David Cunningham of Robertland

Sir David Cunningham of Robertland, in Ayrshire, was Master of Works to the Crown of Scotland from 1602 to 1607, and Surveyor of the King's Works in England from 1604 to 1606 Career Exiled for murder Involved in the murder of the Earl of Eglinton in 1585, Cunningham spent some time in exile at the royal court of Denmark, and the Danish government wrote to James VI of Scotland to reconcile him with Eglinton's heirs. His lands passed to Lord John Hamilton, but for a time Robert, Master of Eglinton was allowed to hold the House of Robertland with six men. He was rehabilitated in 1589, when James VI himself travelled there to meet and marry Anne of Denmark. A Danish journal records that on 27 November 1589, the Danish ladies-in-waiting asked Jens Nilssøn, Bishop of Oslo to discuss the case with John Maitland, Chancellor of Scotland. The ladies, bishop and chancellor then had an audience with James VI at the Old Bishop's Palace in Oslo and he granted a pardon. James' mother-in-law Sophie of Mecklenburg-Güstrow wrote to him on 30 December, thanking him for pardoning Robertland.