James was the son ofMary, Queen of Scots, and a great-great-grandson ofHenry VII, King of England and Lord of Ireland, and thus a potential successor to all three thrones. He acceded to the Scottish throne at the age of thirteen months, after his mother was forced toabdicate in his favour. Although his mother was a Catholic, James was brought up as a Protestant. Fourregents governed during hisminority, which ended officially in 1578, though he did not gain full control of his government until 1583. In 1589, he marriedAnne of Denmark. Three of their children survived to adulthood:Henry Frederick,Elizabeth, andCharles. In 1603, Jamessucceeded his cousin Elizabeth I, the lastTudor monarch of England and Ireland, who died childless. He continued to reign in all three kingdoms for 22 years, a period known as theJacobean era, until his death in 1625. After the Union of the Crowns, he based himself in England (the largest of the three realms) from 1603, returning to Scotland only once, in 1617, andstyled himself "King of Great Britain and Ireland". He advocated for a single parliament for England and Scotland. In his reign, thePlantation of Ulster andEnglish colonisation of the Americas began.
James was the only son ofMary, Queen of Scots, and her second husband,Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. Mary and Darnley were great-grandchildren ofHenry VII of England throughMargaret Tudor, the older sister ofHenry VIII. Mary's rule over Scotland was insecure, and she and her husband, beingRoman Catholics, faced a rebellion byProtestant noblemen. During Mary's and Darnley's difficult marriage,[8] Darnley secretly allied himself with the rebels and conspired in the murder of the queen's private secretary,David Rizzio, just three months before James's birth.[9]
Lord Darnley was murdered on 10 February 1567 at Kirk o' Field, Edinburgh, perhaps in revenge for the killing of Rizzio. James inherited his father's titles ofDuke of Albany andEarl of Ross. Mary was already unpopular, and her marriage on 15 May 1567 toJames Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, who was widely suspected of murdering Darnley, heightened widespread bad feeling towards her.[b] In June 1567, Protestant rebels arrested Mary and imprisoned her inLochleven Castle; she never saw her son again. She was forced toabdicate on 24 July 1567 in favour of the infant James and to appoint her illegitimate half-brotherJames Stewart, Earl of Moray, asregent.[16] This made James the third consecutive Scottish monarch to ascend to the throne as an infant.
In 1568, Mary escaped from Lochleven Castle, leading to several years of sporadic violence. The Earl of Moray defeated Mary's troops at theBattle of Langside, forcing her to flee to England, where she was subsequently kept in confinement by Elizabeth. On 23 January 1570, Moray was assassinated byJames Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh.[24] The next regent was James's paternal grandfather,Matthew Stewart, Earl of Lennox, who was carried fatally wounded into Stirling Castle a year later after a raid by Mary's supporters.[25] His successor, the Earl of Mar, "took a vehement sickness" and died on 28 October 1572 at Stirling. Mar's illness, wroteJames Melville, followed a banquet atDalkeith Palace given byJames Douglas, Earl of Morton.[26]
Morton was elected to Mar's office and proved in many ways the most effective of James's regents,[27] but he made enemies by his rapacity.[28] He fell from favour when FrenchmanEsmé Stewart, Sieur d'Aubigny, first cousin of James's father Lord Darnley and futureEarl of Lennox, arrived in Scotland and quickly established himself as the first of James's powerful favourites.[29] James was proclaimed an adult ruler in aceremony of Entry to Edinburgh on 19 October 1579.[30] Morton was executed on 2 June 1581, belatedly charged with complicity in Darnley's murder.[31] On 8 August, James made Lennox the only duke in Scotland.[32] The king, then fifteen years old, remained under the influence of Lennox for about one more year.[33]
Lennox was aProtestant convert, but he was distrusted by ScottishCalvinists who noticed the physical displays of affection between him and the king and alleged that Lennox "went about to draw the King to carnal lust".[28] In August 1582, in what became known as theRuthven Raid, the Protestant earlsWilliam Ruthven, Earl of Gowrie andArchibald Douglas, Earl of Angus lured James intoRuthven Castle, imprisoned him,[c] and forced Lennox to leave Scotland. On 19 September 1582, during James's imprisonment,John Craig, whom the king had personally appointed royal chaplain in 1579, rebuked him so sharply from the pulpit for having issued a proclamation so offensive to the clergy "that the king wept".[35]
After James escaped from Falkland on 27 June 1583,[36] he assumed increasing control of his kingdom. He pushed through theBlack Acts to assert royal authority over the Kirk, and denounced the writings of his former tutor Buchanan.[37] Between 1584 and 1603, he established effective royal government and relative peace among the lords, ably assisted byJohn Maitland of Thirlestane, who led the government until 1592.[38] An eight-man commission known as theOctavians brought some control over the ruinous state of James's finances in 1596, but it drew opposition from vested interests. It was disbanded within a year after a riot in Edinburgh, which was stoked by anti-Catholicism and led the court to withdraw to Linlithgow temporarily.[39]
One last Scottish attempt against the king's person occurred in August 1600, when James was apparently assaulted byAlexander Ruthven, the younger brother ofJohn Ruthven, Earl of Gowrie atGowrie House, the seat of the Ruthvens.[40] Ruthven was run through by James's pageJohn Ramsay, and the Earl of Gowrie was killed in the ensuing fracas; there were few surviving witnesses. Given James's history with the Ruthvens and the fact that he owed them a great deal of money, his account of the circumstances was not universally believed.[41]
In 1586, James signed theTreaty of Berwick with England. That and his mother's execution in 1587, which he denounced as a "preposterous and strange procedure", helped clear the way for his succession south of the border.[d] Queen Elizabeth was unmarried and childless, and James was hermost likely successor. Securing the English succession became a cornerstone of his policy.[43] During theSpanish Armada crisis of 1588, he assured Elizabeth of his support as "your natural son and compatriot of your country".[44] Elizabeth sent Jamesan annual subsidy from 1586 which gave her some leverage over affairs in Scotland.[45]
Throughout his youth, James was praised for his chastity, since he showed little interest in women. After the loss of Lennox, he continued to prefer male company.[46] A suitable marriage, however, was necessary to reinforce his rule, and the choice fell on fourteen-year-oldAnne of Denmark, younger daughter of the Protestant Danish kingFrederick II. Shortly after aproxy marriage in Copenhagen in August 1589, Anne sailed for Scotland but was forced by storms to the coast of Norway.[47] On hearing that the crossing had been abandoned, James sailed fromLeith with a 300-strong retinue to fetch Anne personally in what historianDavid Harris Willson called "the one romantic episode of his life".[48][e] The couple were married formally at theBishop's Palace in Oslo on 23 November. James received a dowry of 75,000Danish dalers and a gift of 10,000 dalers from his mother-in-law,Sophie of Mecklenburg-Güstrow.[50] After stays atElsinore andCopenhagen and a meeting withTycho Brahe, James and Anne returned to Scotland on 1 May 1590.[51]
By all accounts, James was at first infatuated with Anne and, in the early years of their marriage, seems always to have shown her patience and affection.[52] They attended the wedding celebrations of courtiers and danced inmasque costume.[53] The royal couple produced three children who survived to adulthood:Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, who died oftyphoid fever in 1612, aged 18;Elizabeth, laterqueen of Bohemia; andCharles, James's successor.
