Johannes Sering

Johannes Sering or Johan Seringius (died 1631) was a chaplain to Anne of Denmark in Scotland and England. He wrote a dedicatory Latin poem for Adrian Damman's Bartasias; de mundi creatione (Edinburgh: Robert Waldegrave, 1600).

Background

Image:Chyträus,-David-2.jpg]]

Sering was a graduate of Rostock University where he had studied under David Chytraeus. His 1585 matriculation record says he was from Thuringia.[http://matrikel.uni-rostock.de/id/100038656 'Immatrikulation von Ioannes Seringius', Universität Rostock]. He was a member of the Lutheran church. He was described as born a subject of the Prince of Weimar (Johann Wilhelm, Duke of Saxe-Weimar) when he became an English citizen in 1607.[https://archive.org/details/lettersofdenizat01shaw/page/12 William Arthur Shaw, Letters of denization and acts of naturalization for aliens in England and Ireland (Lymington, 1911), p. 12]

Preacher to the Scottish Queen

As part of the negotiations for the marriage of Anne of Denmark and James VI of Scotland the Danish Regency council requested that she was allowed the freedom of religion and worship of her choice, and to keep a preacher at the expense of the Scottish exchequer, and recruit a successor as she wishes. The preacher was to be Danish or German.David Stevenson, Scotland's Last Royal Wedding: The Marriage of James VI of Anne of Denmark (Edinburgh: John Donald, 1997), pp. 83, 85.

Following Anne of Denmark's marriage by proxy to King James on 20 August 1589,David Chrytraeus, Epistolae (Hanovia, 1614), pp. 696, 711: Miles Kerr-Peterson, A Protestant Lord in James VI's Scotland: George Keith, Fifth Earl Marischal (Boydell, 2019), p. 50. a household was established for her in Denmark as the Scottish Queen. The chief lady in waiting or hofmesterinde was Fru Ide Ulfstand, and Johannes Sering was her preacher.David Stevenson, Scotland's Last Royal Wedding (Edinburgh, 1997), pp. 22–3, 85, 89.

=Meeting at Oslo=

After Anne's ships were delayed by contrary winds, James VI of Scotland sailed to Norway to meet her. On 25 November 1589 he had lunch with Sering and his own preacher David Lindsay, as guests of Jens Nilssøn, Bishop of Oslo.David Stevenson, Scotland's Last Royal Wedding (Edinburgh, 1997), p. 94. James VI interviewed Sering, promising him an annual stipend of 200 dalers and another 40 dalers for the wages of two servants for, "the instruction of our Sovereign lady his highness's dearest spouse in the true religion".National Records of Scotland, Register of the Privy Seal, PS1/66 f. 38r, 23 January 1593/4.

=Service in Scotland=

Sering, as the "Dens minister" (Danish preacher), was paid a yearly fee of £600 in three termly installments from the Scottish exchequer.[https://archive.org/details/exchequerrollss01exchgoog/page/n107 George Powell McNeill], Exchequer Rolls of Scotland, vol. 23 (Edinburgh, 1908), pp. 44, 152, 155, 208, 279. He was given clothes to suit his role, a hat, a gown and cassock of fine London cloth.Michael Pearce, "Anna of Denmark: Fashioning a Danish Court in Scotland", The Court Historian, 24:2 (2019), p. 147. {{doi|10.1080/14629712.2019.1626110}}

David Chrytraeus wrote to Sering in October 1590.David Chrytraeus, Epistolae (Hanovia, 1614), p. 752. Sering may have written frequently to the court of Denmark with news of Scotland and the queen. One of his surviving letters to the Danish council seems to allude to this role.Maureen Meikle, "Once a Dane, Always a Dane? Queen Anna of Denmark's Foreign Relations and Intercessions as a Queen Consort of Scotland and England", The Court Historian, 24:2 (2019), p. 171. {{doi|10.1080/14629712.2019.1626121}}

Though both kingdoms had adopted forms of Protestantism, Denmark was a Lutheran country while Scotland had become Calvinist. Some historians, including Susan Dunn-Hensley and Maureen Meikle, suggest that Anne of Denmark soon secretly converted to the Catholic faith after coming to Scotland, despite Sering's guiding role.Susan Dunn-Hensley, Anna of Denmark and Henrietta Maria: Virgins, Witches, and Catholic Queens (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017), p. 59: Maureen Meikle, 'Once a Dane, Always a Dane? Queen Anna of Denmark’s Foreign Relations and Intercessions as a Queen Consort of Scotland and England', The Court Historian, 24:2 (2019), pp. 171–2. {{doi|10.1080/14629712.2019.1626121}}: Maureen Meikle & Helen M. Payne, 'From Lutheranism to Catholicism: The faith of Anna of Denmark, 1574-1619', Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 64 (2013), pp. 45-69. {{doi|10.1017/S0022046911000868}} It is suggested that Sering converted to Scottish Calvinism.David Stevenson, Scotland's Last Royal Wedding (Edinburgh, 1997), p. 67. Other historians, including Jemma Field, contend that Anne of Denmark did not convert from the Lutheran faith of her upbringing.Jemma Field, [https://www.ssns.org.uk/journal/northern-studies-50-2019/ 'Anna of Denmark and the Politics of Religious Identity in Jacobean Scotland and England, c. 1592-1619', Northern Studies, 50 (2019), pp. 87-113]

