Octavians

The Octavians were a financial commission of eight in the government of Scotland first appointed by James VI in January 1596.^[1] James's minister John Maitland, 1st Lord Maitland of Thirlestane had died a few months earlier, and his financial situation was troubled. They were a reforming body, eager to bring order to the royal finances and bear down on patronage. They imposed a 5% import tax and promotes an expedition into the Highlands to recover tax revenue.^[2]

The initial commission lasted only one year, and was much disliked; Presbyterians attempted a coup at the end of 1596, and one demand was that the Octavians should be disbanded.^[3] When renewed in 1597, it faced disabling opposition from vested interests, and some of the Octavians were suspect as sympathetic to Catholics.^[4] But the concept of the commission as an extension of the exchequer into government persisted, and under the name of New Octavians it played a part in Scottish administration into the reign of Charles I.

Octavians of 1596

• David Carnegie of Colluthie
• James Elphinstone, 1st Lord Balmerinoch
• Thomas Hamilton, 1st Earl of Haddington
• John Lindsay of Balcarres
• Alexander Seton, 1st Earl of Dunfermline
• Sir John Skene
• Walter Stewart, 1st Lord Blantyre
• Peter Young of Seton^[5]

New Octavians of 1611

• Thomas Hamilton, 1st Earl of Haddington^[6]
• Gideon Murray, Lord Elibank^[7]
• John Preston, Lord Fentonbarns^[8]
• Alexander Seton, 1st Earl of Dunfermline
• John Spottiswoode^[9]

Notes

1. Julian Goodare, The Government of Scotland, 1560-1625 (2004), p. 157.
2. Mark Nicholls, A History of the Modern British Isles, 1529-1603: The two kingdoms (1999), p. 306.
3. Julian Goodare, The Scottish Witch-hunt in Context (2002), p. 52.
4. Felicity Heal, Reformation in Britain and Ireland (2005), p. 415.
5. Goodare, Julian. "Octavians". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/69937. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
6.  Stephen, Leslie; Lee, Sidney, eds. (1890). "Hamilton, Thomas (1563-1637)". Dictionary of National Biography. 24. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
7.  Lee, Sidney, ed. (1894). "Murray, Gideon". Dictionary of National Biography. 39. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
8.  Lee, Sidney, ed. (1896). "Preston, John (d.1616)". Dictionary of National Biography. 46. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
9.  Lee, Sidney, ed. (1898). "Spottiswood, John (1565-1637)". Dictionary of National Biography. 53. London: Smith, Elder & Co.