King James I of England

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King James I of England

James VI & I (19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603 until his death. The kingdoms of England and Scotland were individual sovereign states, with their own parliaments, judiciary, and laws, though both were ruled by James in personal union.

He became King of Scotland when he was just thirteen months old, succeeding his mother Mary, Queen of Scots, who had been compelled to abdicate in his favour. Four different regents governed during his minority, which ended officially in 1578, though he did not gain full control of his government until 1583. In 1603, he succeeded the last Tudor monarch of England and Ireland, Elizabeth I, who died without issue.^[] He continued to reign in all three kingdoms for 22 years, often using the title "King of Great Britain and Ireland", until his death in 1625 at the age of 58.^[] He based himself in England (the largest of the three realms) from 1603, only returning to Scotland once in 1617. His stated aim of having one parliament for both countries would not be realised until the Act of Union in 1707. In his reign, the Plantation of Ulster and British colonization of the Americas began.

At 57 years and 246 days, his reign in Scotland was longer than any of his predecessors. He achieved most of his aims in Scotland but faced great difficulties in England, including the Gunpowder Plot in 1605 and repeated conflicts with the English Parliament. Under James, the "Golden Age" of Elizabethan literature and drama continued, with writers such as William Shakespeare, John Donne, Ben Jonson, and Sir Francis Bacon contributing to a flourishing literary culture.^[] James himself was a talented scholar, the author of works such as Daemonologie (1597), True Law of Free Monarchies (1598), and Basilikon Doron (1599). He sponsored the translation of the Bible that was named after him: the Authorised King James Version.^[] Sir Anthony Weldon claimed that James had been termed "the wisest fool in Christendom", an epithet associated with his character ever since.^[] Since the latter half of the twentieth century, however, historians have revised James's reputation and have treated him as a serious and thoughtful monarch.^[]

Childhood

Birth

James was the only son of Mary, Queen of Scots, and her second husband, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. Both Mary and Darnley were great-grandchildren of Henry VII of England through Margaret Tudor, the older sister of Henry VIII. Mary's rule over Scotland was insecure, for both she and her husband, being Roman Catholics, faced a rebellion by Protestant noblemen. During Mary's and Darnley's difficult marriage,^[] 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.^[]

Portrait of James as a boy, after Arnold Bronckorst, 1574

James was born on 19 June 1566 at Edinburgh Castle, and as the eldest son and heir apparent of the monarch automatically became Duke of Rothesay and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland. He was baptised "Charles James" on 17 December 1566 in a Catholic ceremony held at Stirling Castle. His godparents were Charles IX of France (represented by John, Count of Brienne), Elizabeth I of England (represented by the Earl of Bedford), and Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy (represented by ambassador Philibert du Croc).^[] Mary refused to let the Archbishop of St Andrews, whom she referred to as "a pocky priest", spit in the child's mouth, as was then the custom.^[] The English guests were offended by the subsequent entertainment, which was devised by Frenchman Bastian Pagez and depicted them as satyrs with tails.^[]

James's father, Darnley, was murdered on 10 February 1567 during an unexplained explosion at Kirk o' Field, Edinburgh, perhaps in revenge for Rizzio's death. James inherited his father's titles of Duke of Albany and Earl of Ross. Mary was already unpopular, and her marriage on 15 May 1567 to James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, who was widely suspected of murdering Darnley, heightened widespread bad feeling towards her.^[] In June 1567, Protestant rebels arrested Mary and imprisoned her in Loch Leven Castle; she never saw her son again. She was forced to abdicate on 24 July in favour of the infant James and to appoint her illegitimate half-brother, James Stewart, Earl of Moray, as regent.^[]

Regencies

The care of James was entrusted to the Earl and Countess of Mar, "to be conserved, nursed, and upbrought"^[] in the security of Stirling Castle.^[] James was crowned King of Scots at the age of thirteen months at the Church of the Holy Rude, Stirling, by Adam Bothwell, Bishop of Orkney, on 29 July 1567.^[] The sermon at the coronation was preached by John Knox. In accordance with the religious beliefs of most of the Scottish ruling class, James was brought up as a member of the Protestant Church of Scotland. The Privy Council selected George Buchanan, Peter Young, Adam Erskine (lay abbot of Cambuskenneth), and David Erskine (lay abbot of Dryburgh) as James's preceptors or tutors.^[] As the young king's senior tutor, Buchanan subjected James to regular beatings but also instilled in him a lifelong passion for literature and learning.^[] Buchanan sought to turn James into a God-fearing, Protestant king who accepted the limitations of monarchy, as outlined in his treatise De Jure Regni apud Scotos.^[]

In 1568 Mary escaped from her imprisonment at Loch Leven Castle, leading to several years of sporadic violence. The Earl of Moray defeated Mary's troops at the Battle of Langside, forcing her to flee to England, where she was subsequently imprisoned by Elizabeth. On 23 January 1570, Moray was assassinated by James Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh.^[] The next regent was James's paternal grandfather, Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox, who a year later was carried fatally wounded into Stirling Castle after a raid by Mary's supporters.^[] His successor, the Earl of Mar, died soon after banqueting at the estate of James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton, where he "took a vehement sickness", dying on 28 October 1572 at Stirling. Morton, who now took Mar's office, proved in many ways the most effective of James's regents,^[] but he made enemies by his rapacity.^[] He fell from favour when the Frenchman Esmé Stewart, Sieur d'Aubigny, first cousin of James's father Lord Darnley, and future Earl of Lennox, arrived in Scotland and quickly established himself as the first of James's powerful male favourites.^[] Morton was executed on 2 June 1581, belatedly charged with complicity in Lord Darnley's murder.^[] On 8 August, James made Lennox the only duke in Scotland.^[] Then fifteen years old, the king was to remain under the influence of Lennox for about one more year.^[]

