James VI and I

b. 1566; d. 1625

The abdication of James mother Mary Queen of Scots in 1585 resulted in his accession to the Scottish throne as King James VI at the age of 2. He was educated at the hands of a number of tutors who tried to implant the view that kings should be servants of the people. In this they singularly failed and in maturity James swung to the opposite pole.

The Scottish Presbyterian church claimed that their authority derived direct from God and was therefore superior to that of the King. James would have none of this, espousing the view that kings were the image of God on Earth in such books as the Basilikon Doron.

In 1587 his mother was executed after a long imprisonment in England (she was implicated in a number of catholic plots to kill Elizabeth). James does not seem to protested too much - he had not seen her since her abdication and his religious views were diametrically opposed to his mothers staunch catholicism. Furthermore, by then, Elizabeth had agreed that he should be her successor. Elizabeth I had no direct heir and so James, who was great-great-grandson of Henry VII, ascended to the English throne as James 1. He seemed an excellent successor. He had had twenty years experience as the king of Scotland and, as a moderate Protestant, had dealt with the religious situation well. Unfortunately this experience had been gained in the Scottish system: the English constitution was very different.

On a personal level James was scholarly and intelligent, and especially enjoyed detailed theological debates. This interest may have encouraged his hatred and suspicion of witchcraft and bolstered his belief in the divine right of kings, which asserted that the sovereign had a God-given right to the throne and was the source of all laws.

James's image was tarnished by his appearance and by his habits. He had thin rickety legs and a tongue which was too large for his mouth, which made him drink 'very uncomely' and slurred his speech. He gave strong indications that he was homosexual and he was paranoid about being assassinated, perhaps unsurprisingly in view of the murder of his father, Lord Darnley, and the execution of his mother, Mary Queen of Scots.

At first James was content with the religious status quo in England, so long as neither the Catholics nor the Puritans threatened his own authority. Both sides hoped for his support and both had their hopes raised: on his journey from Scotland James received a petition from the Puritans and agreed to a conference to discuss the issues; he also allowed greater freedom for Catholic worship. In January 1604, James acted as self-appointed mediator between moderate members of the Church of England and the more hard-line Puritans at the two-day Hampton Court conference. The Puritans suggested that the time was right for a new English version of the Bible. James agreed and personally organised the making of the revision, which was completed in 1611. The 'Authorised Version' became the standard Bible in use. During the conference James took a neutral line until the Puritans used the term 'presbyter' (meaning a church elder, not subject to a bishop) which he associated with the militant Puritanism of Scotland. The conference quickly ended. The Puritans left and the king declared: 'I shall make them conform themselves, or I will harry them out of the land.'

Groups of Puritan exiles fled to Holland, but they were determined to establish their own communities so in 1620 a number of exiles, and Puritans from England, set sail from Plymouth in The Mayflower for the Americas. They were blown off course and landed at a place they named Plymouth Rock. These 'pilgrim fathers' founded the New England colonies.

Whilst the Puritans tended to argue their case or emigrate, the Catholics took direct action. After an initial relaxation James reintroduced the Catholic recusancy laws (penalties for not attending Church of England services), and several attempts were made against his life. The most serious was the Gunpowder Plot in 1605. A group of Catholic conspirators decided to kill the king together with peers and MPs as they assembled for the opening of Parliament. However, a veiled warning was given to a nobleman in the Lords, who passed the message to the government. Cellars adjacent to House of Lords were searched and Guy Fawkes was caught red-handed with the explosives. The event is still remembered in Britain by bonfires and fireworks on 5 November. James's initial attempts at religious conciliation had shown that he was prepared to follow his motto of Rex pacificus (the royal peacemaker).

