The first Stuart king of England (160325), also king of Scotland (15671625) as James VI, born in Edinburgh, EC Scotland, UK, the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, and Henry, Lord Darnley. On his mother's forced abdication, he was proclaimed king, and brought up by several regents. When he began to govern for himself, he ruled through his favourites, which caused a rebellion and a period of imprisonment. In 1589 he married Anne of Denmark. Hating Puritanism, he managed in 1600 to establish bishops in Scotland. On Elizabeth's death, he ascended the English throne as great-grandson of James IV's English wife, Margaret Tudor. At first well received, his favouritism again brought him unpopularity.
| King James VI and I | ||
|---|---|---|
| King of Scots, King of England, and King of Ireland | ||
| Reign | 24 March 1603 - 27 March 1625 | |
| Born | June 19, 1566 | |
| Edinburgh Castle | ||
| Died | March 27, 1625 | |
| Predecessor |
Mary, Queen of Scots (Scotland) Elizabeth I (England) |
|
| Successor | Charles I | |
| Consort | Anne of Denmark | |
| Issue | Henry Frederick, Elizabeth of Bohemia, Margaret Stuart, Charles I, Robert Stuart | |
| Royal House | Stuart | |
| Father | Lord Darnley | |
| Mother | Mary, Queen of Scots | |
James VI and I (James Stuart) (June 19, 1566 – March 27, 1625) was King of Scots, King of England, and King of Ireland and was the first to style himself King of Great Britain.
Summary
James I was a successful monarch in Scotland, but the same was not true in England.
Along with Alfred the Great, James is considered to have been one of the most intellectual and learned individuals ever to sit on the English or Scottish thrones. King James was known by the epithet “the wisest fool in Christendom’’.
Childhood as King James VI of Scotland
Birth
James was the only child of Mary I, Queen of Scots and of her second husband, Henry Stuart, Duke of Albany, more commonly known as Lord Darnley. While Mary was pregnant with James, Lord Darnley secretly allied himself with the rebels and murdered the Queen's private secretary, David Rizzio.
James was born on 19 June 1566 at Edinburgh Castle, and as the eldest son of the monarch and heir-apparent, automatically became Duke of Rothesay and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland. He received the name Charles James, the first name in honour of his godfather Charles IX of France, thus becoming the first British monarch to have more than one forename. Mary's marriage on 15 May of the same year to James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, who was widely suspected of murdering the Duke of Albany, contributed further to her unpopularity. Mary was forced to abdicate the throne on 24 July, in favour of James, who was still a baby. width: 240px;" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0">
| British Royalty |
|---|
| House of Stuart |
| James VI & I |
| Henry, Prince of Wales |
| Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia |
| Charles I |
| Robert, Duke of Kintyre |
| Charles I |
| Charles II |
| James II & VII |
| Henry, Duke of Gloucester |
| Mary, Princess Royal |
| Henrietta, Duchess of Orléans |
| Charles II |
| James II & VII |
| Mary II |
| Anne |
| James Francis Edward Stuart |
| Grandchildren |
| Charles Edward Stuart |
| Henry Benedict Stuart |
| Mary II & William III |
| William III |
| Anne |
| William, Duke of Gloucester |
Regencies
James was formally crowned as James VI, King of Scotland at the Church of the Holy Rude,Stirling, on 29 July 1567 at the age of thirteen months.
During his minority, power was held by a series of regents, the first of whom was James Stuart, 1st Earl of Moray, his mother's illegitimate half-brother.
Catholic uprising
James faced a Roman Catholic uprising in 1588, and was forced to reconcile with the Church of Scotland, agreeing to the repeal of the Black Acts in 1592. James, fearing that dealing too harshly with the Catholic rebels might anger many English Catholics, agreed to pardon some of his opponents, which angered the Protestant Church.
Ascent to the throne of England
Relationship with Elizabeth I
In 1586, James VI and Elizabeth I became allies under the Treaty of Berwick. James sought to remain in the favour of the unmarried Queen of England, as he was a potential successor to her Crown. Although technically excluded by the will—which, under an Act of Parliament, had the force of law—both Mary, Queen of Scots, and James were serious claimants to the English Crown, as they were Elizabeth I's closest relatives. But for the will of Henry VIII, James was the Heir Presumptive to the English Crown.
