A Royal History of England: James I
When Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603, it not only marked the close of a long reign of some 44 years, but also ended the rule of the House of Tudor on the throne of England. Her successor was the first of our Stuart kings and unusual in that he had been a monarch for 36 years before he became King of England.
James was the only surviving child of Mary Queen of Scots, who had succeeded her father as Queen of Scotland when she was just six days old and married Francis II of France when she was not quite 16. During her time in France she changed the spelling of the Royal House from “Stewart” to the French “Stuart”. Following the death of Francis from an infection after only two and a half years of marriage, Mary married again, taking her cousin Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley, as her second husband in July 1565.
Within less than a year Mary gave birth to a son at Edinburgh Castle on 19th June 1566. Christened James Charles at Stirling Castle, he was known as the Duke of Rothesay and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland from birth. On the death of his father eight months later, he succeeded as Duke of Albany, Earl of Ross and Baron Ardmannoch.
The young boy faced a troubled childhood. Before he was even born, the marriage of Mary and Darnley had become rocky and quickly foundered. She turned to her Italian private secretary, David Rizzio, for comfort. With Mary six months pregnant, Darnley became jealous by court gossip that the baby was not his and the hapless Italian was soon stabbed to death. Darnley and a group of men led by Patrick, Lord Ruthven, forced their way into Mary’s private dining room and demanded that she handed over David Rizzio, who was hiding behind the Queen as she attempted to shield him. Rizzio was seized and stabbed 56 times before being thrown downstairs.
Although Darnley swore that he had not inflicted any of the wounds, his dagger was left in Rizzio’s side. Mary could not forgive her husband’s treachery and within a few months Darnley was himself killed in an explosion at the Provost’s House, Kirk o’ Field in Edinburgh, where the cellars had been packed with barrels of gunpowder. Although Mary was likely to have instigated the murder, it remains to this day one of Scotland’s unsolved mysteries. Across the centuries many historians believe that Patrick Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, was the perpetrator and there were rumours that he was seen with a blackened face immediately after the explosion. Two months later Mary Queen of Scots married for a third time… to the Earl of Bothwell!
It was into this dark world of intrigue, scandal and murder that James was born. Throughout his life he was dogged by persistent rumours that his father was David Rizzio rather than Lord Darnley and he was nicknamed “the British Solomon”, as Solomon was “the son of David”.
Because she was implicated in the murder of Darnley, Mary chose to abdicate as Queen of Scots in favour of her baby son. She was imprisoned at Loch Leven Castle, eventually escaping with the help of her jailer and fleeing to England, where she was held prisoner for 19 years. James never saw his mother again.
So it was that the 13-month-old boy became King James VI of Scotland on 24th July 1567. A coronation ceremony was held at the Church of Holy Rood, Stirling, on 29th July. With a mother in prison and his father murdered, James was brought up by the Earl and Countess of Mar, John Erskine and his wife Annabella, who became his guardians. The couple had been close to Mary Queen of Scots for many years, but did not approve of her third marriage and did everything in their power to keep James out of the clutches of Bothwell.
Because of his extreme youth, James had four Regents to rule until he came of age: his uncle James Stewart, Earl of Moray, who was assassinated on 23rd January 1570; his grandfather Matthew Stewart, Earl of Lennox, who was killed
in 1571 during a scuffle in Parliament with some of Mary’s supporters; James’s guardian John Erskine, Earl of Mar, but he died within a year, supposedly poisoned during a dinner party; James Douglas, Earl of Morton, but he was eventually arrested and executed for having been involved in the murder of Lord Darnley.
While James’s Regents clearly had little luck, the King was not completely immune from danger either. At the age of 16 he was kidnapped by William Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie, and held prisoner in various houses for 11 months before being rescued by his supporters. Known now as the “Ruthven Raid”, the aim was to try and influence the way matters were governed in Scotland, to quash any pro-catholic stance, and prevent the possibility of Mary Queen of Scots ever returning to the throne.
Once released, the 17-year-old King decided to take control and rule the country himself, but the Gowrie family were not prepared to give up and five years later they plotted to kill James. Lured into a trap at Gowrie House in Perth, he was rescued by his bodyguards and John Ruthven, 3rd Earl of Gowrie, and his brother Alexander, were killed in the ensuing fight. The Gowrie family later gave a different version of events, but James maintained that it had been a deliberate assassination attempt.
In the year that James reached the age of 21, Queen Elizabeth I consented to the execution of Mary Queen of Scots after the Babington Plot was uncovered. Despite this, James remained on good terms with the English Queen, who was also his godmother. In 1586 she had granted him an annual income of £4,000 and perhaps he feared she might stop payments if he reacted badly to the execution of his mother. When England was threatened by the Spanish Armada in 1588, James wrote to Elizabeth offering his support and, as she was dying, she eventually indicated that she wanted him as her successor.