In his desire for peace, harmony and unity, he embarked on a plan to unify the laws and constitutions of England and Scotland. He was unsuccessful, but from 1604 onwards he used the title king of Great Britain to signify the union of the kingdoms by one monarch. James also desired peace in Europe. In 1604 he brought the fifteen year-old war with Spain to an end and sought to placate both Protestants and Catholics. In February 1613 James's daughter, Princess Elizabeth, married Frederick, the Elector Palatine of the Rhine, and James joined a Protestant union of European princes. However, peace was more important to him than religious war and in 1618 he had Sir Walter Raleigh, the veteran privateer of Elizabeth's reign, executed to please the Spanish.

The king also sought financial co-operation between Crown and Parliament. James had some legitimate reasons to increase expenditure: he had a family, whereas Elizabeth had none, but he was also lavish in the matter of gifts. By 1608 the crown's debt had risen to nearly £600,000 and a new, permanent source of income was sought. A solution was the Great Contract: in return for the abolition of various financial rights by the crown, Parliament would grant a yearly income. The scheme soon collapsed and short-term expedients were again used. The order of baronets was established in 1611 to generate money: a baronetcy could be bought for £1,095. By 1622 the honour had been so abused that the price had fallen to £220.

In 1612 James's able treasurer and secretary, Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury (1563-1612), died. Cecil's death allowed the Howard family to achieve dominance at court. Their time in power saw a decline into scandal and indebtedness, and one historian has said, 'It is difficult to see any benefits whatever from their period of dominance at court.' By 1618 the anti-Howard faction had promoted George Villiers into James's affection, and the Howard family fell from grace. George Villiers (1592-1628) was the son of a Leicestershire knight, who had few prospects before he arrived in court. James became infatuated with the younger man (James was forty-seven, Villiers twenty-two) and Villiers rose rapidly to power. In successive years from 1616 he became viscount, earl, marquess and, in 1623, Duke of Buckingham. From 1617 he and his supporters ruled the country through James. The king's love for him was demonstrated by obvious physical affection and endearments: 'My only sweet and dear child I pray thee haste thee home ... and so Lord send me comfortable and happy with thee this night.' When he was criticised for his over-close relationship, James replied, 'Christ had His John, 1 have my George.'

Relations between James and his first Parliament of 1604-10 were on the whole cordial. Looking back from the end of his reign, and with the problems that were to lead to civil war in mind, it is easy to forget that a huge amount of undisputed legislation was passed: 128 statutes between 1604 and 1606. This collaboration was increasingly under threat from the growing conflict concerning the raising of revenue and the king's powers over Parliament. The Commons were more rebellious than the subservient House of Lords. They forced out James's schemes for the unification of England and Scotland and the Great Contract. They also asserted their rights: in 1604 James challenged the right of a suspected outlaw, Francis Goodwin, to become an MP; the Commons forced James to compromise, thus establishing an important precedent of being able to decide disputed elections. Apart from one short-lived Parliament in 1614, which achieved nothing and became known as the 'Addled Parliament' no Parliament was summoned between 1610 and 1621.

Despite James's desire for peace in Europe, England was eventually drawn into conflict. In 1618 James's son-in-law, the Elector Palatine, Frederick, accepted the crown of Bohemia but by 1620 he had been driven out of both the Palatinate and Bohemia by the army of the Catholic League; he and James's daughter, Elizabeth, were forced into permanent exile. James was in a dilemma: it was obvious that the only way to recover the Palatinate was by war, yet he wished to build up diplomatic links with Habsburg Spain through the proposed marriage of Prince Charles and the Spanish Infanta. Charles and Buckingham took the matter into their own hands, and in a madcap scheme they travelled to the Spanish court. Their behaviour achieve nothing and the pair returned ignominiously to London where they put pressure on James to reverse his previous foreign policy. In February 1624 Parliament was again summoned and with the encouragement of Buckingham £300,000 was voted for an expedition to recover the Palatinate from Habsburg control. The mercenary army, led by Count Mansfeld was in trouble almost as soon as it had crossed the channel and the expedition was a disaster.

James died in March 1625 and war with Spain was formally declared shortly afterwards.

This article is based on material taken from A Traveller's History of England (© Christopher Daniell), published by The Windrush Press, and is by kind permission of its author Christopher Daniell.