==Rule in Scotland== <--to here-->

Although a Protestant convert, Lennox was distrusted by Scottish Calvinists, who noticed the physical displays of affection between favourite and king and alleged that Lennox "went about to draw the King to carnal lust".<ref name="croft15" /> In August 1582, in what became known as the Ruthven Raid, the Protestant earls of Gowrie and Angus lured James into Ruthven Castle, imprisoned him,<ref>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". Stewart, p 66.</ref> and forced Lennox to leave Scotland. After James was liberated in June 1583, he assumed increasing control of his kingdom. He pushed through the Black Acts to assert royal authority over the Kirk, and denounced the writings of his former tutor Buchanan.<ref>Croft, pp 17–18; Willson, pp 39, 50.</ref> Between 1584 and 1603, he established effective royal government and relative peace among the lords, ably assisted by John Maitland of Thirlestane, who led the government until 1592.<ref>Croft, p 20.</ref> An eight-man commission, known as the Octavians, 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, stoked by anti-Catholicism, led the court to withdraw to Linlithgow temporarily.<ref>Croft, pp 29, 41–42; Willson, pp 121–124.</ref> One last Scottish attempt against the king's person occurred in August 1600, when James was apparently assaulted by Alexander Ruthven, the Earl of Gowrie's younger brother, at Gowrie House, the seat of the Ruthvens.<ref>Lockyer, pp 24–25; Stewart, pp 150–157.</ref> Since Ruthven was run through by James's page John Ramsay and the Earl of Gowrie was himself killed in the ensuing fracas, there were few surviving witnesses. Given his history with the Ruthvens, and that he owed them a great deal of money, James's account of the circumstances was not universally believed.<ref>"The two principal characters were dead, the evidence of eyewitnesses was destroyed and only King James version remained". Williams, p 61; George Nicolson reported: "It is begun to be noted that the reports coming from the King should differ". Stewart, p 154. Croft, p 45; Willson, pp 126–130.</ref>

In 1586, James signed the Treaty of Berwick with England. That and the execution of his mother in 1587, which he denounced as a "preposterous and strange procedure", helped clear the way for his succession south of the border.<ref>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". Croft, p 22.</ref> During the Spanish Armada crisis of 1588, he assured Elizabeth of his support as "your natural son and compatriot of your country",<ref>Croft, p 23.</ref> and as time passed and Elizabeth remained unmarried, securing the English succession became a cornerstone of James's policy.

Marriage

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.<ref>Croft, pp 23–24.</ref> A suitable marriage, however, was necessary to reinforce his monarchy, and the choice fell on the fourteen-year-old Anne of Denmark, younger daughter of the Protestant Frederick II. Shortly after a proxy marriage in Copenhagen in August 1589, Anne sailed for Scotland but was forced by storms to the coast of Norway. On hearing the crossing had been abandoned, James, in what Willson calls "the one romantic episode of his life",<ref>Willson, p 85.</ref> sailed from Leith with a three-hundred-strong retinue to fetch Anne personally.<ref>James heard on 7 October of the decision to postpone the crossing for winter. Stewart, pp 107–110.</ref> The couple were married formally at the Bishop's Palace in Oslo on 23 November and, after stays at Elsinore and Copenhagen, returned to Scotland in May 1590. By all accounts, James was at first infatuated with Anne, and in the early years of their marriage seems always to have showed her patience and affection.<ref>Willson, pp 85–95.</ref> The royal couple produced three surviving children: Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales, who died of typhoid fever in 1612, aged 18; Elizabeth, later Queen of Bohemia; and Charles, the future King. Anne died before her husband in March 1619.

Witch hunts

James's visit to Denmark, a country familiar with witch hunts, may have encouraged an interest in the study of witchcraft, which he considered a branch of theology.<ref>Croft, p 26; Willson, p 103.</ref> He was delayed from leaving Denmark by bad weather, and was stranded in Norway for some weeks. After his return to Scotland, he attended the North Berwick witch trials, the first major persecution of witches in Scotland under the Witchcraft Act 1563. Several people, most notably Agnes Sampson, were convicted of using witchcraft to send storms against James's ship. James became obsessed with the threat posed by witches and, inspired by his personal involvement, in 1597 wrote the Daemonologie, a tract which opposed the practice of witchcraft and which provided background material for Shakespeare's Tragedy of Macbeth.<ref>Willson pp 103–5.</ref><ref name=KK>Keay and Keay (1994) p556; (2000) p579.</ref> James is known to have personally supervised the torture of women accused of being witches.<ref name=KK/> After 1599, his views may have become more sceptical as he wrote to his son, Prince Henry, to congratulate him on "the discovery of yon little counterfeit wench. I pray God ye may be my heir in such discoveries".<ref>Croft, p 27.</ref>

Highlands and Islands

The forcible dissolution of the Lordship of the Isles by James IV in 1493 had led to troubled times for the western seaboard. Although the king had the power to subdue the organised military might of the Hebrides, 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 as linn nan creach – the time of raids.<ref>Hunter (2000) pp. 143, 166</ref> Furthermore, the effects of the Reformation were slow to impact the Gàidhealtachd, driving a religious wedge between this area and centres of political control in the Central Belt.<ref>Hunter (2000) p. 174</ref> In 1540 James V had conducted a royal tour of the Hebrides, forcing the clan chiefs to accompany him. There followed a period of peace, but all too soon the clans were at loggerheads with one another again.<ref name=Tho40>Thompson (1968) pp. 40–41</ref> During James VI's reign the transformation of the 15th century image of the Hebrides as the cradle of Scottish Christianity and nationhood into one in which its citizens were regarded as lawless barbarians was complete. 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".<ref name=Hu175>Hunter (2000) p. 175</ref> The Gaelic 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. The Scottish Parliament decided it had become a principal cause of the Highlanders' shortcomings and sought to abolish it.<ref name=Tho40/><ref name=Hu175/>