Anne suffered from recurrent bouts of sickness and was seriously ill from 1617. James visited Anne only three times during her last illness. Shedied before her husband, in March 1619.[54]
James became concerned with the threat posed by witches and wroteDaemonologie in 1597, a tract inspired by his personal involvement that opposed the practice of witchcraft and that provided background material for Shakespeare'sMacbeth.[58][59] James personally supervised the torture of women accused of being witches.[58] After 1599, his views became more sceptical.[60] In a later letter written in England to his son Henry, James congratulates the prince on "the discovery of yon little counterfeit wench. I pray God ye may be my heir in such discoveries ... most miracles now-a-days prove but illusions, and ye may see by this how wary judges should be in trusting accusations."[61]
The forcible dissolution of theLordship of the Isles byJames IV of Scotland in 1493 had led to troubled times for the western seaboard. James IV had subdued the organised military might of theHebrides, but he and his immediate successors lacked the will or ability to provide an alternative form of governance. As a result, the 16th century became known aslinn nan creach, the time of raids.[62] Furthermore, the effects of the Reformation were slow to affect theGàidhealtachd, driving a religious wedge between this area and centres of political control in theCentral Belt.[63]
In 1540,James V had toured the Hebrides, forcing theclan chiefs to accompany him. There followed a period of peace, but the clans were soon at loggerheads with one another again.[64] During James VI's reign, the citizens of the Hebrides were portrayed as lawless barbarians rather than being the cradle of Scottish Christianity and nationhood. Official documents describe the peoples of the Highlands as "void of the knawledge and feir of God" who were prone to "all kynd of barbarous and bestile cruelteis".[65] TheGaelic language, spoken fluently by James IV and probably by James V, became known in the time of James VI as "Erse" or Irish, implying that it was foreign in nature.Parliament decided that Gaelic had become a principal cause of the Highlanders' shortcomings and sought to abolish it.[66]
Scottish gold coin from 1609–1625
It was against this background that James VI authorised the "Gentleman Adventurers of Fife" to civilise the "most barbarousIsle of Lewis" in 1598. James wrote that the colonists were to act "not by agreement" with the local inhabitants, but "by extirpation of thame". Their landing atStornoway began well, but the colonists were driven out by local forces commanded by Murdoch and Neil MacLeod. The colonists tried again in 1605 with the same result, although a third attempt in 1607 was more successful.[67] TheStatutes of Iona were enacted in 1609, which required clan chiefs to provide support for Protestant ministers to Highland parishes; to outlaw bards; to report regularly to Edinburgh to answer for their actions; and to send their heirs toLowland Scotland, to be educated in English-speaking Protestant schools.[68] So began a process "specifically aimed at the extirpation of the Gaelic language, the destruction of its traditional culture and the suppression of its bearers."[69]
In theNorthern Isles, James's cousinPatrick Stewart, Earl of Orkney, resisted the Statutes of Iona and was consequently imprisoned.[70] His natural son Robert led an unsuccessful rebellion against James, and the Earl and his son were hanged.[71] Their estates were forfeited, and theOrkney andShetland islands were annexed to the Crown.[71]
In 1597–98, James wroteThe True Law of Free Monarchies andBasilikon Doron (Royal Gift), in which he argues a theological basis for monarchy. In theTrue Law, he sets out thedivine right of kings, explaining that kings are higher beings than other men for Biblical reasons, though "the highest bench is the sliddriest to sit upon".[72] The document proposes an absolutist theory of monarchy, by which a king may impose new laws byroyal prerogative but must also pay heed to tradition and to God, who would "stirre up such scourges as pleaseth him, for punishment of wicked kings".[73]
Basilikon Doron was written as a book of instruction for the four-year-old Prince Henry and provides a more practical guide to kingship.[74] The work is considered to be well written and perhaps the best example of James's prose.[75] James's advice concerning parliaments, which he understood as merely the king's "head court", foreshadows his difficulties with theEnglish House of Commons: "Hold no Parliaments," he tells Henry, "but for the necesitie of new Lawes, which would be but seldome".[76] In theTrue Law, James maintains that the king owns his realm as a feudal lord owns his fief, because kings arose "before any estates or ranks of men, before any parliaments were holden, or laws made, and by them was the land distributed, which at first was wholly theirs. And so it follows of necessity that kings were the authors and makers of the laws, and not the laws of the kings."[77]
In the 1580s and 1590s, James promoted the literature of his native country. He published his treatiseSome Rules and Cautions to be Observed and Eschewed in Scottish Prosody in 1584 at the age of 18. It was both a poetic manual and a description of the poetic tradition in his mother tongue ofScots, applying Renaissance principles.[78] He also made statutory provision to reform and promote the teaching of music, seeing the two in connection. One act of his reign urges the Scottishburghs to reform and support the teaching of music inSang Sculis.[79]
In furtherance of these aims, James was both patron and head of a loose circle of ScottishJacobean court poets and musicians known as theCastalian Band, which includedWilliam Fowler andAlexander Montgomerie among others, Montgomerie being a favourite of the king.[80] James was himself a poet, and was happy to be seen as a practising member of the group.[81]
By the late 1590s, James's championing of native Scottish tradition was reduced to some extent by the increasing likelihood of his succession to the English throne.[82]William Alexander and other courtier poets started toanglicise their written language, and followed the king to London after 1603.[83] James's role as active literary participant and patron made him a defining figure in many respects for English Renaissance poetry and drama, which reached a pinnacle of achievement in his reign,[84] but his patronage of thehigh style in the Scottish tradition, which included his ancestorJames I of Scotland, became largely sidelined.[85]
From 1601, in the last years of Elizabeth's life, certain English politicians—notably her chief ministerRobert Cecil[f]—maintained asecret correspondence with James to prepare in advance for a smooth succession.[87] With the queen clearly dying, Cecil sent James a draft proclamation of his accession to the English throne in March 1603. Elizabeth died in the early hours of 24 March, and James was proclaimed king in London later the same day.[88][89]