Marriage
Following Mary's execution and the decline of her sympathisers in Scotland, James managed to reduce significantly the influence of the Roman Catholic nobles in Scotland.
Witch trials and Sodomy Act
James returned from Denmark via Leith on 1 May, and soon after, he attended the North Berwick Butt Trial, in which several people were convicted of having used witchcraft to create a storm in an attempt to sink the ship on which James and Anne had been travelling.
Intent on strengthening the Church of England and reaffirming the Buggery Act 1533, James adopted a severe stance towards sodomy. His book on kingship, Basilikon Doron 1598, lists sodomy among those “horrible crimes which ye are bound in conscience never to forgive.”
Proclaimed James I of England
Upon the death of Elizabeth I in 1603, under the terms of Henry's will, the Crown should have passed to Lady Anne Stanley, a descendant of Henry VIII's sister Margaret Tudor. (Elizabeth's second cousin once-removed, Viscount Beauchamp, son of Lady Catherine Grey, was more senior, but he was considered illegitimate because his parents' marriage was annulled.)
As neither Beauchamp nor Lady Anne nor any other was powerful enough to defend a claim, an Accession Council met and proclaimed James King of England.
Early reign in England
Political challenges
James' chief political advisor was Robert Cecil, 1st Baron Cecil of Essendon (the younger son of Elizabeth I's favoured minister, Lord Burghley), who was created Earl of Salisbury in 1605. This relationship ought to have provided continuity between the parliament of Elizabeth and that of James.
However, James I embroiled himself in numerous conflicts with Parliament. Kenyon suggest that the title was often used sarcastically, citing a rumour that Henri IV of France, upon hearing the title used, commented "'that he hoped he was not David the fiddler's son' - a reference to Mary Stuart's music-loving secretary, David Rizzio" and to the fact that the biblical Solomon, with his fabled wisdom, was the son of King David, a harpist and composer
On October 20th, 1604, James proclaimed himself styled "King of Great Britain", the first monarch to do so , although the United Kingdom of Great Britain would not exist until the Acts of Union in 1707. Relations between James I and Parliament were also soured by the latter's refusal to pass the King's plan to allow free trade between England and Scotland. Frustrated by the members of the House of Commons and by the collapse of the Great Contract, James dissolved Parliament in 1611.
With the Crown deep in debt, James blatantly sold honours and titles to raise funds. In total, sixty-two individuals were raised to the English Peerage by James, in contrasted to Elizabeth, who created eight new peers during her 45-year reign. James then began to involve himself in matters previously handled by his ministers but his personal government was disastrous for his finances, and a new Parliament had to be called in 1614 in order to obtain the imposition of new taxes. James dissolved Parliament when it became clear that no progress could be made.
Subsequently, James ruled without a Parliament for seven years.
Religious challenges
Upon James I’s arrival in London, he was almost immediately faced by religious conflicts in England. He did, however, agree to fulfil a request which was to have far-reaching effect by authorizing an official translation of the Bible, which came to be known as the King James Bible (published in 1611).
During this year, James broadened Elizabeth's Witchcraft Act to bring the penalty of death without benefit of clergy to any one who invoked evil spirits or communed with familiar spirits.
Relationships with Roman Catholicism
Though James was careful to accept Catholics in his realm, his Protestant subjects encouraged him that they would not get equal rights.
Gunpowder, treason and plot
In 1605, a group of Catholic extremists led by Robert Catesby developed a plan, known as the Gunpowder Plot, to cause an explosion in the chamber of the House of Lords, where the King and members of both Houses of Parliament would be gathered for the State Opening. The conspirators sought to replace James with the Spanish Infanta, who was Catholic and one of the other possible heirs to the throne after Elizabeth.
Terrified, James refused to leave his residence for many days.