On 25 May 1595 Sering wrote the Council of Denmark, asking if he could leave Scotland and be a church minister in Denmark. He mentioned that the queen now could now speak Scots as fluently as any noblewoman.Steve Murdoch, Britain, Denmark-Norway and the House of Stuart, 1603-1660 (Tuckwell: East Linton, 2000), p. 3.William Dunn Macray, [https://archive.org/details/report184019084647grea/page/38/mode/2up Appendix to the 47th Report of the Deputy Keeper of Public Records (London, 1886), p. 38] However, he stayed in the queen's service and came with her to England in 1603.

In April 1597 he attended the baptism of Lucretia, the daughter of George Littlejohn.'Extracts from the Register of Baptisms, Edinburgh', Scottish Antiquary, vol. 5 (Edinburgh, 1891), p. 90. Sering married Anna Ellis or Ebbes, a Danish servant of the queen on 28 April 1598. The queen paid for their wedding banquet at Holyrood Palace, and the household accounts recorded the day as the wedding of "Hairy Hans" and "Little Anna".Michael Pearce, 'Anna of Denmark: Fashioning a Danish Court in Scotland', The Court Historian, 24:2 (2019), p. 147.

=In England=

Sering went to London at the Union of the Crowns with his family.Susan Doran, From Tudor to Stewart: the regime change from Elizabeth I to James I (Oxford, 2024), p. 192. The Duke of Holstein, who visited England in 1605, promised Anna Ebbis she would have an annual pension of £50, but she later had to write a petition for payment.HMC Salisbury Hatfield, vol. 22 (London, 1971), p. 84.

On 25 July 1607, Sering was granted denization in England, and was described as a subject of the Prince of Weimar.Letters of Denization and Acts of Naturalization for Aliens in England and Ireland, vol. 18 (London, 1911), p. 12, see also TNA SP15/38/28, note of bill signed May 1606.

Little Anna died on 26 February 1608, and was buried at St Margaret's, Westminster, where Sering had a ledger stone placed with a Latin epitaph.John Stow, A survey of the cities of London and Westminster, vol. 2 (London, 1753), p. 622.

In 1611 he petitioned for the mastership of the hospital of Newport Pagnell, which was part of the queen's jointure.Mary Anne Everett Green, Calendar State Papers Domestic, Addenda 1580-1625 (London, 1872), p. 531. Sering, recorded as the "Dutch chaplain" had a royal annuity of £50 per year from 11 February 1621.Frederick Devon, Issues of the Exchequer: James I (London, 1836), p. 258. In 1622 he sent a petition for payment to the Lord Treasurer, Lionel Cranfield.HMC 4th Report: De La Warr (London, 1874), pp. 277, 300. He received a pension of £80 yearly. In 1626 he wrote a Latin poem for the coronation of Charles I of England to accompany another petition for arrears of his pension.British Library, Sloane MS 2717.

He died in 1631 and was buried at St Margaret's, Westminster, leaving a widow, Grace.A. M. Burke, Memorials of St. Margaret's Church, Westminster: the parish registers, 1539-1660 (London, 1914), pp. 489, 558.

Frederick Sering

A man called "Frederick Searing" or "Serings", locksmith or turner (carpenter), also appears in lists of the queen's household.Miles Kerr-Peterson & Michael Pearce, 'James VI's English Subsidy and Danish Dowry Accounts, 1588-1596', Scottish History Society Miscellany XVI (Woodbridge, 2020), pp. 14, 39-40, 69. In payments of February 1608, he can be linked with George Davies, a coffer maker, and in 1612 was listed as "Frederick, smith". It is unclear if this man was a relation to Johannes Sering.Thomas W. Ross, 'Expenses for Ben Jonson's The Masque of Beauty', The Bulletin of the Rocky Mountain Modern Language Association, 23:4 (December 1969), p. 172.[https://catalog.folger.edu/record/234783 Folger Shakespeare Library, catalogue X.d.572][https://digitalcollections.folger.edu/img13084 Folger Shakespeare Library, image]