On 5 April, James left Edinburgh for London, promising to return every three years (a promise that he did not keep), and progressed slowly southwards.[90] Local lords received him with lavish hospitality along the route and James was amazed by the wealth of his new land and subjects, claiming that he was "swapping a stony couch for a deep feather bed". James arrived in the capital on 7 May, nine days after Elizabeth's funeral.[88][91] His new subjects flocked to see him, relieved that the succession had triggered neither unrest nor invasion.[92] On arrival at London, he was mobbed by a crowd of spectators.[93]
James's English coronation took place on 25 July atWestminster Abbey. An outbreak of plague restricted festivities. TheRoyal Entry to London with elaborate allegories provided by dramatic poets such asThomas Dekker andBen Jonson was deferred to 15 March 1604.[94] Dekker wrote that "the streets seemed to be paved with men; stalls instead of rich wares were set out with children; open casements filled up with women".[95]
The kingdom to which James succeeded, however, had its problems. Monopolies and taxation had engendered a widespread sense of grievance, and the costs ofwar in Ireland had become a heavy burden on the government,[96] which had debts of £400,000.
James survived two conspiracies in the first year of his reign in England, despite the smoothness of the succession and the warmth of his welcome: theBye Plot andMain Plot, which led to the arrest ofHenry Brooke, Lord Cobham andWalter Raleigh, among others.[97] Those hoping for a change in government from James were disappointed at first when he kept Elizabeth'sPrivy Councillors in office, as secretly planned with Cecil,[97] but James soon added long-time supporterHenry Howard and his nephewThomas Howard to the Privy Council, as well as five Scottish nobles.[97][g]
In the early years of James's reign, the day-to-day running of the government in England was tightly managed by the shrewd Cecil, laterEarl of Salisbury, ably assisted by the experiencedThomas Egerton, whom James made Baron Ellesmere andLord Chancellor, and byThomas Sackville, soonEarl of Dorset, who continued asLord Treasurer.[97] As a consequence, James was free to concentrate on bigger issues, such as a scheme for a closer union between England and Scotland and matters of foreign policy, as well as to enjoy his leisure pursuits, particularly hunting.[97]
James was ambitious to build on thepersonal union of Scotland and England to establish a single country under one monarch, one parliament, and one law, a plan that met opposition from both theParliament of England and theParliament of Scotland.[101] "Hath He not made us all in one island," James told the English Parliament, "compassed with one sea and of itself by nature indivisible?" In April 1604, however, the Commons refused his request to be titled "King of Great Britain" on legal grounds.[h] In October 1604, he assumed the title "King of Great Britain" instead of "King of England" and "King of Scotland", thoughFrancis Bacon told him that he could not use the style in "any legal proceeding, instrument or assurance" and the title was not used on English statutes.[103] James forced the Scottish Parliament to use it, and it was used on proclamations, coinage, letters, and treaties in both realms.[104]
James achieved more success in foreign policy. Never having been at war with Spain, he devoted his efforts to bringing the longAnglo–Spanish War to an end, anda peace treaty was signed between the two countries in August 1604, thanks to the skilled diplomacy of the delegation, in particular Robert Cecil and Henry Howard, nowEarl of Northampton. James celebrated the treaty by hosting a great banquet.[105] Freedom of worship for Catholics in England, however, continued to be a major objective of Spanish policy, causing constant dilemmas for James, distrusted abroad for repression of Catholics while at home being encouraged by the Privy Council to show even less tolerance towards them.[106]
A dissident Catholic,Guy Fawkes, was discovered in the cellars of the parliament buildings on the night of 4–5 November 1605, the eve of thestate opening of the second session of James's first English Parliament. Fawkes was guarding a pile of wood not far from 36 barrels of gunpowder with which he intended to blow up Parliament House the following day and cause the destruction, as James put it, "not only ... of my person, nor of my wife and posterity also, but of the whole body of the State in general".[107] The sensational discovery of the "Gunpowder Plot", as it quickly became known, aroused a mood of national relief at the delivery of the king and his sons. The Earl of Salisbury exploited this to extract higher subsidies from the ensuing Parliament than any but one granted to Elizabeth.[108] Fawkes and others implicated in the unsuccessful conspiracy were executed.[109]
The co-operation between monarch and Parliament following the Gunpowder Plot was atypical. Instead, it was the previous session of 1604 that shaped the attitudes of both sides for the rest of the reign, though the initial difficulties owed more to mutual incomprehension than conscious enmity.[110] On 7 July 1604, James had angrilyprorogued Parliament after failing to win its support either for full union or financial subsidies. "I will not thank where I feel no thanks due", he had remarked in his closing speech. "... I am not of such a stock as to praise fools ... You see how many things you did not well ... I wish you would make use of your liberty with more modesty in time to come".[111]
As James's reign progressed, his government faced growing financial pressures, partly due to creeping inflation but also to the profligacy and financial incompetence of James's court. In February 1610, Salisbury proposed a scheme, known as theGreat Contract, whereby Parliament, in return for ten royal concessions, would grant a lump sum of £600,000 to pay off the king's debts plus an annual grant of £200,000.[112] The ensuing prickly negotiations became so protracted that James eventually lost patience and dismissed Parliament on 31 December 1610. "Your greatest error", he told Salisbury, "hath been that ye ever expected to draw honey out of gall".[113] The same pattern was repeated with the so-called "Addled Parliament" of 1614, which James dissolved after a mere nine weeks when the Commons hesitated to grant him the money he required.[114] James then ruled without parliament until 1621, employing officials such as the merchantLionel Cranfield, who were astute at raising and saving money for the crown, and sold baronetcies and other dignities, many created for the purpose, as an alternative source of income.[115]
Another potential source of income was the prospect of a Spanish dowry from a marriage between Charles, Prince of Wales, and InfantaMaria Anna of Spain.[116] The policy of theSpanish match, as it was called, was also attractive to James as a way to maintain peace with Spain and avoid the additional costs of a war.[117] Peace could be maintained as effectively by keeping the negotiations alive as by consummating the match—which may explain why James protracted the negotiations for almost a decade.[118]
