'''Cuthbert Armourer''' or '''Armorer''' (born 1534 – d. unknown) was an English soldier at Berwick-upon-Tweed, a messenger, and found favour with James VI of Scotland as a huntsman.
The Armourer family lived near Berwick. Cuthbert Armourer became a "constable of horse" in the garrison, and also served as deputy of Norham Castle.
Cuthbert, or "Cuddie" Armourer of Belford, was an exile with Jane Howard, Countess of Westmorland after the Rising of the North in 1569, and came to Ferniehirst Castle.<ref>''HMC Salisbury Hatfield'', vol. 13 (London, 1915), p. 120: Thomas Wright, ''Queen Elizabeth and her Times'', vol. 1 (London, 1838), p. 351.</ref>
English huntsmen visited James VI in season. Armourer was active in Scotland as one of the king's huntsman before April 1583 when the English ambassador Robert Bowes reported that his hunting had "well pleased" James VI, while he supplied useful intelligence to the diplomat. The treasurer's accounts record that Cuthbert Armourer was at Falkland Palace in June 1584 with the huntsman John Home and was given 20 crowns worth £50 Scots.<ref>''Bowes Correspondence'' (London, 1842), pp. 401-2.</ref>
In August 1584, Armourer, as a servant or tenant of Lord Hunsdon,<ref>William Boyd, ''Calendar of State Papers Scotland, 1584-1585'', vol. 7 (Edinburgh, 1913), p. 249 no. 234.</ref> attended a border meeting at Foulden with the Scottish huntsman John Hume of Manderston.<ref>David Calderwood, ''History of the Kirk'', vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1843), p. 171: Maureen Meikle, ''A British Frontier? Lairds and Gentlemen in the Eastern Anglo-Scottish Borders'' (Tuckwell, 2004), p. 181./</ref> Armourer seems to have become a go-between for Hunsdon and James Stewart, Earl of Arran, who was at this time a dominant figure in Scottish politics.<ref>Conyers Read, ''Mr Secretary Walsingham and the policy of Queen Elizabeth'', vol. 2 (Archon, 1967), p. 225.</ref><ref>Steven J. Reid, ''The Early Life of James VI, A Long Apprenticeship'' (Edinburgh: John Donald, 2023), pp. 253, 310.</ref>
Armourer became so close to James VI, according to the Master of Gray, that James wept with "Cuddy Armerer" over the rumours that David Rizzio was his father.<ref>''Letters and Papers relating to Patrick, Master of Gray'' (Edinburgh, 1835), p. 16.</ref><ref>Steven J. Reid, ''The Early Life of James VI, A Long Apprenticeship'' (Edinburgh: John Donald, 2023), p. 248.</ref>
Armourer carried letters and was a mediator with the discourted James Stewart, Earl of Arran. Armourer was not only a messager but discussed the negotiations of Archibald Douglas at the English court with William Selby.<ref>''HMC Salisbury Hatfield'', 3 (London, 1889), pp. 416–417.</ref> In September 1585, the English diplomat Edward Wotton, who was at Stirling Castle complained to Francis Walsingham that Armourer was negotiating on behalf of James Stewart, Earl of Arran, prejudicing his mission or displacing him.<ref>Markham Thorpe, ''Calendar State Papers Scotland'', 2, p. 507: ''Calendar State Papers Scotland'', 8 (Edinburgh, 1914), p. 89 no. 107.</ref><ref>Steven J. Reid, ''The Early Life of James VI, A Long Apprenticeship'' (Edinburgh: John Donald, 2023), p. 270.</ref> In December 1592, Arran came to Holyroodhouse and met James VI at the kennels.<ref>''Calendar of State Papers Scotland'', vol. 10 (Edinburgh, 1936), pp. 819, 821.</ref>
One "Cuthbert the hunter", either Cuthbert Armourer or Cuthbert Rayne, was given a reward of 20 French crowns in 1588. George Young made this payment, while Richard Cockburn gave 200 crowns to English hunters. Archibald Arnot in Falkland was paid £80 Scots towards feeding English huntsmen. In 1589, another 20 crowns was paid to an English hunter.<ref>Miles Kerr-Peterson & Michael Pearce, 'James VI's English Subsidy and Danish Dowry Accounts', ''Scottish History Society Miscellany XVI'' (Woodbridge, 2020), pp. 23-4, 59, 61.</ref>
James VI became suspicious in January 1593 that Cuthbert Armourer and Thomas Musgrave and other Northumbrians harboured his rebel Francis Stewart, 5th Earl of Bothwell, with the encouragement of Elizabeth I. The English ambassador assured him that he was misled by tale tellers.<ref>''Calendar of State Papers Scotland'', vol. 11 (Edinburgh, 1936), p. 28.</ref> His activities, and the exploits of his sons and nephews, including David, Clement, Robert, and Harry Armourer (b. 1578) attracted suspicion. For a time, James VI continued to insist on the punishment and rendition of "Cuddye Armour" and Thomas Musgrave. Armourer was forgiven by December 1593 and he was employed by the Governor of Berwick to carry messages to Edinburgh.<ref>''Calendar of State Papers Scotland'', vol. 11 (Edinburgh, 1936), pp. 125, 129, 237, 395.</ref>
Peregrine Bertie, 13th Baron Willoughby de Eresby, as governor of Berwick in 1601 noted that Armourer, who was in debt, was esteemed and held his place because he had done an importrant service for Elizabeth I in 1601.<ref>Joseph Bain, ''Border Papers'', 2, p. 748 no. 1365.</ref> Eventually, after the Union of the Crowns, Cuthbert Armourer was granted the office of Chief Steward of Hexham.<ref>Mary Anne Everett Green, ''Calendar of State Papers, Domestic, James I, 1603-1610'' (London, 1857), p. 438.</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Armourer, Cuthbert}} Category:1534 births Category:Garrison of Berwick-upon-Tweed Category:16th-century English soldiers Category:Year of death missing