# David Seton of Parbroath

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Scottish courtier and administrator

**David Seton of Parbroath** (died 1601) was a Scottish courtier and administrator.

## Family background

He was the son of Gilbert Seton of Parbroath and [Helen Leslie](/source/Helen_Leslie%2C_Lady_Newbattle), a daughter of the [Earl of Rothes](/source/George_Leslie%2C_4th_Earl_of_Rothes).[1] Gilbert Seton was killed during the [battle of Pinkie](/source/Battle_of_Pinkie) in 1547, making him successor to his grandfather Andrew Seton of Parbroath (died 1563).[2]

His home was [Parbroath Castle](/source/Parbroath_Castle) in [Creich, Fife](/source/Creich%2C_Fife). His surname was sometimes written "Seyton" or Seytoun".[2] In 1566, David Seton made a contract to marry [Nicholas Wardlaw](/source/Nicolas_Wardlaw%2C_Lady_Bonnyton), a gentlewoman in the household of [Mary, Queen of Scots](/source/Mary%2C_Queen_of_Scots), in 1566, but instead she married Patrick Wood of Bonnyton.[3]

## Career in royal finance

In March 1588 he was made keeper of the East and West [Lomond Hills](/source/Lomond_Hills) of [Fife](/source/Fife%2C_Scotland), hills near [Falkland Palace](/source/Falkland_Palace). He was [Comptroller of Scotland](/source/Comptroller_of_Scotland), in charge of a branch of royal finance and expenses of the household from November 1588 to 1597.[2] On 25 May 1590 he was made Chamberlain of [Dunfermline](/source/Dunfermline_Palace) for [Anne of Denmark](/source/Anne_of_Denmark), an office which passed to [William Schaw](/source/William_Schaw).[4] The position of comptroller left him with debts.[5]

Seton audited an account of money spent during [James VI's voyage to Norway and Denmark](/source/Anne_of_Denmark_and_contrary_winds) by the [Chancellor](/source/Chancellor_of_Scotland), [John Maitland](/source/John_Maitland%2C_1st_Lord_Maitland_of_Thirlestane).[6] Maitland passed the remaining [Danish dowry money](/source/English_subsidy_of_James_VI) given to [James VI](/source/James_VI_of_Scotland) to Seton.[7] He invested it with several Scottish "burghs" or towns at 10% interest. James VI withdrew the money by 1594, much of it to finance the [masque at the baptism of Prince Henry](/source/Masque_at_the_baptism_of_Prince_Henry).[8]

In May 1590 Seton drew up a rental of the income and expenditure of the lands of [Dunfermline Abbey](/source/Dunfermline_Abbey) for the benefit of two Danish ambassadors, [Steen Bille](/source/Steen_Bille) and [Niels Krag](/source/Niels_Krag), who came to Scotland to assess Anna of Denmark's marriage settlement. Outgoings include the wages of several kirk ministers and of [John Gibb](/source/John_Gibb_(courtier)), keeper of [Dunfermline Palace](/source/Dunfermline_Palace) and others.[9]

On 6 May 1593 the [Duke of Lennox](/source/Ludovick_Stuart%2C_2nd_Duke_of_Lennox) and 15 friends including Seton subscribed to a frivolous legal document swearing to abstain from wearing gold and silver trimmings on their clothes for a year, and defaulters were to pay for a banquet for all of them at [John Killoch's](/source/John_Kinloch_(post_master)) house in Edinburgh. This "[passement](/source/Passementerie) bond" was in part inspired by cheap counterfeit gold and silver thread used in "passements great or small, plain or *à jour*, bissets, lilykins, cordons, and fringes" which quickly discoloured. The signatories included; [Lord Home](/source/Alexander_Home%2C_1st_Lord_Home), the [Earl of Mar](/source/John_Erskine%2C_Earl_of_Mar_(1558%E2%80%931634)), [Lord Spynie](/source/Alexander_Lindsay%2C_1st_Lord_Spynie), the [Master of Glamis](/source/Thomas_Lyon_(of_Auldbar)), [Sir Thomas Erskine](/source/Thomas_Erskine%2C_1st_Earl_of_Kellie), [Walter Stewart of Blantyre](/source/Walter_Stewart_of_Blantyre), [William Keith of Delny](/source/William_Keith_of_Delny), and [Sir George Home](/source/George_Home%2C_Earl_of_Dunbar).[10]

In 1593 he was involved in a boundary dispute at [Torwood](/source/Torwood) forest with John Drummond of Slipperfield, father of the poet [William Drummond of Hawthornden](/source/William_Drummond_of_Hawthornden). The Torwood belonged the lands of the Chapel Royal and had a boundary with Forrester's Mansion, or [Torwood Castle](/source/Torwood_Castle). [Alexander Forrester of Garden](/source/Alexander_Forrester_of_Garden) assembled a company of armed men to intimidate commissioners intending to walk the boundary.[11]

In December 1593, David Seton was appointed to a committee to audit the account of money spent by the [Chancellor](/source/Chancellor_of_Scotland), [John Maitland](/source/John_Maitland_of_Thirlestane) of [Thirlestane](/source/Thirlestane_Castle), on the [royal voyages](/source/Anne_of_Denmark_and_contrary_winds). The funds in question came from the [English subsidy](/source/English_subsidy_of_James_VI) and the dowry of Anne of Denmark.[12] In 1594 the [Parliament of Scotland](/source/Parliament_of_Scotland) recognised that he was "superexpended" in his comptrollery account by £8,297 [Scots](/source/Pound_Scots).[13]

He died in 1601.