Later years
Continuing problems with Parliament
The third and penultimate Parliament of James' reign was summoned in 1621. The House of Commons agreed to grant James a small subsidy to signify their loyalty, but then, to the displeasure of the King, moved on to personal matters directly involving the King. James was forced to become involved because his daughter, Elizabeth, was married to the Protestant Frederick V, Elector Palatine, one of the war's chief participants. When James declared that the lower House had overstepped its bounds by offering unsolicited advice, the House of Commons passed a protest claiming that it had the right to debate any matter relating to the welfare of the Kingdom. James ordered the protest torn out of the Commons Journal, and dissolved Parliament. When James' Spanish marriage plot failed, a humiliated Prince Charles and George Villiers urged James and his parliament to go to war. England would eventually join the war after James had died.
The Church in Scotland
In Scotland, James' attempt to move the Church, whose form of worship tended to be based on free-form Calvinism, in a more structured High Church direction with the introduction of the Five Articles of Perth, met with widespread popular resistance.
Personal relationships
Nonconformists said of him "Elizabeth was King: now James is Queen" and this quote has survived .
James did not know his father as a child and had little opportunity to know his mother.
Despite his early condemnation of sodomy, James was to have close and documented relationships with two young men.
In 1614 James met George Villiers, then the son of a Leicestershire knight. (Bergeron, King James, p175) James bestowed a multitude of honours upon Villiers, culminating with creating him Duke of Buckingham in 1623, making him the first commoner to be elevated to a dukedom in more than a century.
In 1615 James fell out with Carr and wrote a letter detailing a list of complaints.
James lapsed into senility during the last year of his reign. Real power passed to Charles and to the Duke of Buckingham, although James kept enough power to ensure that a new war with Spain did not occur while he was King. James died at Theobalds House in 1625 of 'tertian ague' probably brought upon by kidney failure and stroke, and was buried in the Henry VII Lady Chapel in Westminster Abbey. James had ruled in Scotland for almost sixty years;
Legacy
Historical
Almost immediately after James I's death, Charles I became embroiled in disputes with Parliament.
Religious and literary
James I’s religious tolerance, compared with that of his predecessors, permitted the continued existence of Catholicism in England and Scotland, the continuation of Calvinism in Scotland and the growth of Puritanism in England, while encouraging liturgical formality and ‘’High Church’’ practices.
The ‘’King James Bible’’ became the standard edition of the Bible throughout the English-speaking world, replacing the Great Bible of Henry VIII, the Geneva Bible and other translations.
Shakespeare continued to write under James I as he had in the reign of Elizabeth. Some conclude that the term Union Jack may have come from James' name, Jac meaning Jacobus which is Latin for James, i.e.
Geographical
In the Virginia Colony in the New World, the Jamestown Settlement, established in 1607, and the James River were named in honour of James I. Wilson viewed James I as a poor King. Weldon, dismissed by James for his writings against Scotland, wrote 'The Court and Character of King James'. Historians Gordon Donaldson and Jenny Wormald have argued for a revision of opinion towards King James in the light of his successful rule in Scotland.
Style and arms
Formally, James was styled "James, King of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, etc." (The claim to the Throne of France, which had been maintained since the reign of Edward III, was merely nominal.) By a proclamation of 1604, James assumed the style "James, King of Great Brittaine, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, etc."
James' English arms, whilst he was King of England and Scotland, were: Quarterly, I and IV Grandquarterly, Azure three fleurs-de-lis Or (for France) and Gules three lions passant guardant in pale Or (for England);
Issue
| Name | Birth | Death | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Henry, Prince of Wales | 19 February 1594 | 6 November 1612 | |
| Unnamed child | July 1595 | July 1595 | |
| Elizabeth Stuart | 19 August 1596 | 13 February 1662 | married 1613, Frederick V, Elector Palatine; had issue |
| Margaret Stuart | 24 December 1598 | March 1600 | |
| Charles I | 19 November 1600 | 30 January 1649 | married 1625, Henrietta Maria; had issue |
| Robert, Duke of Kintyre | 18 February 1602 | 27 May 1602 | |
| Unnamed son | May 1603 | May 1603 | |
| Mary Stuart | 8 April 1605 | 16 December 1607 | |
| Sophia Stuart | 22 June 1606 | 28 June 1606 | King James VI of Scotland, I of England. The Cradle King: A Life of James VI and I. |
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