It was against this background that in 1598 James VI authorised the "Gentleman Adventurers of Fife" to civilise the "most barbarous Isle of Lewis". James wrote that the colonists were to act "not by agreement" with the local inhabitants, but "by extirpation of thame". Landing at Stornoway and initially successful, 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.<ref name=Hu175/><ref>Rotary Club (1995) pp. 12–13</ref> The Statutes of Iona were enacted in 1609, which required that clan chiefs: send their heirs to Lowland Scotland to be educated in English-speaking Protestant schools; provide support for Protestant ministers to Highland Parishes; outlaw bards; and regularly report to Edinburgh to answer for their actions.<ref>Hunter (2000) p. 176</ref> 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."<ref>MacKinnon (1991) p. 46</ref>

James was not averse to making light of his relationship with the Gaels. He visited the town of Nairn in 1589 and is said to have later remarked that the High Street was so long that the people at either end of the High Street spoke different languages to one another – English and Gaelic.<ref>"Nairn" Undiscovered Scotland. Retrieved 18 July 2010. The landward farmers generally spoke Gaelic and the fishing families at the harbour end, English. See also Thomson, David (1998) Nairn in Darkness and Light. Vintage. ISBN 9780099599906</ref>

Theory of monarchy

In 1597–98, James wrote two works, The True Law of Free Monarchies and Basilikon Doron (Royal Gift), in which he established an ideological base for monarchy. In the True Law, he sets out the divine right of kings, explaining that for Biblical reasons kings are higher beings than other men, though "the highest bench is the sliddriest to sit upon".<ref>"Kings are called gods by the prophetical King David because they sit upon God His throne in earth and have the count of their administration to give unto Him." Quoted by Willson, p 131.</ref> The document proposes an absolutist theory of monarchy, by which a king may impose new laws by royal 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".<ref>Croft, pp 131–33.</ref> Basilikon Doron, written as a book of instruction for the four-year-old Prince Henry, provides a more practical guide to kingship.<ref>Willson, p 133.</ref> Despite banalities and sanctimonious advice,<ref>A king, James advised, should not look like "a deboshed waster" (Croft, p 135) and should avoid the company of women, "which are no other thing else but irritamenta libidinis" (Willson, p 135).</ref> the work is well written, perhaps the best example of James's prose.<ref>"The Basilikon Doron is the best prose James ever wrote." Willson, p 132; "James wrote well, scattering engaging asides throughout the text." Croft, pp 134–35.</ref> James's advice concerning parliaments, which he understood as merely the king's "head court", foreshadows his difficulties with the English Commons: "Hold no Parliaments," he tells Henry, "but for the necesitie of new Lawes, which would be but seldome".<ref>Croft, p 133.</ref> In the True 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."<ref>Quoted by Willson, p 132.</ref>

Literary patronage

See Also Castalian Band

James was concerned in the 1580s and 1590s to promote the literature of the country of his birth. His treatise, Some Rules and Cautions to be Observed and Eschewed in Scottish Prosody, published in 1584 at the age of 19, was both a poetic manual and a description of the poetic tradition in his mother tongue, Scots, applying Renaissance principles.<ref>RDS Jack. "Poetry under King James VI", essay in, Cairns Craig (general editor) The History of Scottish Literature, (Volume 1), Aberdeen University Press, 1988. pp. 126–7</ref> He also made statutory provision to reform and promote the teaching of music, seeing the two in connection.<ref>One act of his reign urges the Scottish burghs to reform and support the teaching of music in Sang Sculis. See: Scottish Literature: 1603 and all that, Association of Scottish Literary Studies, 2000.</ref> In furtherance of these aims he was both patron and head of a loose circle of Scottish Jacobean court poets and musicians, the Castalian Band, which included among others William Fowler and Alexander Montgomerie, the latter being a favourite of the King.<ref>RDS Jack Alexander Montgomerie. Scottish Academic Press. Edinburgh. 1985. pp.1–2</ref> James, himself a poet, was happy to be seen as a practising member in the group.<ref>RDS Jack. "Poetry under King James VI", essay in, Cairns Craig (general editor) The History of Scottish Literature, (Volume 1), Aberdeen University Press, 1988. p. 125</ref> By the late 1590s his championing of his native Scottish tradition was to some extent diffused by the increasingly expected prospect of inheritance of the English throne,<ref>RDS Jack. "Poetry under King James VI", essay in, Cairns Craig (general editor) The History of Scottish Literature, (Volume 1), Aberdeen University Press, 1988. pp. 137</ref> and some courtier poets who followed the king to London after 1603, such as William Alexander, were starting to anglicise their written language.<ref>Michael Spiller. "Poetry after the Union 1603–1660", essay in, Cairns Craig (general editor) The History of Scottish Literature, (Volume 1), Aberdeen University Press, 1988. pp. 141–52. Spiller points out that the trend, although unambiguous, was generally more mixed.</ref> James's characteristic role as active literary participant and patron in the Scottish court made him in many respects a defining figure for English Jacobean poetry and drama, which would reach a pinnacle of achievement in his reign,<ref>See for example Neil Rhodes, "Wrapped in the Strong Arm of the Union: Shakespeare and King James" in Maley and Murphy (eds) Shakespeare and Scotland. Manchester University Press, 2004. pp. 38–9.</ref> but his patronage for the high style in his own Scottish tradition, a tradition which includes his ancestor James I of Scotland, largely became sidelined.<ref>RDS Jack. "Poetry under King James VI", essay in, Cairns Craig (general editor) The History of Scottish Literature, (Volume 1), Aberdeen University Press, 1988. pp. 137–8</ref>