## The Seton portrait miniature of Mary, Queen of Scots

Portrait of [Mary, Queen of Scots](/source/Mary%2C_Queen_of_Scots) at [Lyme Park](/source/Lyme_Park)

The author [Robert Seton](/source/Robert_Seton_(bishop)) mentions a portrait miniature of [Mary, Queen of Scots](/source/Mary%2C_Queen_of_Scots) that descended in the family from David Seton of Parbroath.[14][15] The queen's hair is "Titian gold", the background is dark blue, with the inscription, "Maria Regina Scotorum".[16] The image of the queen resembles another portrait called "Mary, Queen of Scots" at [Lyme Park](/source/Lyme_Park) made in the 18th century.[17][18] The Lyme image was probably taken from a mezzotint engraving by [John Simon](/source/John_Simon_(engraver)) made around the year 1715. Simon's model was a sixteenth-century miniature which belonged to [James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Hamilton](/source/James_Hamilton%2C_4th_Duke_of_Hamilton). Another example of this portrait belonged to William Maule of [Panmure](/source/Panmure_Castle) and was engraved for the frontispiece of *State Papers of Ralph Sadler*, 2 (1809). The woman depicted in these images does not look like accepted portraits of the queen.[19]

## Marriage and children

David Seton married circa 1590 Mary Gray, daughter of [Patrick Gray, 5th Lord Gray](/source/Patrick_Gray%2C_5th_Lord_Gray) and Barbara Ruthven. Their children included:[2]

- George Seton of Parbroath, who married Jean Sinclair

- John Seton, who emigrated to the [Virginia Colony](/source/Virginia_Colony) in 1635.

- Margaret Seton, who married [John Scrimgeour](/source/John_Scrymgeour%2C_1st_Viscount_of_Dudhope), a son of [James Scrimgeour](/source/James_Scrimgeour) of [Dudhope](/source/Dudhope_Castle), Constable of Dundee. As "Lady Dudhope" she was a friend of [Jane Drummond, Countess of Roxburghe](/source/Jean_Ker%2C_Countess_of_Roxburghe), who bought her clothes and visited her at Dudhope in 1619.[20]

- Mary Seton, who married David Skene of Potterton, and became ancestors of the family of Skene of Rubislaw.

- Elizabeth Seton.

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Margaret Sanderson, *Mary Stewart's People* (Mercat Press: Edinburgh, 1987), p. 169.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-SoPiEaA_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-SoPiEaA_2-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-SoPiEaA_2-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-SoPiEaA_2-3) [Robert Seton, *Seton of Parbroath, in Scotland and America* (New York, 1890), p. 19](https://archive.org/details/setonofparbroath00seto/page/18/mode/2up)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** George Seton, *History of the family of Seton during eight centuries*, 1 (Edinburgh, 1896), p. 292.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** George Seton, [*History of the family of Seton during eight centuries*, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1896) pp. 881-2](https://digital.nls.uk/histories-of-scottish-families/archive/96850926?mode=fullsize)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** [Julian Goodare](/source/Julian_Goodare), 'The debts of James VI of Scotland', *The Economic History Review*, 62:4 (November 2009), pp. 926-952 at pp. 934, 937.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** George Seton, [*History of the family of Seton during eight centuries*, 1 (Edinburgh, 1896), pp. 292–3](https://digital.nls.uk/histories-of-scottish-families/archive/96739976?mode=fullsize)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-7)** Miles Kerr-Peterson & Michael Pearce, "King James VI's English Subsidy and Danish Dowry Accounts, 1588–1596", *Miscellany of the Scottish History Society*, XVI (Woodbridge, 2020), pp. 6, 53–54.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-8)** A. Montgomerie, 'King James VI's Tocher Gude and a Local Authorities Loan of 1590', *Scottish Historical Review*, 37:123:1 (April 1958), pp. 11-16.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** [Annie I. Cameron](/source/Annie_Cameron), *Calendar of State Papers: 1593-1595*, vol. 11 (Edinburgh, 1936), pp. 109-114.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** *Historical Manuscripts Commission, Appendix 4th Report: Mrs. Erskine Murray* (London, 1874), p. 527.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** *Register of the Privy Council of Scotland*, vol. 5 (Edinburgh, 1882), pp. 98-100.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-12)** Miles Kerr-Peterson & Michael Pearce, "James VI's English Subsidy and Danish Dowry Accounts, 1588-1596", *Miscellany of the Scottish History Society*, XVI (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2020), p. 6.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-13)** [Thomas Thomson](/source/Thomas_Thomson_(advocate)), *Acts of the Parliaments of Scotland: 1593-1625*, vol. 4 (1816), pp. 78-9.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-14)** Robert Seton, *Seton of Parbroath, in Scotland and America* (New York, 1890), p. 20.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-15)** [George Seton](/source/George_Seton), [*A history of the family of Seton during eight centuries*, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1896), p. 299 with image](https://archive.org/details/historyoffamilv100seto/page/298/mode/2up)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-16)** [Laurence Hutton](/source/Laurence_Hutton), [*From The Books* (New York, 1892), pp. 72-3](https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.213913/page/n81/mode/2up)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-17)** ['Mary, Queen of Scots (1542–1587)'British (English) School, National Trust, Lyme Park](https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/mary-queen-of-scots-15421587-132653)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-18)** [Mary, Queen of Scots (1542–1587), National Trust Collections](http://www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk/object/499953.1)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-19)** ['Unknown sitter, called Mary, Queen of Scots', National Portrait Gallery](https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw62134/Unknown-sitter-called-Mary-Queen-of-Scots)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-20)** [*HMC 14th Report: Roxburghe* (London, 1914), p. 46](https://archive.org/details/manuscriptsofrox00greauoft/page/46/mode/2up)

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [David Seton of Parbroath](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Seton_of_Parbroath) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Seton_of_Parbroath?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.