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James IV gave masons working at Linlithgow Palace in September 1491 drinksilver at the "pending" of three stone vaults. The completion of arched vaulting was a significant milestone in a construction project. In November 1497 he gave masons at Linlithgow a tip of 9 shillings.Thomas Dickson, Accounts of the Treasurer, vol. 1 (Edinburgh, 1877), pp. 181, 366-9. Following a visit to Whitekirk, on 19 October 1507 James IV went to Hailes Castle and gave drinksilver to masons working on the building.James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Treasurer, vol. 4 (Edinburgh, 1902), p. 80. James IV also gave drinksilver to masons working on his tomb at Cambuskenneth Abbey.Lucinda H. S. Dean, Death and the Royal Succession in Scotland: Ritual, Ceremony and Power (Boydell & Brewer, 2024), p. 204. Regent Arran gave drinksilver to masons laying the foundation of his palace at Kinneil House.James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland, 10 (Edinburgh, 1913), p. 207.
Regent Arran gave drinksilver to the tailor of Mary of Guise who made the wedding clothes of his daughter Barbara in January 1548.David Laing, "Additional Note", F. J. Furnivall, The Minor Poems of William Lauder (Early English Text Society, 1870), p. vii. In September 1561 drinksilver was given to the tailor "boys" who had worked making black mourning "dule" riding clothes for Mary, Queen of Scots, and her ladies to wear at her Entry to Edinburgh. She also gave drinksilver to the servant workmen of the goldsmith James Mosman who made gold chains for her to diplomatic gift and her departing French escorts. Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 11 (Edinburgh, 1916), pp. 66, 76. In November 1569, Regent Moray gave soldiers commanded by James Cunningham 20 shillings in drinksilver for confiscating the goods of Lord Fleming at Boghall Castle at Biggar.Charles Thorpe McInnes, Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland, 1566-1574, vol. 12 (Edinburgh, 1970), p. 174. Regent Morton gave drinksilver to the workers making at the 'lang siege' of Edinburgh Castle.Charles Thorpe McInnes, Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland, 1566-1574, vol. 12 (Edinburgh, 1970), p. 351.
In May 1578, James VI gave or sent drinksilver to tailors in the workshop of James Inglis.Charles Thorpe McInnes & Athol Murray, Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland, vol. 13 (Edinburgh, 1978), p. 203. Gifts were made to junior craftsmen or apprentices, some of whom were called "childer". 'Craftis childer', Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue The childer of a carpenter were given drinksilver in 1598 when they fitted out a nursery for Anne of Denmark at Dalkeith Palace.Agnes Strickland, Lives of the Queens of England, vol. 6 (Philadelphia, 1877), p. 277. Accounts consistently record drinksilver gifts to junior craftsmen or junior royal servants, in 1594 at the time of the baptism of Prince Henry, the Edinburgh guild gave drinksilver to a "young man, servant to the king's wardrobe" who supplied cushions for the use of visiting ambassadors. At Stirling Castle, in August 1594, James VI distributed drinksilver of 11 gold rose nobles and 3 crowns of the sun to workmen involved in the baptism preparations.Marguerite Wood, Extracts from the Records of the Burgh of Edinburgh, 1589-1603 (Edinburgh: Oliver & Boyd, 1927), p. 348: NRS E21/70 f.102r.
The accounts of the purse of James V include many gratuities given to servants, especially to those who brought food gifts. However, the only rewards from the king's purse recorded as "drinksilver" were made to the servants of his tailor and shoe maker in March 1540 who delivered goods to him at Stirling Castle.Athol Murray, 'Pursemaster's Accounts', Miscellany of the Scottish History Society, X (Edinburgh, 1965), pp. 20, 38 In November 1545, Regent Arran gave drinksilver rewards to three "extraordinary" gunners (meaning they were not on the regular payroll) at the siege of Lochmaben Castle. They also received a month's wage of £9.James Balfour Paul, Accounts of the Treasurer of Scotland, 8 (Edinburgh, 1908), pp. lxxiv–lxxv, 415, 419. When James VI visited Halidon Hill near Berwick-upon-Tweed on 27 April 1588, he gave the English commanding officers of the garrison a gift of 100 gold crowns and to the porters (officers of lesser rank) 40 crowns described as drinksilver.David Moysie, Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1755), p. 135. In Denmark in 1590, James VI gave 12 gold rose nobles as drinksilver to a man who brought a gift of horses from his soon-to-be brother-in-law, the Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg.Miles Kerr-Peterson & Michael Pearce, 'James VI's English Subsidy and Danish Dowry Accounts', Scottish History Society Miscellany XVI (Woodbridge, 2020), p. 50.
Drinksilver gifts were also recorded in the household books of aristocrats. In July 1575 Agnes Keith gave 3 shillings to the "boys" (junior craftsmen) who worked for a bow maker and blacksmith in Edinburgh supplying arms to her husband Colin Campbell, 6th Earl of Argyll. HMC 6th Report, Moray (London, 1877), p. 657. In 1619 Jean Drummond gave a gunmaker in Dundee £3 Pound Scots in drinksilver when he was making pistols for her husband the Earl of Roxburghe, even though the Constable of Dundee had commissioned them as a gift. HMC, 14th Report, Part 3, Duke of Roxburghe (London, 1894), p. 46
Masons working on the building of George Heriot's School in the 1620s were given drinksilver at the laying of the foundations, the start of work on the first stairwell or turnpike, and the completing of an entablature or "ledgement" around the building. The masons and barrowmen on the project also received drinksilver on quarter days through the year.David Laing, 'Who was the architect of Heriot's Hospital?', Transactions of the Architectural Institute of Scotland, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1852), pp. 13-40.
Lawyers's clerks received drinksilver after consultations or on completion of drafting work.William Mure, Selections from the Family Papers Preserved at Caldwell, vol. 1 (Glasgow, 1854), p. 127. Junior clerical workers at the Scottish exchequer received drinksilver. Exchequer Rolls, vol. 23 (Edinburgh, 1908), p. 289. Clerks and officers issuing royal charters under the Great Seal of Scotland were forbidden in 1597 from requesting drinksilver, but could accept it when offered by the clients or parties.Robert Bell, A Dictionary of the Law of Scotland, vol. 2 (Edinburgh, 1815), pp. 54-5. The amount of drinksilver to be given to the "man" or under-clerk working for the town clerk of Glasgow by those requesting copies of sasine was regulated from 1640. Extracts from the Records of the Burgh of Glasgow, vol. 1 (Glasgow, 1876), p. 421. Plague-cleansers working in Stirling in January 1646 charged for disinfecting pairs of plaids and other textiles, at rates fixed by the burgh council "and no further to be taken, nor yet any drink silver". Extracts from the Records of the Royal Burgh of Stirling, vol. 1 (Glasgow, 1887), p. 188.
In 1590, Scottish diplomats offered drinksilver to town officials in The Hague who brought them notice of a gift of wine, but they refused the money saying they would lose their jobs. John Skene observed that the customs of gift giving and gratuities differed "contrair the fashion" in other countries.David Scott Gehring, Diplomatic Intelligence on the Holy Roman Empire and Denmark during the Reigns of Elizabeth I and James VI, Camden Fifth Series, 49 (London, 2016), p. 199.
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