Sir David Cunninghame of Robertland, in Ayrshire

Ayrshire

Ayrshire is a registration county, and former administrative county in south-west Scotland, United Kingdom, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine. The town of Troon on the coast has hosted the British Open Golf Championship twice in the...

, was Master of Work to the Crown of Scotland

Master of Work to the Crown of Scotland

The Master of Works to the Crown of Scotland was responsible for the construction, repair and maintenance of royal palaces, castles and other crown property in Scotland. The main buildings were; Holyroodhouse; Edinburgh Castle; Stirling Castle; Linlithgow Palace; and Falkland Palace. The position...

 from 1602 to 1607.

Involved in the murder of the Earl of Eglinton

Earl of Eglinton

Earl of Eglinton is a title in the Peerage of Scotland.Some authorities spell the title: Earl of Eglintoun In 1859 the thirteenth Earl of Eglinton, Archibald Montgomerie, was also created Earl of Winton in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, which gave him an automatic seat in the House of Lords,...

 in 1585, Cunninghame spent some time in exile at the royal court of Denmark, and the Danish government wrote to James VI of Scotland

James I of England

James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...

 to reconcile him with Eglinton's heirs. He was rehabilitated in 1589, when James VI himself travelled there to meet and marry Anne of Denmark

Anne of Denmark

Anne of Denmark was queen consort of Scotland, England, and Ireland as the wife of King James VI and I.The second daughter of King Frederick II of Denmark, Anne married James in 1589 at the age of fourteen and bore him three children who survived infancy, including the future Charles I...

. A Danish journal records that on 27 November 1589, the Danish ladies-in-waiting asked Bishop Jens Nilssøn

Diocese of Oslo

Oslo bishopric is The Church of Norway's bishopric for the municipalities of Oslo, Asker and Bærum. It is one of Norway's five traditional bishoprics and was founded around the year 1070.-History:...

 to discuss the case with the Scottish chancellor. The ladies, bishop and chancellor then had an audience with James VI at the Old Bishop's Palace in Oslo

Old Bishop's Palace in Oslo

The Old Bishop's Palace in Oslo was the residence of the Catholic bishops of Oslo. The palace was built like a fortified castle. The construction was begun around 1210 by the then bishop, Nikolas Arnesson, continuing through to the early 14th century...

. James granted a pardon. On arrival in Scotland he was appointed as 'sewer' to Queen Anne, a courtier who attended to the royal person at mealtimes, and a role once occupied by James Hamilton of Finnart

James Hamilton of Finnart

Sir James Hamilton of Finnart was a Scottish nobleman and architect, the illegitimate son of James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Arran, and Mary Boyd of Bonshaw....

 for James V.

He was appointed Master of Works after the death of William Schaw

William Schaw

William Schaw was Master of Works to James VI of Scotland, and is claimed to have been an important figure in the development of freemasonry.-Biography:...

 in 1602. He may have been an architect, and followed the court of King James to England, having first been knight

Knight

A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....

ed in 1604, and then made Surveyor of the King's Works

Office of Works

The Office of Works was established in the English Royal household in 1378 to oversee the building of the royal castles and residences. In 1832 it became the Works Department within the Office of Woods, Forests, Land Revenues, Works and Buildings...

 in England between 1604 and 1606. Cunninghame is sometimes confused with a younger namesake cousin, David Cunningham, 1st Baronet of Auchinhervie.
Robertland had three sons. One was a gentleman of the chamber to Count Maurice

Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange

Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange was sovereign Prince of Orange from 1618, on the death of his eldest half brother, Philip William, Prince of Orange,...

 in the Netherlands

Dutch Republic

The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...

. He was arrested in Hull while bringing muskets for James VI in August 1599.