The policy was supported by theHowards and other Catholic-leaning ministers and diplomats—together known as the Spanish Party—but deeply distrusted in Protestant England. When Walter Raleigh was released from imprisonment in 1616, he embarked on a hunt for gold in South America with strict instructions from James not to engage the Spanish.[119] Raleigh's expedition was a disastrous failure, and his son Walter was killed fighting the Spanish.[120] On Raleigh's return to England, James had him executed to the indignation of the public, who opposed the appeasement of Spain.[121] James's policy was further jeopardised by the outbreak of theThirty Years' War, especially after his Protestant son-in-law,Frederick V, Elector Palatine, was ousted fromBohemia by the CatholicEmperor Ferdinand II in 1620, and Spanish troops simultaneously invaded Frederick'sRhineland home territory. Matters came to a head when James finally called a Parliament in 1621 to fund a military expedition in support of his son-in-law.[122] The Commons on the one hand granted subsidies inadequate to finance serious military operations in aid of Frederick,[123] and on the other—remembering the profits gained under Elizabeth by naval attacks on Spanish gold shipments—called for a war directly against Spain. In November 1621, roused byEdward Coke, they framed a petition asking not only for war with Spain but also for Prince Charles to marry a Protestant, and for enforcement of the anti-Catholic laws.[124] James flatly told them not to interfere in matters ofroyal prerogative or they would risk punishment,[125] which provoked them into issuing a statement protesting their rights, including freedom of speech.[126] Urged on byGeorge Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, and the Spanish ambassadorDiego Sarmiento de Acuña, Count of Gondomar, James ripped the protest out of the record book and dissolved Parliament.[127]
In early 1623, Prince Charles, now 22, and Buckingham decided to seize the initiative and travel to Spain incognito, to win Infanta Maria Anna directly, but the mission proved an ineffectual mistake.[128] Maria Anna detested Charles, and the Spanish confronted them with terms that included the repeal of anti-Catholic legislation by Parliament. Though a treaty was signed, Charles and Buckingham returned to England in October without the infanta and immediately renounced the treaty, much to the delight of the British people.[129] Disillusioned by the visit to Spain, Charles and Buckingham now turned James's Spanish policy upon its head and called for a French match and a war against theHabsburg empire.[130] To raise the necessary finance, they prevailed upon James to call another Parliament, which met in February 1624. For once, the outpouring of anti-Catholic sentiment in the Commons was echoed in court, where control of policy was shifting from James to Charles and Buckingham,[131] who pressured the king to declare war and engineered the impeachment of Lord Treasurer Lionel Cranfield, by now madeEarl of Middlesex, when he opposed the plan on grounds of cost.[132] The outcome of the Parliament of 1624 was ambiguous: James still refused to declare or fund a war, but Charles believed the Commons had committed themselves to finance a war against Spain, a stance that was to contribute to his problems with Parliament in his own reign.[133]
After the Gunpowder Plot, James sanctioned harsh measures to control English Catholics. In May 1606, Parliament passed thePopish Recusants Act, which could require any subject to take anOath of Allegiance denying the pope's authority over the king.[134] James was conciliatory towards Catholics who took the Oath of Allegiance,[135] and toleratedcrypto-Catholicism even at court.[i] Henry Howard, for example, was a crypto-Catholic, received back into the Catholic Church in his final months.[136] On ascending the English throne, James suspected that he might need the support of Catholics in England, so he assuredHenry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, a prominent sympathiser of the old religion, that he would not persecute "any that will be quiet and give but an outward obedience to the law".[137]
In theMillenary Petition of 1603, thePuritan clergy demanded the abolition ofconfirmation, wedding rings, and the term "priest", among other things, and that the wearing of cap andsurplice become optional.[138] James was strict in enforcing conformity at first, inducing a sense of persecution amongst many Puritans;[139] but ejections and suspensions from livings became rarer as the reign continued.[140] As a result of theHampton Court Conference of 1604, some Puritan demands were acceded to in the1604Book of Common Prayer, though many remained displeased.[4][141] The conference also commissioned a new translation and compilation of approved books of the Bible to resolve discrepancies among different translations then being used. TheKing James Version, as it came to be known, was completed in 1611 and is considered a masterpiece of Jacobean prose.[142][143] It is still in widespread use.[142]
In Scotland, James attempted to bring the Scottish Kirk "so neir as can be" to the English church and to reestablishepiscopacy, a policy that met with strong opposition frompresbyterians.[j] James returned to Scotland in 1617 for the only time after his accession in England, in the hope of implementing Anglican ritual. James's bishops forced hisFive Articles of Perth through a General Assembly the following year, but the rulings were widely resisted.[145] James left the church in Scotland divided at his death, a source of future problems for his son.[k]
Throughout his life James had close relationships with male courtiers, which has caused debate among historians about their exact nature.[147] In ScotlandAnne Murray was known as the king's mistress.[148] After his accession in England, his peaceful and scholarly attitude contrasted strikingly with the bellicose and flirtatious behaviour of Elizabeth,[147] as indicated by the contemporary epigramRex fuit Elizabeth, nunc est regina Iacobus (Elizabeth was King, now James is Queen).[149]
Some biographers of James argue that the relationships were not sexual.[154] James'sBasilikon Doron listssodomy among crimes "ye are bound in conscience never to forgive", and James's wife Anne gave birth to seven live children, as well as suffering two stillbirths and at least three other miscarriages.[155] Contemporary Huguenot poetThéophile de Viau observed that "it is well known that the king of England / fucks the Duke of Buckingham".[156][l] Buckingham himself provides evidence that he slept in the same bed as the king, writing to James many years later that he had pondered "whether you loved me now ... better than at the time which I shall never forget at Farnham, where the bed's head could not be found between the master and his dog".[158] Buckingham's words may be interpreted as non-sexual, in the context of 17th-century court life,[159] and remain ambiguous despite their fondness.[160] It is also possible that James was bisexual.[161]
When the Earl of Salisbury died in 1612, he was little mourned by those who jostled to fill the power vacuum.[m] Until Salisbury's death, the Elizabethan administrative system over which he had presided continued to function with relative efficiency; from this time forward, however, James's government entered a period of decline and disrepute.[163] Salisbury's passing gave James the notion of governing in person as his own chief Minister of State, with his young Scottish favourite Robert Carr carrying out many of Salisbury's former duties, but James's inability to attend closely to official business exposed the government to factionalism.[164]