Proclaimed King of England

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Template:House of Stuart From 1601, in the last years of Elizabeth I's life, certain English politicians, notably her chief minister Sir Robert Cecil,<ref>James described Cecil as "king there in effect". Croft, p 48.</ref> maintained a secret correspondence with James in order to prepare in advance for a smooth succession.<ref>Willson, pp 154–155.</ref> In March 1603, with the Queen clearly dying, Cecil sent James a draft proclamation of his accession to the English throne. Elizabeth died in the early hours of 24 March, and James was proclaimed king in London later the same day.<ref>Croft, p 49; Willson, p 158.</ref> On 5 April, James left Edinburgh for London, promising to return every three years (a promise he did not keep), and progressed slowly southwards, to arrive in the capital after Elizabeth's funeral.<ref>Croft, p 49.</ref> Local lords received him with lavish hospitality along the route, and his new subjects flocked to see him, relieved that the succession had triggered neither unrest nor invasion.<ref>Croft, p 50.</ref> When he entered London on 7 May, he was mobbed by a crowd of spectators.<ref>Stewart, p 169.</ref>

His English coronation took place on 25 July, with elaborate allegories provided by dramatic poets such as Thomas Dekker and Ben Jonson. Even though an outbreak of plague restricted festivities,<ref>Stewart, p 172.</ref> "the streets seemed paved with men," wrote Dekker. "Stalls instead of rich wares were set out with children, open casements filled up with women".<ref>Stewart, p 173.</ref>

The kingdom to which James succeeded was, however, not without its problems. Monopolies and taxation had engendered a widespread sense of grievance, and the costs of war in Ireland had become a heavy burden on the government.<ref>Croft, pp 50–51.</ref>

Early reign in England

Despite the smoothness of the succession and the warmth of his welcome, James survived two conspiracies in the first year of his reign, the Bye Plot and Main Plot, which led to the arrest, among others, of Lord Cobham and Sir Walter Raleigh.<ref name="Croft li">Croft, p 51.</ref> Those hoping for governmental change from James were at first disappointed when he maintained Elizabeth's Privy Councillors in office, as secretly planned with Cecil,<ref name="Croft li"/> but James shortly added long-time supporter Henry Howard and his nephew Thomas Howard to the Privy Council, as well as five Scottish nobles.<ref>Croft, p 51; The introduction of Henry Howard, soon to be Earl of Northampton, and of Thomas Howard, soon to be Earl of Suffolk, marked the beginning of the rise of the Howard family to power in England, which was to culminate in their dominance of James's government after the death of Cecil in 1612. Henry Howard, son of poet Henry 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 brother Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, to free and marry Mary, Queen of Scots, leading to his execution in 1572. Willson, p 156; Guy, pp 461–468. For details on the Howards, see The Trials of Frances Howard by David Lindley. On Henry Howard, a traditionally reviled figure (Willson [1956] called him "A man of dark counsels and creeping schemes, learned but bombastic, and a most fulsome flatterer". p 156) whose reputation has been upgraded in recent years (Croft, p 6), see Northampton, by Linda Levy Peck.</ref> In the early years of James's reign, the day-to-day running of the government was tightly managed by the shrewd Robert Cecil, later Earl of Salisbury, ably assisted by the experienced Thomas Egerton, whom James made Baron Ellesmere and Lord Chancellor, and by Thomas Sackville, soon Earl of Dorset, who continued as Lord Treasurer.<ref name="Croft li"/> 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.<ref name="Croft li"/>

James was ambitious to build on the personal union of the Crowns of Scotland and England to establish a single country under one monarch, one parliament and one law, a plan which met opposition in both realms.<ref>Croft, pp 52–54.</ref> "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 on legal grounds his request to be titled "King of Great Britain".<ref>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". Willson, p 250.</ref> In October 1604, he assumed the title "King of Great Britain" by proclamation rather than statute, though Sir Francis Bacon told him he could not use the style in "any legal proceeding, instrument or assurance".<ref>Willson, pp 249–52.</ref>

In foreign policy, James achieved more success. Never having been at war with Spain, he devoted his efforts to bringing the long Anglo–Spanish War to an end, and in August 1604, thanks to skilled diplomacy on the part of Robert Cecil and Henry Howard, now Earl of Northampton, a peace treaty was signed between the two countries, which James celebrated by hosting a great banquet.<ref>Croft, pp 52–53.</ref> Freedom of worship for Catholics in England continued, however, 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.<ref>Croft, p 118.</ref>

[[File:KingJamesLetter.jpg|thumb|The 1613 letter of King James I remitted to Tokugawa Ieyasu (Preserved in the Tokyo University archives).]]

