Andrew Keith (courtier)

Andrew Keith (floruit 1613) was a Scottish courtier known for fighting at Heidelberg Castle.

Keith was a servant in the household of Princess Elizabeth, daughter of King James and Anne of Denmark. In 1612 he bought a "white gray" horse for Elizabeth, costing £40. Another servant or courtier in Elizabeth's household, Corbett Bushell, paid £28 for a "dapple grey stone" horse.[1]

In 1613 Keith was an equerry and Master of the Horse to Elizabeth, now Electress Palatine at Heidelberg Castle.[2]

In August 1613 he argued with Lady Harington, the wife of Lord Harington of Exton, in or near Elizabeth's presence and insulted Lord Harington. Elizabeth asked Hans Meinhard von Schönberg to stop the quarrel.[3]

Subsequently, Bushell, described as a servant of Lord Harington, caught up with Keith and challenged him to fight. A Scottish servant of Keith prevented them fighting. Lord Harington then had a discussion with Bushell. Meanwhile, Keith and four or five followers prepared to ambush Bushell. Keith was armed with a sword, a square bastinado (a kind of cudgel) and a dagger. When Bushell tried to ride away, Keith hit him twice with the bastinado. Bushell and Keith fought with their swords, and Bushell was wounded several times. Another servant of Lord Harington, Mr Gray, was injured in the hand. Elizabeth's coachman helped Gray, and Keith and followers ran off. They were captured, Keith secured in his own chamber, and his followers imprisoned.[4]

Bushell survived, and it was planned that the Haringtons would bring him back to England.[5]

References
  1. HMC 6th Report: Raffles (London, 1879), p. 471.
  2. Nadine Akkerman, The Correspondence of Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia: 1603-1631 (Oxford, 2015), p. 132.
  3. Mary Anne Everett Green, Elizabeth, Electress Palatine and Queen of Bohemia (London, 1909), pp. 87-8.
  4. Thomas Birch & Robert Folkestone Williams, The Court and Times of James the First, vol. 1 (London, 1848), pp. 265-6.
  5. Thomas Birch & Robert Folkestone Williams, The Court and Times of James the First, vol. 1 (London, 1848), p. 266.
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