The Howard party (consisting of Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton; Thomas Howard, Earl of Suffolk; Suffolk's son-in-lawWilliam Knollys, Lord Knollys;Charles Howard, Earl of Nottingham; andThomas Lake) soon took control of much of the government and its patronage. Even the powerful Carr fell into the Howard camp, hardly experienced for the responsibilities thrust upon him and often dependent on his intimate friendThomas Overbury for assistance with government papers.[165] Carr had an adulterous affair withFrances Howard, Countess of Essex, daughter of the Earl of Suffolk. James assisted Frances by securing an annulment of her marriage to free her to marry Carr, now Earl of Somerset.[n]
In summer 1615, however, it emerged that Overbury had been poisoned. He had died on 15 September 1613 in the Tower of London, where he had been placed at the king's request.[167][o] Among those convicted of the murder were the Earl and Countess of Somerset; the Earl had been replaced as the king's favourite in the meantime by Villiers. James pardoned the Countess and commuted the Earl's sentence of death, eventually pardoning him in 1624.[170] The implication of the king in such a scandal provoked much public and literary conjecture and irreparably tarnished James's court with an image of corruption and depravity.[171] The subsequent downfall of the Howards left Villiers unchallenged as the supreme figure in the government by 1619.[172]
In his later years, James suffered increasingly fromarthritis,gout andkidney stones.[54][173] He also lost his teeth and drank heavily.[54][174] The king was often seriously ill during the last year of his life, leaving him an increasingly peripheral figure, rarely able to visit London, while Buckingham consolidated his control of Charles to ensure his own future.[p] One theory is that James suffered fromporphyria, a disease of which his descendantGeorge III exhibited some symptoms. James described his urine to physicianThéodore de Mayerne as being the "dark red colour of Alicante wine".[177] The theory is dismissed by some experts, particularly in James's case, because he had kidney stones which can lead toblood in the urine, colouring it red.[178]
In early 1625, James was plagued by severe attacks of arthritis, gout, and fainting fits, and fell seriously ill in March withtertian ague and then suffered a stroke. He died atTheobalds House in Hertfordshire on 27 March during a violent attack ofdysentery, with Buckingham at his bedside.[q] James's funeral on 7 May was a magnificent but disorderly affair.[180] BishopJohn Williams of Lincoln preached the sermon, observing, "KingSolomon died in Peace, when he had lived about sixty years ... and so you know did King James". The sermon was later printed asGreat Britain's Salomon [sic].[181]
James wasburied in Westminster Abbey. The position of the tomb was lost for many years until his lead coffin was found in the Henry VII vault, during an excavation in the 19th century.[182]
On the ceiling of the Banqueting House,Rubens depicted James being carried to heaven by angels.
James was widely mourned. For all his flaws, he had largely retained the affection of his people, who had enjoyed uninterrupted peace and comparatively low taxation during the Jacobean era. "As he lived in peace", remarked theEarl of Kellie, "so did he die in peace, and I pray God our king [Charles I] may follow him".[183] The Earl prayed in vain: once in power, King Charles I and the Duke of Buckingham sanctioned a series of reckless military expeditions that ended in humiliating failure.[184] James had often neglected the business of government for leisure pastimes, such as the hunt; his later dependence on favourites at a scandal-ridden court undermined the respected image of monarchy so carefully constructed by Elizabeth I.[185]
According to a tradition originating with anti-Stuart historians of the mid-17th-century, James's taste forpolitical absolutism, his financial irresponsibility, and his cultivation of unpopular favourites established the foundations of theEnglish Civil War. James bequeathed his son Charles a fatal belief in thedivine right of kings, combined with a disdain for Parliament, which culminated in theexecution of Charles I and theabolition of the monarchy. Over the last three hundred years, the king's reputation has suffered from the acid description of him byAnthony Weldon, whom James had sacked and who wrote treatises on James in the 1650s.[188]
Other influential anti-James histories written during the 1650s include:Edward Peyton'sDivine Catastrophe of the Kingly Family of the House of Stuarts (1652);Arthur Wilson'sHistory of Great Britain, Being the Life and Reign of King James I (1658); andFrancis Osborne'sHistorical Memoirs of the Reigns of Queen Elizabeth and King James (1658).[189]David Harris Willson's 1956 biography continued much of this hostility.[100][190] In the words of historianJenny Wormald, Willson's book was an "astonishing spectacle of a work whose every page proclaimed its author's increasing hatred for his subject".[191] Since Willson, however, the stability of James's government in Scotland and in the early part of his English reign, as well as his relatively enlightened views on religion and war, have earned him a re-evaluation from many historians, who have rescued his reputation from this tradition of criticism.[r]
Representative of the new historical perspective is the 2003 biography byPauline Croft. Reviewer John Cramsie summarises her findings:
Croft's overall assessment of James is appropriately mixed. She recognises his good intentions in matters like Anglo-Scottish union, his openness to different points of view, and his agenda of a peaceful foreign policy within his kingdoms' financial means. His actions moderated frictions between his diverse peoples. Yet he also created new ones, particularly by supporting colonisation that polarised the crown's interest groups in Ireland, obtaining insufficient political benefit with his open-handed patronage, an unfortunate lack of attention to the image of monarchy (particularly after the image-obsessed regime of Elizabeth), pursuing a pro-Spanish foreign policy that fired religious prejudice and opened the door for Arminians within the English church, and enforcing unpalatable religious changes on the Scottish Kirk. Many of these criticisms are framed within a longer view of James' reigns, including the legacy—now understood to be more troubled—which he left Charles I.[193]
In Scotland, James was "James the sixth, King of Scotland", until 1604. He was proclaimed "James the first, King of England, France, and Ireland,defender of the faith" in London on 24 March 1603.[194] On 20 October 1604, James issued a proclamation at Westminster changing his style to "King of Great Brittaine, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c."[195] The style was not used on English statutes, but was used on proclamations, coinage, letters, treaties, and in Scotland.[196] James styled himself "King of France",in line with other monarchs of England between 1340 and 1801, although he did not actually rule France.
