William Belo

William Belo or Below (1579-1635) was a German servant of Anne of Denmark in Scotland and England.

Belo was a member of the aristocratic Mecklenburg Below family. As a ten year old he joined the household of Anne of Denmark in 1589. He was probably a page boy.

Belo was given expensive clothes to wear as a child and teenager at the Scottish court, and may have been of small stature.[1][2] The accounts of Thomas Foulis mention that the "littil Duchman" at court was given a New Year's day gift of diamond ring in 1596 worth 50 French crowns.[3]

There was another servant from Mecklenburg in Anne's household, Jacob, who was a lackey attending the queen's horse.[4] Hennink Mildenitz was another young male servant, who returned to the Danish court in 1602 after serving the queen since 1589.[5] Mildenitz may have been the "Brunswick" lackey mentioned in the queen's clothing accounts.[6]

In July 1592 Belo was dressed in green and orange, colours worn by Marie Stewart, Margaret Winstar, and the queen herself.[7] The account of Robert Jousie records other garments in violet, red, purple, yellow, black, brown, and columbine.[8]

After the queen's death in 1619, Belo complained that he had been poorly rewarded for his service and paid less than Tom Durie, who was "a natural fool", or Archie Armstrong, "a counterfeit".[9] He said the King of Denmark put him with Anna of Denmark when he was ten years old. In another petition he says King James gave him a reward that was owed to Ulrik, Duke of Holstein and he had to go to Denmark to see Christian IV to pursue it, to collect this debt, and then he served the king of Denmark for a while, meanwhile when Mecklenburg was invaded he lost his property there.[10]

References
  1. Michael Pearce, 'Anna of Denmark: Fashioning a Danish Court in Scotland', The Court Historian, 24:2 (2019), p. 145.
  2. Jemma Field, Anna of Denmark: The Material and Visual Culture of the Stuart Courts (Manchester, 2020), pp. 131-2.
  3. Miles Kerr-Peterson & Michael Pearce, 'James VI's English Subsidy and Danish Dowry Accounts', Scottish History Society Miscellany XVI (Woodbridge, 2020), p. 85.
  4. Michael Pearce, 'Anna of Denmark: Fashioning a Danish Court in Scotland', The Court Historian, 24:2 (2019), p. 144.
  5. William Dunn Macray, Appendix to the 47th Report of the Deputy Keeper of Public Records (London, 1886), p. 41
  6. Jemma Field, Anna of Denmark: The Material and Visual Culture of the Stuart Courts (Manchester, 2020), p. 133.
  7. Michael Pearce, 'Anna of Denmark: Fashioning a Danish Court in Scotland', The Court Historian, 24:2 (2019), p. 145.
  8. Jemma Field (2020), pp. 131-2.
  9. John Doran, The History of Court Fools (London, 1858), pp. 201-4
  10. John Bruce, Calendar State Papers Domestic Charles I, 1625, 1626 (London, 1858), pp. 239, 277, 437, 495, 526: TNA SP16/44/f.119: TNA SP16/192/f.149.
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