Adam Leys refashioned the crown of Scotland for James V

Adam Leys or Leis was a Scottish goldsmith based in Edinburgh.[1] He worked for James V of Scotland and, in the 1530s, repaired and refashioned the Scottish crown jewels known as the Honours of Scotland.

Works

The present crown of Scotland may include pieces made by Adam Leys
The Watson mazer (NMS) has been associated with Adam Leys.[2]

In 1530, Adam Leys made a silver chandelier or candleholder for Edinburgh's town council, probably for St Giles' Kirk.[3] He made a silver chalice for James V's almoner in August 1535.[4] On a larger scale, Leys worked on panels of royal heraldry and a "great image" of Saint Andrew to be carved and cast in lead for Holyrood Palace.[5] Leys added the arms of Mary of Guise beneath the saint for her Royal Entry to Edinburgh.[6]

James V employed Adam Leys to repair and augment the crown of Scotland in 1532 and 1536.[7] The treasurer's accounts mention that he added new "spryngis" in 1532. It is perhaps unclear which elements these were, but the record may refer to new Imperial-style arches.[8] The crown was comprehensively reworked again by John Mosman in January 1540, into the form it has today.[9]

Leys also worked on the Sword of Honour, a gift from Pope Julius II,[10] and the silver sceptre, a gift to James IV from Pope Alexander VI in 1494,[11] which he extended from around 53 to 86 cm and gilded.[12] He seems to have cast new elements moulded from the Italian originals.[13] These works to the Honours were probably in connection with ceremonies planned for James V's bride, Madeleine of Valois.[14] The royal accounts recorded these works in the Scots language as:

  • Item, deliverit to the said James [Achesoun] to Adam Leis, goldsmyth, to mend the sword of honour, thre unce of Inglis grotis
  • Item deliverit to Adam Leys, goldsmyth, xj unce and ane half of silver, attour the auld sceptour of silver weyand xv unce, to mak ane new sceptour of [silver]
  • Item, for gold to gilt the samin [same].[15]

Leys made an engraved silver seal for David Beaton in 1539.[16]

References

  1. ↑ Jean Munro & Henry Steuart Fotheringham, Edinburgh Goldsmith's Minutes (Edinburgh: SRS, 2006), p. 13.
  2. ↑ David H. Caldwell, George Dalgleish, Susy Kirk, Jim Tate, 'The Bute or Bannatyne Mazer', Anna Ritchie, Historic Bute: Land and people (Edinburgh, 2012), p. 82
  3. ↑ James David Marwick, Extracts From the Records of the Burgh of Edinburgh, 1528–1557 (Edinburgh, 1871), p. 25.
  4. ↑ James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 6 (Edinburgh, 1905), p. 248.
  5. ↑ Charles J. Burnett, 'Outward Signs of Majesty', Janet Hadley Williams, Stewart Style, 1513-1542: Essays on the Court of James V (East Linton, Tuckwell, 1996), pp. 295–296, 302.
  6. ↑ Henry Paton, Accounts of the Masters of Works, 1 (Edinburgh: HMSO, 1957), pp. 194, 224.
  7. ↑ Papers Relative to the Regalia of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1829), p. 30: Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 6 (Edinburgh, 1905), p. 73.
  8. ↑ Andrea Thomas, 'Coronation Ritual and Regalia', Julian Goodare & Alasdair A. MacDonald, Sixteenth-Century Scotland (Brill, 2008), pp. 59–60: Andrea Thomas, Princelie Majestie: The Court of James V of Scotland (Edinburgh: John Donald, 2005), pp. 195–196.
  9. ↑ Andrea Thomas, Glory and Honour (Edinburgh, 2013), p. 187.
  10. ↑ Jamie Reid-Baxter, 'James IV and Robert Carver', Kate Buchanan, Lucinda Dean, Michael Penman, Medieval and Early Modern Representations of Authority in Scotland and the British Isles (Routledge, 2016), pp. 238–241.
  11. ↑ Charles Burns, 'Papal Gifts to Scottish Monarchs: The Golden Rose and the Blessed Sword', Innes Review, 20:2 (Autumn 1969), pp. 171–172. doi:10.3366/inr.1969.20.2.150
  12. ↑ Chris Tabraham, The Honours of Scotland: The Story of the Scottish Crown Jewels and the Stone of Destiny (Edinburgh: Historic Environment Scotland, 2019), p. 40: Papers Relative to the Regalia of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1829), p. 30: John Reid & Alexander Brook, 'Technical Description of the Scottish Regalia', PSAS, 24 (1890), p. 101 (p. 85 in offprint).
  13. ↑ Charles J. Burnett, 'Outward Signs of Majesty', Janet Hadley Williams, Stewart Style, 1513-1542: Essays on the Court of James V (East Linton, Tuckwell, 1996), p. 292.
  14. ↑ Andrea Thomas, 'Coronation Ritual and Regalia', Julian Goodare & Alasdair A. MacDonald, Sixteenth-Century Scotland (Brill, 2008), p. 57.
  15. ↑ James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 6 (Edinburgh, 1905), pp. 285–286.
  16. ↑ David H. Caldwell, 'Lead seal matrices of the 16th and early 17th century', PSAS, 123 (1994), p. 379: Robert Kerr Hannay, Rentale Sancti Andree (Edinburgh: SHS, 1913), p. 93
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