Benjamin von Buwinckhausen (1571-1635) was a German diplomat who served the

Duchy of Württemberg The Duchy of Württemberg (german: Herzogtum Württemberg) was a duchy located in the south-western part of the Holy Roman Empire. It was a member of the Holy Roman Empire from 1495 to 1806. The dukedom's long survival for over three centuries ...

, and the German Princes of the Union. Buwinckhausen wrote an account of the London coronation of

James VI and I James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...

and

Anne of Denmark Anne of Denmark (; 12 December 1574 – 2 March 1619) was the wife of King James VI and I; as such, she was Queen of Scotland The monarchy of the United Kingdom, commonly referred to as the British monarchy, is the constitutional fo ...

on 25 May 1603. He was lodged at

Richmond Palace Richmond Palace was a royal residence on the River Thames in England which stood in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Situated in what was then rural Surrey, it lay upstream and on the opposite bank from the Palace of Westminster, which w ...

. On 4 October 1603

Frederick I, Duke of Württemberg Friedrich I of Württemberg (19 August 1557 – 29 January 1608) was the son of George of Mömpelgard and his wife Barbara of Hesse, daughter of Philip I, Landgrave of Hesse. Several references are made to him in Shakespeare's '' The Merry ...

was invested in the

Order of the Garter The Most Noble Order of the Garter is an order of chivalry founded by Edward III of England in 1348. It is the most senior order of knighthood in the British honours system, outranked in precedence only by the Victoria Cross and the George C ...

by a delegation of

. Sir Robert Spencer and

William Dethick Sir William Dethick (c. 1542–1612) was a long-serving officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. He was the son of Sir Gilbert Dethick and followed his father as Garter Principal King of Arms. Though he was adjudged a qualified armori ...

brought him the insignia of the order. Benjamin von Buwinckhausen helped organise the ceremonies in the

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

and

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

. The jewels including two garters with diamonds and rubies, and two St Georges with diamonds and rubies, and a gold chain or collar, made by the London goldsmiths,

John Spilman Sir John Spilman (also spelt Spielman) (died 1626) was a Lindau, German-born entrepreneur who founded the first commercially successful paper-mill in England, establishing a factory on the River Darenth in Dartford, Kent in 1588.Dartford: Cradle o ...

and William Herrick. He came to London again in 1608 with

Louis Frederick, Duke of Württemberg-Montbéliard Louis Frederick of Württemberg-Montbéliard (29 January 1586 in Montbéliard – 26 January 1631 in Montbéliard) was the founder of a cadet line of the House of Württemberg known as the Dukes of Württemberg-Montbéliard. Louis Frederick o ...

. They returned the insignia of the

of the recently deceased Frederick I, Duke of Württemberg and visited Scotland where they were hosted by

Andrew Melville of Garvock Andrew Melville of Garvock (died 1617) was a Scottish courtier and servant of Mary, Queen of Scots. Family background Andrew Melville was a younger son of John Melville of Raith in Fife and Helen Napier of Merchiston. His older brother James M ...

. He was in England again in 1610 on a diplomatic mission. On 30 April 1610 their secretary recorded that they saw

Othello ''Othello'' (full title: ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'') is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare, probably in 1603, set in the contemporary Ottoman–Venetian War (1570–1573) fought for the control of the Island of Cypru ...

, ''l'histoire du More de Venise'', at the

Globe Theatre The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, on land owned by Thomas Brend and inherited by his son, Nicholas Brend, and gra ...

. The next day they went to

Eltham Park Eltham ( ) is a district of southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is east-southeast of Charing Cross, and is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. The three wards of E ...

to see

Cornelius Drebbel Cornelis Jacobszoon Drebbel ( ) (1572 – 7 November 1633) was a Dutch engineer and inventor. He was the builder of the first operational submarine in 1620 and an innovator who contributed to the development of measurement and control systems, op ...

demonstrate his perpetual motion machine. They also observed King James fishing with cormorants. In London in 1620 negotiating with

Christopher von Dohna Burgrave Christopher von Dohna (German: ''Burggraf Christoph von Dohna''; 27 June 1583 – 1 July 1637) was a German politician and scholar during the time of the Thirty Years' War. He came from the Prussian family of the Burgraves of Dohna. ...

on behalf of

Frederick V of the Palatinate Frederick V (german: link=no, Friedrich; 26 August 1596 – 29 November 1632) was the Elector Palatine of the Rhine in the Holy Roman Empire from 1610 to 1623, and reigned as King of Bohemia from 1619 to 1620. He was forced to abdicate both r ...

and the Princes of the Union, Buwinckhausen refused a gift of valuable silver plate from James VI and I, on the grounds that he was not an ambassador. He was eventually persuaded to accept the silverware. He was also given a gold chain with a portrait medal of the king, provided by a London goldsmith John Acton. The exchequer record of the gift names him as "Benny Couzen".Frederick Devon, ''Issues of the Exchequer'' (London, 1836), pp. 244-5.

References

External links

A German prince sees Othello at the Globe in 1610: Shakespeare Documented
{{DEFAULTSORT:Buwinckhausen, Benjamin von 1571 births 1635 deaths 17th-century German people