Under James, expansion of English international trade and influence was actively pursued through the East India Company. An English settlement was already established in Bantam, on the island of Java, and in 1613, following an invitation from the English adventurer William Adams in Japan, the English captain John Saris arrived at Hirado in the ship Clove with the intent of establishing a trading factory. Adams and Saris travelled to Shizuoka where they met with Tokugawa Ieyasu at his principal residence in September before moving on to Edo where they met Ieyasu's son Hidetada. During that meeting, Hidetada gave Saris two varnished suits of armour for James, today housed in the Tower of London.<ref>Notice at the Tower of London</ref> On their way back, they visited Tokugawa once more, who conferred trading privileges on the English through a Red Seal permit giving them "free license to abide, buy, sell and barter" in Japan.<ref>The Red Seal permit was re-discovered in 1985 by Professor Hayashi Nozomu, in the Bodleian Library. Massarella, Derek; Tytler Izumi K. (1990) "The Japonian Charters" Monumenta Nipponica, Vol. 45, No. 2, pp 189–205.</ref> The English party headed back to Hirado on 9 October 1613. However, during the ten year activity of the company between 1613 and 1623, apart from the first ship (Clove in 1613), only three other English ships brought cargoes directly from London to Japan.

Gunpowder plot

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On 5 November 1605, the eve of the state opening of the second session of James's first English Parliament, a soldier named Guy Fawkes was discovered in the cellars of the parliament buildings. He was guarding a pile of wood not far from 36 barrels of gunpowder with which Fawkes 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".<ref>Stewart, p 219.</ref> The sensational discovery of the Catholic Gunpowder Plot, as it quickly became known, aroused a mood of national relief at the delivery of the king and his sons which Salisbury exploited to extract higher subsidies from the ensuing Parliament than any but one granted to Elizabeth.<ref>Croft, p 64.</ref> The attempt to blow up the Houses of Parliament and kill James was unsuccessful, and Fawkes was executed.

King and Parliament

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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.<ref>Croft, p 63.</ref> On 7 July 1604, James had angrily prorogued 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".<ref>Quoted by Croft, p 62.</ref>

As James's reign progressed, his government faced growing financial pressures, due partly to creeping inflation<ref>Croft, p 69.</ref> but also to the profligacy and financial incompetence of James's court. In February 1610 Salisbury, a believer in parliamentary participation in government,<ref>"All wise princes, whensoever there was cause to withstand present evils or future perils ... have always addressed themselves to their Parliaments." Quoted by Croft, p 76.</ref> proposed a scheme, known as the Great 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.<ref>Croft, pp 75–81.</ref> 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".<ref>Croft, p 80.</ref> The same pattern was repeated with the so-called "Addled Parliament" of 1614, which James dissolved after a mere eight weeks when Commons hesitated to grant him the money he required.<ref>Willson, p 348.</ref> James then ruled without parliament until 1621, employing officials such as the businessman Lionel Cranfield, who were astute at raising and saving money for the crown, and sold earldoms and other dignities, many created for the purpose, as an alternative source of income.<ref>Willson, p 409.</ref>

Spanish match

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Another potential source of income was the prospect of a Spanish dowry from a marriage between Charles, Prince of Wales, and the Spanish Infanta, Maria.<ref>Willson, p 357.</ref> The policy of the Spanish 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.<ref>Schama, Simon (2001) A History of Britain, Vol. II, p 59 (New York: Hyperion).</ref> 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.<ref>Kenyon, J. P. (1978) Stuart England, pp 88–89 (Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Books).</ref>

The policy was supported by the Howards and other Catholic-leaning ministers and diplomats—together known as the Spanish Party—but deeply distrusted in Protestant England. James's policy was further jeopardised by the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War, especially after his Protestant son-in-law, Frederick V, Elector Palatine, was ousted from Bohemia by the Catholic Emperor Ferdinand II in 1620, and Spanish troops simultaneously invaded Frederick's Rhineland 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.<ref>Willson, pp 408–416.</ref> The Commons on the one hand granted subsidies inadequate to finance serious military operations in aid of Frederick,<ref>Willson, p 417.</ref> 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, led by Sir Edward 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.<ref>Willson, p 421.</ref> James flatly told them not to interfere in matters of royal prerogative or they would risk punishment,<ref>Willson, p 442.</ref> which provoked them into issuing a statement protesting their rights, including freedom of speech.<ref>James wrote: "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." Quoted by Willson, p 423.</ref> Urged on by the Duke of Buckingham and the Spanish ambassador Gondomar, James ripped the protest out of the record book and dissolved Parliament.<ref>Willson, p 243.</ref>

In 1623, Prince Charles, now 23, and Buckingham decided to seize the initiative and travel to Spain incognito,<ref>They traveled under the names Thomas and John Smith. Croft, p 118.</ref> to win the Infanta directly, but the mission proved a desperate mistake.<ref>Croft, pp 118–119.</ref> The Infanta detested Charles, and the Spanish confronted them with terms that included his conversion to Catholicism and a one-year stay in Spain as, in essence, a diplomatic hostage. Though a treaty was signed, the prince and duke returned to England in October without the Infanta and immediately renounced the treaty, much to the delight of the British people.<ref>Schama, p. 64. "There was an immense outbreak of popular joy, with fireworks, bell ringing and street parties." Croft, p 120.</ref> Their eyes opened 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 the Habsburg empire.<ref>Croft, pp 120–121.</ref> 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,<ref>"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." Krugler, pp 63–4.</ref> who pressured the king to declare war and engineered the impeachment of Lord Treasurer Lionel Cranfield, by now made Earl of Middlesex, when he opposed the plan on grounds of cost.<ref>"The lord treasurer fell not on largely unproven grounds of corruption, but as the victim of an alliance between warmongering elements at court and in Parliament." Croft, p 125.</ref> The outcome of the Parliament of 1624 was ambiguous: James still refused to declare war, but Charles believed the Commons had committed themselves to finance a war against Spain, a stance which was to contribute to his problems with Parliament in his own reign.<ref>"On that divergence of interpretation, relations between the future king and the Parliaments of the years 1625–9 were to founder." Croft, p 126.</ref>

