HAY, JAMES [SSNE 1470]
- Surname
- HAY
- First name
- JAMES
- Title/rank
- VISCOUNT DONCASTER, EARL OF CARLISLE
- Nationality
- SCOT
- Region
- KINGASK, PERTH AND KINROSS or Pitcorthie FIFE
- Social status
- NOBILITY
Text source
James Hay (c.1580-1636) 1st Earl of Carlisle was the son of Sir James Hay of Kingask (a member of a younger branch of the Erroll family), and of Margaret Murray, cousin of George Hay, afterwards 1st earl of Kinnoull. In some sources his birthplace is given as Pitcorthie near Dunfermline (e.g.Sibbald).He was knighted by James VI of Scotland, and brought to England in 1603. Hay was made a Gentleman of the Bedchamber. In 1604 he was sent on a mission to France, largely to plead on behalf of the Huguenots, but also to oversee the signing of the the Franco-British treaty by Sir Thomas Parry along with Hay's countryman, Lodovick Stuart, 2nd Duke of Lennox. On the 21st of June 1606, Hay was created a baron. In 1610 he was made a Knight of the Bath, and in 1613 Master of the Wardrobe. His accumulation of titles continued and in 1615 he was created Lord Hay of Sawley, and took his seat in the House of Lords. Hay was again sent on a diplomatic mission to France the following year to negotiate the marriage of Princess Christina with Prince Charles. In 1618 he resigned the mastership of the wardrobe for a large sum in compensation and was created Viscount Doncaster. The following year he was despatched on a diplomatic mission which took him to the Spanish Netherlands, the Imperial Court at Salzburg and home via the Dutch Republic. His mission was to gain support for Frederik V of the Palatinate, husband of James VI & I's daughter Elizabeth of Bohemia. In 1621 he returned again to France once more interceding on behalf of the Huguenots. On his return, in September 1622, he was created Earl of Carlisle. In February 1623, Hay was sent to Spain as Ambassador Extraordinary with verbal instructions from James VI and I "specifically to avert any ill consequences to Prince Charles on his journey through France to Madrid". The nature of the verbal instructions suggests to some that his mission was intended to scupper the Spanish Match. The next year he travelled to Paris to help negotiate the marriage of Prince Charles to Princess Henrietta Maria of France in time to achieve success as the Prince returned from his own unsuccessful attempt to marry the Spanish Infanta. On the 2nd of July 1627 Lord Carlisle obtained a grant of all the Caribbean Islands from Charles I and became a Gentleman of his Bedchamber around the same time. Carlisle also became a patentee and councillor of the Plantation of New England. Nonetheless, he returned to his diplomatic duties when he was again sent to France in 1628 to secure peace with France after the failed La Rochelle campaign. He also undertook a diplomatic sojourn to Switzerland. After his return home Hay took no further part in public life, and died in March 1636 leaving behing large debts accumulated through his celebrated hospitality. Hay was twice married. His first wife was Honora, only daughter and heir of Edward, Lord Denny, afterwards Earl of Norwich. With her he had a son, James [SSNE 8237], a sometime soldier, who died in 1660 without issue. After the death of Honora, Hay married Lady Lucy Percy (1599-1660), daughter of the Earl of Northumberland.
Sources: Robbert Sibbald, The History of the Sherrifdoms of Fife and Kinross (Edinburgh, 1710), p.137; The National Archives, SP/81/passim; G. M. Bell, A Handlist of British Diplomatic Representatives 1509-1688 (London, 1990), passim; Oxford Dictionary of National Biography; S. Murdoch, Britain, Denmark-Norway and the House of Stuart 1603-1660 (East Linton, 2003), pp.10-11, 38, 45-46, 57, 59 62, 63; S. Murdoch, 'Diplomacy in Transition: Stuart-British Diplomacy in Northern Europe, 1603-1618' in A. I. Macinnes et al (eds.), Ships, Guns and Bibles in the North Sea and the Baltic States, c.1350-c.1700 (East Linton, 2000), pp.102-103; Steve Murdoch, Network North: Scottish Kin, Commercial and Covert Associations in Northern Europe, 1603-1746 (Brill, Leiden, 2006), p.60.
Service record
- STUART KINGDOMS, FRANCE
- Arrived 1604-02-05
- Departed 1604-04-01
- Capacity AMBASSADOR, purpose DIPLOMACY
- Arrived 1616-03-01
- Departed 1616-10-09
- Capacity AMBASSADOR, purpose DIPLOMACY
- STUART KINGDOMS, SPANISH NETHERLANDS [ARCHDUKE]
- Arrived 1619-04-29
- Departed 1619-06-30
- Capacity AMBASSADOR, purpose DIPLOMACY
- STUART KINGDOMS, SALZBURG [IMPERIAL COURT]
- Arrived 1619-07-01
- Departed 1619-07-31
- Capacity AMBASSADOR, purpose DIPLOMACY
- STUART KINGDOMS, THE DUTCH REPUBLIC
- Arrived 1619-09-01
- Departed 1620-01-01
- Capacity AMBASSADOR, purpose DIPLOMACY
- STUART KINGDOMS, FRANCE
- Arrived 1622-03-28
- Departed 1622-07-26
- Capacity AMBASSADOR EX., purpose DIPLOMACY
- Arrived 1622-07-18
- Departed 1623-02-16
- Capacity AMBASSADOR EX., purpose DIPLOMACY
- STUART KINGDOMS, SPAIN
- Arrived 1623-02-22
- Departed 1623-05-15
- Capacity AMBASSADOR EX., purpose DIPLOMACY
- STUART KINGDOMS, FRANCE
- Arrived 1624-02-19
- Departed 1625-06-10
- Capacity AMBASSADOR EX., purpose DIPLOMACY
- Arrived 1628-01-01
- Departed 1629-01-28
- Capacity AMBASSADOR EX., purpose DIPLOMACY
- STUART KINGDOMS, THE DUTCH REPUBLIC
- Arrived 1628-01-01
- Departed 1629-01-28
- Capacity AMBASSADOR EX., purpose DIPLOMACY
- STUART KINGDOMS, SWITZERLAND
- Arrived 1628-06-01
- Departed 1628-10-01
- Capacity AMBASSADOR, purpose DIPLOMACY