As King of Scotland, James bore the ancientroyal arms of Scotland:Or, a lionrampantGules armed and languedAzure within a doubletressure flory counter-flory Gules. The arms weresupported by two unicornsArgent armed, crined and unguled Proper, gorged with a coronet Or composed of crosses patée andfleurs de lys a chain affixed thereto passing between the forelegs and reflexed over the back also Or. Thecrest was a lionsejant affrontée Gules, imperially crowned Or, holding in thedexter paw a sword and in thesinister paw a sceptre both erect and Proper.[197]
The Union of the Crowns of England and Scotland under James was symbolised heraldically by combining their arms, supporters andbadges. Contention as to how the arms should bemarshalled, and to which kingdom should take precedence, was solved by having different arms for each country.[198]
The arms used in England were: Quarterly, I and IV, quarterly 1st and 4th Azure three fleurs de lys Or (for France), 2nd and 3rd Gules three lionspassant guardant inpale Or (for England); II Or a lion rampant within a tressure flory-counter-flory Gules (for Scotland); III Azure a harp Or stringed Argent (for Ireland, this was the first time that Ireland was included in the royal arms).[199] The supporters became: dexter a lion rampant guardant Or imperially crowned and sinister the Scottish unicorn. The unicorn replaced thered dragon introduced by the Tudors. The unicorn has remained in theroyal arms of the two united realms. The English crest and motto was retained. The compartment often contained a branch of the Tudor rose, with shamrock and thistle engrafted on the same stem. The arms were frequently shown with James's personal motto,Beati pacifici.[198]
The arms used in Scotland were: Quarterly, I and IV Scotland, II England and France, III Ireland, with Scotland taking precedence over England. The supporters were: dexter a unicorn of Scotland imperially crowned, supporting a tilting lance flying a banner Azure a saltire Argent (Cross of Saint Andrew) and sinister the crowned lion of England supporting a similar lance flying a banner Argent a cross Gules (Cross of Saint George). The Scottish crest and motto was retained, following theScottish practice the mottoIn defens (which is short forIn My Defens God Me Defend) was placed above the crest.[198]
Asroyal badges James used: the Tudor rose, the thistle (for Scotland; first used byJames III of Scotland), the Tudor rosedimidiated with the thistle ensigned with the royal crown, a harp (for Ireland) and a fleur de lys (for France).[199]
Coat of arms used from 1567 to 1603
Coat of arms used from 1603 to 1625 outside Scotland
^Elizabeth I wrote to Mary: "My ears have been so astounded, my mind so disturbed and my heart so appalled at hearing the horrible report of the abominable murder of your late husband and my slaughtered cousin, that I can scarcely as yet summon the spirit to write about it ... I will not conceal from you that people for the most part are saying that you will look through your fingers at this deed instead of avenging it and that you don't care to take action against those who have done you this pleasure." HistorianJohn Guy nonetheless concludes: "Not a single piece of uncontaminated evidence has ever been found to show that Mary had foreknowledge of Darnley's murder".[14] In historian David Harris Willson's view, however: "That Bothwell was the murderer no one can doubt; and that Mary was his accomplice seems equally certain."[15]
^James's captors forced from him a proclamation, dated 30 August, declaring that he was not being held prisoner "forced or constrained, for fear or terror, or against his will", and that no one should come to his aid as a result of "seditious or contrary reports".[34]
^James briefly broke off diplomatic relations with England over Mary's execution, but he wrote privately that Scotland "could never have been without factions if she had beene left alive".[42]
^James heard on 7 October of the decision to postpone the crossing for winter.[49]
^James described Cecil as "king there in effect".[86]
^The introduction of Henry Howard (soon Earl of Northampton) and of Thomas Howard (soon Earl of Suffolk) marked the beginning of the rise of the Howard family to power in England, which culminated in their dominance of James's government after the death of Cecil in 1612. Henry Howard, son of poetHenry Howard, Earl of Surrey, had been a diligent correspondent with James in advance of the succession (James referred to him as "long approved and trusted Howard"). His connection with James may have owed something to the attempt by his brotherThomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, to free and marry Mary, Queen of Scots, leading to his execution in 1572.[98] For details on the Howards, seeThe Trials of Frances Howard by David Lindley. Henry Howard is a traditionally reviled figure (Willson [1956] called him "A man of dark counsels and creeping schemes, learned but bombastic, and a most fulsome flatterer"[99]) whose reputation was upgraded by Linda Levy Peck's 1982 biographyNorthampton.[100]
^English and Scot, James insisted, should "join and coalesce together in a sincere and perfect union, as two twins bred in one belly, to love one another as no more two but one estate".[102]
^A crypto-Catholic was someone who outwardly conformed to Protestantism but remained a Catholic in private.