King and Church

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After the Gunpowder Plot, James sanctioned harsh measures for controlling non-conforming English Catholics. In May 1606, Parliament passed the Popish Recusants Act which could require any citizen to take an Oath of Allegiance denying the Pope's authority over the king.<ref>Stewart, p 225.</ref> James was conciliatory towards Catholics who took the Oath of Allegiance,<ref>Willson, p 228.</ref> and tolerated crypto-Catholicism even at court.<ref>A crypto-Catholic was someone who outwardly conformed to Protestantism but remained a Catholic in private. Henry Howard, for example, was a crypto-Catholic, received back into the Church in his final months. Before ascending the English throne, James, suspecting he might need the support of Catholics in succeeding to the throne, had assured Northumberland he would not persecute "any that will be quiet and give but an outward obedience to the law". Croft, p 162.</ref> Towards the Puritan clergy, with whom he debated at the Hampton Court Conference of 1604,<ref>Croft, p 156; In the Millenary Petition of 1603, the Puritan clergy demanded, among other things, the abolition of confirmation, wedding rings, and the term "priest", and that the wearing of cap and surplice, "outward badges of Popish errours", become optional. Willson, p 201.</ref> James was at first strict in enforcing conformity, inducing a sense of persecution amongst many Puritans;<ref>"In things indifferent," James wrote in a new edition of Basilikon Doron, "they are seditious which obey not the magistrates". Willson, p 201, p 209; Croft, p 156; "In seeking conformity, James gave a name and a purpose to nonconformity." Stewart, p 205.</ref> but ejections and suspensions from livings became fewer as the reign wore on. As a result of the Hampton Court Conference a new translation and compilation of approved books of the Bible was commissioned to resolve issues with translations then being used. The Authorised King James Version, as it came to be known, was completed in 1611 and is considered a masterpiece of Jacobean prose.<ref>Willson, pp 213–215; Croft, p 157.</ref> It is still in widespread use.

In Scotland, James attempted to bring the Scottish kirk "so neir as can be" to the English church and to reestablish episcopacy, a policy which met with strong opposition.<ref>In March 1605, Archbishop Spottiswood wrote to James warning him that sermons against bishops were being preached daily in Edinburgh. Croft, p 164.</ref> In 1618, James's bishops forced his Five Articles of Perth through a General Assembly; but the rulings were widely resisted.<ref>Croft, p 166; Willson, p 320.</ref> James was to leave the church in Scotland divided at his death, a source of future problems for his son.<ref>Historians have differed in their assessments of the kirk at James's death: some consider that the Scots might have accepted James's policies eventually; others that James left the kirk in crisis. Croft, p 167.</ref>

Personal relationships

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Throughout his life James had close relationships with male courtiers, which has caused debate among historians about their nature.<ref name=bucholz>"... 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 or bisexual. In fact, the issue is murky." Bucholz and Key, p 208</ref> After his accession in England, his peaceful and scholarly attitude strikingly contrasted with the bellicose and flirtatious behaviour of Elizabeth,<ref name=bucholz/> as indicated by the contemporary epigram Rex fuit Elizabeth, nunc est regina Jacobus (Elizabeth was King, now James is Queen).<ref>Hyde, H. Montgomery (1970) The Love That Dared Not Speak its Name. London: Heinemann. pp 43–44</ref> Some of James's biographers conclude that Esmé Stewart (later Duke of Lennox), Robert Carr (later Earl of Somerset), and George Villiers (later Duke of Buckingham) were his lovers.<ref>e.g. Young, Michael B. (2000) King James and the History of Homosexuality. New York: New York University Press. ISBN 978-0814796931; Bergeron, David M. (1991) Royal Family, Royal Lovers: King James of England and Scotland. Columbia; London: University of Missouri Press</ref> Restoration of Apethorpe Hall, undertaken in 2004–2008, revealed a previously unknown passage linking the bedchambers of James and Villiers.<ref>To the manor bought, BBC News Online, 5 June 2008</ref> Others argue that the relationships were not sexual.<ref>e.g. Lee, Maurice, Jr. (1990) Great Britain's Solomon: James VI and I on His Three Kingdoms. Urbana: University of Illinois Press</ref> In Basilikon Doron James lists sodomy 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.<ref>Weir, Alison (1996) Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy. London; Sydney; Auckland: Random House. ISBN 0712674489, pp 249–51</ref>

Favourites

When the Earl of Salisbury died in 1612, he was little mourned by those who jostled to fill the power vacuum.<ref>Northampton, who assumed the day-to-day running of government business, spoke of "the death of the little man for which so many rejoice and few do as much as seem to be sorry." Willson, p 269.</ref> 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.<ref>"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, p 333.</ref> 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, Viscount Rochester, carrying out many of Salisbury's former duties, but James's inability to attend closely to official business exposed the government to factionalism.<ref>Willson, pp 334–5.</ref>

