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Tom Durie, Duri, Dury or Derry (floruit 1600–1620) was a Scottish jester to Anne of Denmark.
He seems to be mentioned in a letter of the queen's secretary William Fowler written on 3 October 1604, "Thom. Ducie sic is in missing, and no newes of his wandring". His absence from court and return, if it was he, was not mentioned again.John Nichols, Progresses of James the First, vol. 1 (London, 1828), p. 458: Edmund Lodge, Illustrations of British History, vol. 3 (London, 1791), p. 236.
In August 1607, King James was amused by a letter from Sir Robert Cecil about the promotion of a courtier to a position in the household of Anne of Denmark. King James asked the Earl of Dunbar to reply, and he wrote that Cecil was "so good a fool" and need only fear the jealousy of "Thom. Durey".M. S. Guiseppi & D. McN. Lockie, HMC Salisbury Hatfield, 19 (London, 1965), p. 209.
The queen had his portrait painted in 1614 by Marcus Gheeraerts the Younger, and again by Paul van Somer, recorded in an inventory as the picture of "Tome Derey at Length".Karen Hearn, Dynasties: Painting in Tudor and Jacobean England, 1530-1630 (London, 1995), 194. Gheeraerts's painting is displayed at the National Gallery of Scotland. At Somerset House in London his portrait was displayed in an antechamber or passage between the queen's withdrawing room and the gallery and was recorded in an inventory as the picture of "Thomas Derry" in 1619.M. T. W. Payne, 'An Inventory of Denmark House in 1619', Journal of the History of Collections, 13:1 (2001), 39.
The space at Somerset House was painted in the reign of Charles I and the accounts record the "colouring of Tom Derry's gallery".John Doran, History of Court Fools (London, 1858), 190. An inventory of paintings at Somerset House made in 1649 attributes a painting in the gallery of "Tom Derry" to Paul van Somer.Samuel Pegge, Curialia, vol. 2 (London, 1806), 120.
Anne of Denmark also displayed his portrait in the north gallery at Oatlands Palace.Jemma Field, Anna of Denmark: The Material and Visual Culture of the Stuart Courts (Manchester, 2020), p. 97. The Oatlands portrait was sent for reframing and was recorded as missing.Wendy Hitchmough, 'Setting the Stuart court: placing portraits in the performance of Anglo-Spanish negotiations', Journal of the History of Collections, 32:2 (July 2020), pp. 245-264. In the 1630s the Gheeraerts painting was in the Queen's Gallery at Greenwich Palace, with portraits of Anne's Danish relatives.Oliver Millar, ‘The Inventories and Valuations of the King’s Goods 1649-1651’, The Volume of the Walpole Society, vol. 43 (1971-2), pp. 67, 316; ‘Abraham van der Doort’s Catalogue of the Collection of Charles I’, The Volume of the Walpole Society, vol. 37 (1958-9), p. 197.
The meaning of the large silver cup shown in the picture is unknown. Allison Steenson has drawn attention to a short note written by Anne of Denmark' secretary, William Fowler, "for Tho Duryes portrait". This includes the Latin line "Odi memorem comptorem", I hate a drinking companion with a good memory".Allison L. Steenson, The Hawthornden Manuscripts of William Fowler (Routledge, 2021), 102.
Durie was given mourning clothes on the death of Prince Henry in 1612. Folger Shakespeare Library, catalogue X.d.572 Another fool at court, Archibald Armstrong, wore a crimson velvet coat with gold lace at the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Frederick V of the Palatinate in 1613. The costume may have been like that in the portrait of Tom Durie.Frederic Madden, 'Warrant for the Apparel for the Marriage of the Princess Elizabeth', Archaeologia, 26 (1836), p. 392.
Weekly expenses for "Thomas Derry her majesty's jester" and "John Mawe, his man" in 1612 were 7 shillings.Peter Cunningham, Extracts from the Revels Accounts (London, 1842), p. xlii. A list of the horses of royal servants made in 1618 includes horses for Archie, Thom. Derry, and John Mawre, his keeper. HMC 6th Report: Graham (London, 1877), p. 326 the list of horses is now in the British Library. In June 1619, a horse described as a "grey nag" was bought for Tom Durie, costing £12. He was now the king's fool.Frederick Devon, Issues of the Exchequer (London, 1836), p. 336.
Tom Durie was still alive in 1620 when an account mentions a payment of 9s-6d weekly for his food and lodging. HMC 4th Report: De La Warr (London, 1874), p. 282. Some receipts for his and Archy Armstrong's costumes are kept with the papers of Lionel Cranfield at Kent History and Library Centre. Kent Archives, Cranfield's accounts
In 1623 a Roman Catholic, Thomas Rant, recorded a story about Anne of Denmark and a fool, probably meaning Tom Durie, at Dunfermline Palace in 1600, which he had heard from a Mr Gray. The queen was pregnant (with Prince Charles) and asked to hear the Mass at night. Her fool observed the ceremony and described it to James VI as a midnight feast. The king was jealous about this but was satisfied when he heard it was the Mass. The point of the story for Thomas Rant was to show King James' indifference to his wife's religion, who was frequently claimed to be sympathetic to Roman Catholicism.Mark Aloysius Tierney, Dodds Church History of England, vol. 5 (London, 1843), p. 107
Robert Cecil once wrote a letter of apology to Adam Newton for a breach of manners, saying that "had I done so because I knew it not to be my duty, then am I worse than Tom Dyrry", suggesting that Durie did not adhere to court etiquette.Henry Ellis, Original Letters Illustrative of English History, 3rd Series, vol. 4 (London, 1846), p. 163 modernised here. He compared himself to Tom Durie in another humorous letter to Newton, writing that if a supplicant failed to gain a place in Prince Henry's household, the man should be sent to "Tom Dyrry or to me".Thomas Birch, Life of Henry Prince of Wales (London, 1760), p. 138 Robert Cecil was short in height and courtiers made jokes about his stature.Janet Dickinson, Court Politics and the Earl of Essex, 1589-1601 (Routledge, 2016), p. 103: HMC Salisbury, vol. 5 (London, 1894), pp. 97-8.
In 1607 there was competition for an office in the Queen's household, which caused some amusement at court, and the Scottish courtier George Home, 1st Earl of Dunbar reported to Robert Cecil a joke of the King's, that "Thom. Durey" might be jealous that a noble and his son were striving for his place. HMC Salisbury Hatfield, vol. 19 (London, 1965), p. 209.
After the death of Anne of Denmark, one of her longserving Danish or German courtiers, William 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". Calendar State Papers Domestic Charles I, 1625, 1626 (London, 1858), p. 526. Belo had been given expensive clothes to wear as a young man or teenager at the Scottish court, and may have been of small stature.Michael Pearce, 'Anna of Denmark: Fashioning a Danish Court in Scotland', The Court Historian, 24:2 (2019), p. 145. The subsidy accounts mention that a "littil Duchman" at the Scottish court was given a diamond ring.Miles Kerr-Peterson & Michael Pearce, 'James VI's English Subsidy and Danish Dowry Accounts', Scottish History Society Miscellany XVI (Woodbridge, 2020), p. 85.
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