^In March 1605,Archbishop Spottiswood wrote to James warning him that sermons against bishops were being preached daily in Edinburgh.[144]
^Assessments of the Kirk at James's death are divided. Some historians argue that the Scots might have accepted James's policies eventually, others that James left the Kirk in crisis.[146]
^In the original:Et ce savant roy d'Angleterre / foutoit-il pas le Boukinquan.[157]
^Northampton assumed the day-to-day running of government business, and spoke of "the death of the little man for which so many rejoice and few do as much as seem to be sorry."[162]
^The commissioners judging the case reached a 5–5 verdict, so James quickly appointed two extra judges guaranteed to vote in favour, an intervention which aroused public censure. WhenThomas Bilson (son ofBishop Bilson of Winchester, one of the added commissioners) was knighted after the annulment, he was given the nickname "Sir Nullity Bilson".[166]
^It is very likely that Overbury was the victim of a 'set-up' contrived by the earls of Northampton and Suffolk, with Carr's complicity, to keep him out of the way during the annulment proceedings. Overbury knew too much of Carr's dealings with Frances and he opposed the match with a fervour that made him dangerous, motivated by a deep political hostility to the Howards. It cannot have been difficult to secure James's compliance, because he disliked Overbury and his influence over Carr.[168]John Chamberlain reported that the king "hath long had a desire to remove him from about the lord of Rochester, as thinking it a dishonour to him that the world should have an opinion that Rochester ruled him and Overbury ruled Rochester".[169]
^Some historians (for example Willson) consider James, who was 58 in 1624, to have lapsed into premature senility;[175] but he suffered from an agonising species of arthritis which constantly left him indisposed, as well as other ailments; and Pauline Croft suggests that James regained some control over his affairs in summer 1624, afforded relief by the warm weather. She sees his continuing refusal to sanction war against Spain as a deliberate stand against the aggressive policies of Charles and Buckingham.[176]
^A medicine recommended by Buckingham had only served to make the king worse, which led to rumours that the duke had poisoned him.[179]
^In recent decades, much scholarship has emphasised James's success in Scotland (though there have been partial dissenters, such asMichael Lynch), and there is an emerging appreciation of James's successes in the early part of his reign in England.[192]
^Rhodes, Richards & Marshall 2003, p. 1: "James VI and I was the most writerly of British monarchs. He produced original poetry, as well as translation and a treatise on poetics; works on witchcraft and tobacco; meditations and commentaries on theScriptures; a manual on kingship; works ofpolitical theory; and, of course, speeches to parliament ... He was the patron of Shakespeare, Jonson, Donne, and the translators of the "Authorized version" of the Bible, surely the greatest concentration of literary talent ever to enjoy royal sponsorship in England."
^Smith 2003, p. 238: "The label 'the wisest fool in Christendom', often attributed toHenry IV of France but possibly coined by Anthony Weldon, catches James's paradoxical qualities very neatly"; Anthony Weldon (1651),The Court and Character of King James I, quoted byStroud 1999, p. 27: "A very wise man was wont to say that he believed him the wisest fool in Christendom, meaning him wise in small things, but a fool in weighty affairs."
^Croft 2003, p. 6: "Historians have returned to reconsidering James as a serious and intelligent ruler";Lockyer 1998, pp. 4–6;Smith 2003, p. 238: "In contrast to earlier historians, recent research on his reign has tended to emphasize the wisdom and downplay the foolishness".
^Letter of Mary to Mar, 29 March 1567, quoted byStewart 2003, p. 27: "Suffer nor admit no noblemen of our realm or any others, of what condition soever they be of, to enter or come within our said Castle or to the presence of our said dearest son, with any more persons but two or three at the most."
^Wiggins, Martin; Richardson, Catherine (2012).British Drama 1533–1642: A Catalogue. Vol. II: 1567–1589. Oxford University Press, USA. pp. 242–244.ISBN978-0-1992-6572-5.OL25969471M.
^David Calderwood quoted byStewart 2003, p. 63: "So ended this nobleman, one of the chief instruments of the reformation; a defender of the same, and of the King in his minority, for the which he is now unthankfully dealt with."
^Croft 2003, p. 45;George Nicolson quoted byStewart 2003, p. 154: "It is begun to be noted that the reports coming from the King should differ";Williams 1970, p. 61: "The two principal characters were dead, the evidence of eyewitnesses was destroyed and only King James's version remained";Willson 1963, pp. 126–130.
^Kerr-Peterson, Miles; Pearce, Michael (2020).James VI's English Subsidy and Danish Dowry Accounts, 1588–1596. Scottish History Society Miscellany XVI. Woodbridge. p. 35.
^Stevenson, David (1997).Scotland's Last Royal Wedding. Edinburgh: John Donald. pp. 99–100.
^James quoted byWillson 1963, p. 131: "Kings are called gods by the propheticalKing David because they sit upon God His throne in earth and have the count of their administration to give unto Him."
^Croft 2003, pp. 134–135: "James wrote well, scattering engaging asides throughout the text";Willson 1963, p. 132: "Basilikon Doron is the best prose James ever wrote".
^Spiller, Michael (1988), "Poetry after the Union 1603–1660", in Craig, Cairns (general editor),The History of Scottish Literature, Aberdeen University Press, vol. 1, pp. 141–152. Spiller points out that the trend, although unambiguous, was generally more mixed.
^See for example Rhodes, Neil (2004), "Wrapped in the Strong Arm of the Union: Shakespeare and King James", in Maley, Willy; Murphy, Andrew (eds),Shakespeare and Scotland, Manchester University Press, pp. 38–39.
^James quoted byWillson 1963, p. 423: "We cannot with patience endure our subjects to use such anti-monarchical words to us concerning their liberties, except they had subjoined that they were granted unto them by the grace and favour of our predecessors."
^Krugler 2004, pp. 63–64: "The aging monarch was no match for the two men closest to him. By the end of the year, the prince and the royal favourite spoke openly against the Spanish marriage and pressured James to call a parliament to consider their now repugnant treaties ... with hindsight ... the prince's return from Madrid marked the end of the king's reign. The prince and the favourite encouraged popular anti-Spanish sentiments to commandeer control of foreign and domestic policy".
^Croft 2003, p. 126: "On that divergence of interpretation, relations between the future king and the Parliaments of the years 1625–9 were to founder".
^Croft 2003, p. 156;Stewart 2003, p. 205: "In seeking conformity, James gave a name and a purpose to nonconformity";Basilikon Doron quoted byWillson 1963, pp. 201, 209: "In things indifferent, they are seditious which obey not the magistrates".
^abBucholz & Key 2004, p. 208: "... his sexuality has long been a matter of debate. He clearly preferred the company of handsome young men. The evidence of his correspondence and contemporary accounts have led some historians to conclude that the king was homosexual orbisexual. In fact, the issue is murky."