The Howard party, consisting of Northampton, Suffolk, Suffolk's son-in-law Lord Knollys, and Charles Howard, Earl of Nottingham, along with Sir Thomas Lake, soon took control of much of the government and its patronage. Even the powerful Carr, hardly experienced for the responsibilities thrust upon him and often dependent on his intimate friend Sir Thomas Overbury for assistance with government papers,<ref>Willson, p 349; "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." Sir Francis Bacon, speaking at Carr's trial. Quoted by Perry, p 105.</ref> fell into the Howard camp, after beginning an affair with the married Frances Howard, Countess of Essex, daughter of the Earl of Suffolk, whom James assisted in securing an annulment of her marriage to free her to marry Carr.<ref>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. When, after the annulment, the son of Bishop Bilson, one of the added commissioners, was knighted, he was given the nickname "Sir Nullity Bilson". Lindley, p 120.</ref> In summer 1615, however, it emerged that Overbury, who on 15 September 1613 had died in the Tower of London, where he had been placed at the King's request,<ref>It is very likely that he 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, motivated by a deep political hostility to the Howards, he opposed the match with a fervour that made him dangerous. It cannot have been difficult to secure James's compliance, because he disliked Overbury and his influence over Carr. Lindley, p 145; John Chamberlain (1553–1628) reported at the time 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". Willson, p 342.</ref> had been poisoned.<ref>Lindley, p 146; "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." Barroll, Anna of Denmark, p 136.</ref> Among those convicted of the murder were Frances Howard and Robert Carr, the latter having been replaced as the king's favourite in the meantime by Villiers. 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.<ref>"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." Davies, p 20.</ref> The subsequent downfall of the Howards left Villiers unchallenged as the supreme figure in the government by 1618.<ref>Willson, p 397.</ref>

Final year

During the last year of James's life, with Buckingham consolidating his control of Charles to ensure his own future, the king was often seriously ill, leaving him an increasingly peripheral figure, rarely able to visit London.<ref>Some historians (for example Willson, p 425) consider James, who was 58 in 1624, to have lapsed into premature senility; but he suffered from, among other ailments, an agonising species of arthritis which constantly left him indisposed; and Pauline Croft suggests that in summer 1624, afforded relief by the warm weather, James regained some control over his affairs, his continuing refusal to sanction war against Spain a deliberate stand against the aggressive policies of Charles and Buckingham (Croft, pp 126–127); "James never became a cypher." Croft, p 101.</ref> In early 1625, James was plagued by severe attacks of arthritis, gout and fainting fits, and in March fell seriously ill with tertian ague and then suffered a stroke. James finally died at Theobalds House on 27 March during a violent attack of dysentery, with Buckingham at his bedside.<ref>A medicine recommended by Buckingham had only served to make the king worse. "The disparity between the foreign policy of the monarch and the favourite was so obvious that there was a widespread rumour that the duke had poisoned him." Croft, pp 127–128.</ref> James's funeral, a magnificent but disorderly affair, took place on 7 May. Bishop John Williams of Lincoln preached the sermon, observing, "King Solomon died in Peace, when he had lived about sixty years ... and so you know did King James".<ref>John Williams's sermon was later printed as "Great Britain's Salomon" (sic). Croft, pp 129–130.</ref>

Legacy

The king's death was widely mourned. For all his flaws, James had never completely lost the affection of his people, who had enjoyed uninterrupted peace and comparatively low taxation during the Jacobean era. "As he lived in peace," remarked the Earl of Kellie, "so did he die in peace, and I pray God our king [Charles I] may follow him".<ref>Croft, p 130.</ref> The earl prayed in vain: once in power, Charles and Buckingham sanctioned a series of reckless military expeditions that ended in humiliating failure.<ref>"A 1627 mission to save the Huguenots of La Rochelle ended in an ignominious siege on the Isle of Ré, leaving the Duke as the object of widespread ridicule." Stewart, p 348.</ref> James bequeathed Charles a fatal belief in the divine right of kings, combined with a disdain for Parliament, which culminated in the English Civil War and the execution of Charles. James had often neglected the business of government for leisure pastimes, such as the hunt; and his later dependence on male favourites at a scandal-ridden court undermined the respected image of monarchy so carefully constructed by Elizabeth.<ref>Croft, p 129.</ref> The stability of James's government in Scotland, however, 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 recent historians, who have rescued his reputation from a tradition of criticism stemming back to the anti-Stuart historians of the mid-seventeenth century.<ref>Croft, pp 6–8.</ref>

Under James the Plantation of Ulster by English and Scots Protestants began, and the English colonisation of North America started its course. In 1607, Jamestown was founded in Virginia, and in 1610 Cuper's Cove in Newfoundland. During the next 150 years, England would fight with Spain, the Netherlands, and France for control of the continent, while religious division in Ireland between Protestant and Catholic has lasted for 400 years.

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Template:Infobox British Royalty styles Template:Infobox British Royalty styles

Titles and styles

• 19 June 1566 – 24 July 1567: The Duke of Rothesay
• 10 February – 24 July 1567: The Duke of Albany
• 24 July 1567 – 27 March 1625: His Grace The King of Scots
• 24 March 1603 – 27 March 1625: His Majesty The King of England

Arms

In Scotland, James was James the sixth, King of Scotland. He was proclaimed James the first, King of England, France and Ireland, defender of the faith in London on 24 March 1603.<ref>Proclamation by the King, 24 March 1603</ref> On 20 October 1604, James issued a proclamation at Westminster changing his style to King of Great Britain, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, etc.<ref>Proclamation by the King, 20 October 1604</ref>

List of writings

• The Essayes of a Prentise in the Divine Art of Poesie, (also called Some Reulis and Cautelis), 1584
• His Maiesties Poeticall Exercises at Vacant Houres,<ref>Jones, Emrys. Othello, Lepanto, and the Cyprus wars, 1968, from The Cambridge Shakespeare Library, Vol. 1, Catherine M. S. Alexander ed., University of Cambridge, 2003.</ref> 1591
  • Lepanto, poem
• Daemonologie, 1597<ref>Text at Project Gutenberg; Facsimile at Folger Shakespeare Library</ref>
• The True Law of Free Monarchies, 1598
• Basilikon Doron, 1599
• A Counterblaste to Tobacco, 1604<ref>Text at Project Gutenberg</ref>
• An Apologie for the Oath of Allegiance, 1608
• A Premonition to All Most Mightie Monarches, 1609

