the "fynnes of aucht deneiris," and thereafter it was to be forged and printed by the Master of the Mint into half-merk and fortypenny pieces. Five shillings were allowed for each merk weight of coined money, for the expense of coining, alloy, &c., to the master coiner, who was to give the "flemyng" two deniers' weight of silver for each merk melted and made ready by him for the coiners. All gold was similarly to be reduced to xxii carats or xxii carats, 26 P. 151, ed. 1735. |