^Bain, Joseph (1894),Calendar of letters and papers relating to the affairs of the borders of England and Scotland, vol. 2, Edinburgh: Creative Media Partners, pp. 30–31, 44,ISBN978-1-0157-9859-5,OL46169615M{{citation}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
^Hyde, H. Montgomery (1970).The Love That Dared Not Speak its Name. London: Heinemann. pp. 43–44.
^e.g.Young, Michael B. (2000),King James and the History of Homosexuality, New York University Press,ISBN978-0-8147-9693-1;Bergeron, David M. (1991),Royal Family, Royal Lovers: King James of England and Scotland, University of Missouri Press,ISBN0826207839;Murphy, Timothy (2011),Reader's Guide To Gay & Lesbian Studies, Routledge Dearborn Publishers, p. 314,ISBN9781579581428.
^Bergeron, David M. (1999).King James and Letters of Homoerotic Desire. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press. p. 348.
^Ruigh, Robert E. (1971).The Parliament of 1624: Politics and Foreign Policy. Harvard University Press. p. 77.
^Willson 1963, p. 333: "Finances fell into chaos, foreign affairs became more difficult. James exalted a worthless favourite and increased the power of the Howards. As government relaxed and honour cheapened, we enter a period of decline and weakness, of intrigue, scandal, confusion and treachery."
^Willson 1963, p. 349;Francis Bacon, speaking at Carr's trial, quoted byPerry 2006, p. 105: "Packets were sent, sometimes opened by my lord, sometimes unbroken unto Overbury, who perused them, registered them, made table-talk of them, as they thought good. So I will undertake the time was, when Overbury knew more of the secrets of state, than the council-table did."
^Barroll 2001, p. 136: "Rumours of foul play involving Rochester and his wife with Overbury had, however, been circulating since his death. Indeed, almost two years later, in September 1615, and as James was in the process of replacing Rochester with a new favourite, George Villiers, the Governor of the Tower of London sent a letter to the king informing him that one of the warders in the days before Overbury had been found dead had been bringing the prisoner poisoned food and medicine";Lindley 1993, p. 146.
^Davies 1959, p. 20: "Probably no single event, prior to the attempt to arrest the five members in 1642, did more to lessen the general reverence with which royalty was regarded in England than this unsavoury episode."
^Croft 2003, pp. 126–127;Croft 2003, p. 101: "James never became a cypher";Lockyer 1998, p. 174: "During the last eighteen months of his life James fought a very effective rearguard action to preserve his control of foreign policy ... he never became a cypher."
^Röhl, John C. G.; Warren, Martin; Hunt, David (1998),Purple Secret: Genes, "Madness" and the Royal Houses of Europe, London: Bantam Press,ISBN0-5930-4148-8.
^e.g. Dean, Geoffrey (2002),The Turnstone: A Doctor's Story., Liverpool University Press, pp. 128–129.
^Stewart 2003, p. 348: "A 1627 mission to save theHuguenots ofLa Rochelle ended in an ignominious siege on theIsle of Ré, leaving the Duke as the object of widespread ridicule."
^Croft 2003, pp. 3–4: "Often witty and perceptive but also prejudiced and abusive, their status as eye-witness accounts and their compulsive readability led too many historians to take them at face value";Lockyer 1998, pp. 1–4.
^For more on the influence ofCommonwealth historians on the tradition of tracing Charles I's errors back to his father's reign, seeLindley 1993, p. 44.
^Stewart 2003, p. 248: "Latter day experts have suggested enteric fever, typhoid fever, orporphyria, but at the time poison was the most popular explanation ...John Chamberlain wrote that it was 'verily thought that the disease was no other than the ordinary ague that had reigned and raged all over England'."
Barroll, J. Leeds (2001),Anna of Denmark, Queen of England: A Cultural Biography, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania,ISBN978-0-8122-3574-6
Bucholz, Robert; Key, Newton (2004),Early Modern England, 1485–1714: A Narrative History, Oxford: Blackwell,ISBN978-0-6312-1393-2
Cogswell, Thomas (2005) [1989],The Blessed Revolution: English Politics and the Coming of War 1621–24, Cambridge University Press,ISBN978-0-5210-2313-9
Courtney, Alexander (2024),James VI, Britannic Prince: King of Scots and Elizabeth's Heir, 1566–1603, London: Routledge,ISBN978-1-138-60626-5
Fischlin, Daniel; Fortier, Mark (2002), "'Enregistrate Speech': Stratagems of Monarchic Writing in the Work of James VI and I", in Fischlin, Daniel; Fortier, Mark (eds.),Royal Subjects: Essays on the Writings of James VI and I, Wayne State University Press,ISBN978-0-8143-2877-4
Guy, John (2004),My Heart is My Own: The Life of Mary Queen of Scots, London and New York: Fourth Estate,ISBN978-1-8411-5752-8
Jack, R. D. S. (Ronald) (1988), "Poetry under King James VI", in Craig, Cairns (ed.),The History of Scottish Literature, vol. 1, Aberdeen University Press
Krugler, John D. (2004),English and Catholic: The Lords Baltimore in the Seventeenth Century, Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press,ISBN978-0-8018-7963-0
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Lindley, David (1993),The Trials of Frances Howard: Fact and Fiction at the Court of King James, Routledge,ISBN978-0-4150-5206-1
Lockyer, Roger (1981),Buckingham: The Life and Political Career of George Villiers, First Duke of Buckingham, 1592–1628, Longman,ISBN978-0-5825-0296-3
MacKinnon, Kenneth (1991),Gaelic – A Past and Future Prospect, Edinburgh: The Saltire Society,ISBN978-0-8541-1047-6
Martin, Patrick H. (2016),Elizabethan Espionage: Plotters and Spies in the Struggle Between Catholicism and the Crown, Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland,ISBN978-1-4766-6255-8
Milling, Jane (2004), "The Development of a Professional Theatre", in Milling, Jane; Thomson, Peter; Donohue, Joseph W. (eds.),The Cambridge History of British Theatre, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,ISBN978-0-5216-5040-3
Pearce, Michael (2022), "'Maskerye claythis' for James VI and Anna of Denmark", in Twycross, Meg (ed.),Medieval English Theatre 43, Cambridge: D. S. Brewer,ISBN978-1-84384-630-7
Perry, Curtis (2006),Literature and Favoritism in Early Modern England, Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press,ISBN978-0-5218-5405-4
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