Issue

[[File:James I and his royal progeny by Willem van de Passe cropped.jpg|thumb|right|James I and his royal progeny, by Charles Turner, from a mezzotint by Samuel Woodburn (1814), after Willem de Passe]]

Template:Further

James's wife, Anne of Denmark, gave birth to seven children who survived beyond birth:<ref>Stewart, p 140, p 142.</ref>

1. Henry, Prince of Wales (19 February 1594 – 6 November 1612). Died, probably of typhoid fever, aged 18.<ref>John Chamberlain (1553–1628) recorded: "It was verily thought that the disease was no other than the ordinary ague that had reigned and raged all over England". Alan Stewart writes: "Latter day experts have suggested enteric fever, typhoid fever, or porphyria, but at the time poison was the most popular explanation." Stewart, p 248.</ref>
2. Elizabeth of Bohemia (19 August 1596 – 13 February 1662). Married 1613, Frederick V, Elector Palatine. Died aged 65.
3. Margaret Stuart (24 December 1598 – March 1600). Died aged 1.
4. Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January 1649). Married 1625, Henrietta Maria. Executed aged 48.
5. Robert Stuart, Duke of Kintyre (18 January 1602 – 27 May 1602). Died aged 4 months.<ref>Willson, p 452; Barroll, Anna of Denmark, p 27.</ref>
6. Mary Stuart (8 April 1605 – 16 December 1607). Died aged 2.
7. Sophia Stuart. (Died in June 1607 within 48 hours of birth.)<ref>Croft, p 55; Stewart, p 142; Sophia was buried at King Henry's Chapel in a tiny tomb shaped like a cradle. Willson, p 456.</ref>

Ancestry

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See also

• Cultural depictions of James I of England

Notes

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References

• Barroll, J. Leeds (2001). Anna of Denmark, Queen of England: A Cultural Biography. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania. ISBN 0812235746.
• Bucholz, Robert; Key, Newton (2004). Early Modern England, 1485–1714: A Narrative History. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0631213937.
• Croft, Pauline (2003). King James. Basingstoke and New York: Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 0333613953.
• Davies, Godfrey ([1937] 1959). The Early Stuarts. Oxford: Clarendon Press. ISBN 0198217048.
• Donaldson, Gordon (1974). Mary, Queen of Scots. London: English Universities Press. ISBN 0340123834.
• Fraser, Antonia (1974). King James VI of Scotland, I of England. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. ISBN 0297767755.
• Guy, John (2004). My Heart is My Own: The Life of Mary Queen of Scots. London and New York: Fourth Estate. ISBN 184115752X.
• Hunter, James (2000) Last of the Free: A History of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Edinburgh: Mainstream. ISBN 1840183764
• Keay, J. & Keay, J. (1994) Collins Encyclopaedia of Scotland. London. HarperCollins. ISBN 0002550822
• Krugler, John D. (2004). English and Catholic: the Lords Baltimore in the Seventeenth Century. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0801879639.
• Lee, Maurice (1990). Great Britain's Solomon: James VI and I in his Three Kingdoms. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0252016866.
• Lindley, David (1993). The Trials of Frances Howard: Fact and Fiction at the Court of King James. Routledge. ISBN 0415052068.
• MacKinnon, Kenneth (1991) Gaelic – A past and Future Prospect. Edinburgh: The Saltire Society. ISBN 085411047X
• Milling, Jane (2004). "The Development of a Professional Theatre", in The Cambridge History of British Theatre. Jane Milling, Peter Thomson, Joseph W. Donohue. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521650402.
• Peck, Linda Levy (1982). Northampton: Patronage and Policy at the Court of James I. Harper Collins. ISBN 0049421778.
• Perry, Curtis (2006). Literature and Favoritism in Early Modern England. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521854059.
• Rhodes, Neil; Richards, Jennifer; Marshall, Joseph (2003). King James VI and I: Selected Writings. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 0754604829.
• Rotary Club of Stornoway (1995) The Outer Hebrides Handbook and Guide. Machynlleth: Kittwake. ISBN 0951100351
• Smith, David L. (2003). "Politics in Early Stuart Britain," in A Companion to Stuart Britain. Ed. Barry Coward. Blackwell Publishing. ISBN 0631218742.
• Stewart, Alan (2003). The Cradle King: A Life of James VI & I. London: Chatto and Windus. ISBN 0701169842.
• Stroud, Angus (1999). Stuart England. Routledge ISBN 0415206529.
• Thompson, Francis (1968) Harris and Lewis, Outer Hebrides. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 0715342606
• Williams, Ethel Carleton (1970). Anne of Denmark. London: Longman. ISBN 0582127831.
• Willson, David Harris ([1956] 1963 ed). King James VI & I. London: Jonathan Cape Ltd. ISBN 0224605720.

Further reading

• Akrigg, G. P. V (1978). Jacobean Pageant: The Court of King James I. New York: Atheneum. ISBN 0689700032.
• Houston, S J. James I. Longman Publishing Group (June 1974), Seminar Studies ISBN 0582352088.
• Lockyer, Roger (1998). James VI and I. Longman. ISBN 0582279615.

External Links

• King James Unjustly Accused
• King James VI & I Page
• The Real King James by Phil Stringer
• Wikipedia Article on King James I of England