Although Scottish by birth, James was a great-grandson of Margaret Tudor, the English wife of James IV of Scotland and eldest sister of Henry VIII of England. Margaret Tudor was the grandmother of both Mary Queen of Scots and Lord Darnley and through her James was an heir to the English throne. Darnley’s mother was a granddaughter of Henry VII; Mary Queen of Scots was a niece of Henry VIII and a cousin to Elizabeth I, and so James had strong family ties to England.
When Queen Elizabeth I died on 24th March 1603 a messenger rode on horseback for three days, a journey of some 400 miles, from London to Edinburgh with Elizabeth’s coronation ring to tell James that he was now also King of England.
Although a monarch already, James had very little money because of his extravagant lifestyle. He eventually crossed the border and headed south, but by the time he reached York his funds had run out and he wrote to the Privy Council for money so that he could make his entry into London with all the pomp and ceremony that people would expect of their new King. On the way south he visited many country houses, notably Theobalds House in Hertfordshire which belonged to Sir Robert Cecil. James liked it so much that he bought it! He also bestowed some 300 new knighthoods during his progress.
James finally arrived in London on 7th May and received an enthusiastic welcome from the people. He was
crowned King James I of England on 25th July 1603 in Westminster Abbey, with a coronation that cost over £20,000.
The early optimism felt by courtiers and government ministers soon began to wane when they discovered the contrast between the grand, imperious Queen Elizabeth I and the somewhat vulgar behaviour of the new King, who drank excessively and thought nothing of speaking his mind in a crude and earthy manner. Because he was so outspoken he became known as “the wisest fool in Christendom”.
As James matured, he had become self-centred and pedantic. He was brought up with the firm belief that Kings were chosen by God and had a divine right to rule and refused to consider himself a constitutional monarch, a servant of the people.
By the time he became King of England at the age of 36 James was described as “portly”, of medium height, balding, with a brown beard and piercing blue eyes. His tongue was said to be “too large for his mouth, which ever made him speak full in the mouth, and made him drink very uncomely” and his Scottish accent proved difficult for some of the English courtiers to comprehend.
As King of Scotland and England, James was the first monarch to rule both countries. He tried to smooth over antagonistic attitudes of the past and nurture a friendship between the two nations. James really wanted to unify the country into one “Britain” with a single Parliament, but the Commons refused to grant the Scots equal rights and so they continued to have their own separate Parliament and judiciary. Ireland was also part of his realm and James styled himself “King of Great Britain and Ireland”.
As a result of his belief in the divine right of kings, James always had a difficult relationship with his government. His first Parliament sat from 1604 to 1611, overseen by Elizabeth I’s chief minister Sir Robert Cecil, Lord Salisbury. But a second Parliament sat for just six weeks in 1614 and is known as the “Addled Parliament”, as virtually nothing happened. Dissolving Parliament that year James said, “I am surprised that my ancestors should have permitted such an institution to come into existence”, telling his son (the future Charles I) that he would live to have his “bellyful of Parliament”.
From 1612 until his death, James virtually ruled alone, making Parliament increasingly insignificant and the hostility continued. Parliament at the time took a very staunch anti-catholic and antiSpanish stance due to long wars with Spain, so when James wanted his son and heir Charles to marry the Spanish Infanta it did not go down well and the plan was rejected by the Commons. Parliament also rejected the King’s notion that he had a right to imprison any MPS who disagreed with him. So James immediately had some MPS arrested!
England was not a rich country at this time and when James came to the throne the exchequer had debts of over £400,000 due to costly wars of the past. James himself was extravagant with money and wanted Parliament to grant him a regular fixed income. Sir Robert Cecil tried to push various schemes before Parliament to reduce the annual deficit and also increase royal revenue, but was continually thwarted. In 1610 “The Great Contract” was proposed, in which the King would surrender his feudal rights in exchange for having all his debts paid off and receive an annual income of £200,000, but it was not accepted by Parliament. He was told in no uncertain terms that he could not “draw honey out of gall”. James had to resort to selling titles in order to raise money. In 1611 he created the new rank of baronet purely to raise money.
Despite enmity with the English Parliament, James had a successful foreign policy and encouraged his chief ministers to negotiate a peace treaty with Spain in August 1604, bringing an end to the Anglo-spanish War. James’s plan to marry his son Charles, the Prince of Wales, to the Spanish Infanta, Maria Anna, was for two reasons. It would not only secure a friendly relationship between the two countries, but the Infanta would bring with her money, in the form of a large dowry. Talks went on for years, but came to nothing as the English government was opposed to the union.
By 1621 there was actually a demand from Parliament for Charles to marry a Protestant, which would make the Catholic Infanta ineligible. When Spain invaded the Rhineland territory of James’s son-in-law, Frederick V, Elector Palatine, there was a petition for England to go to war with Spain. James told ministers not to interfere and promptly dissolved Parliament.
James was a Protestant and, just as his predecessors had reigns dominated by religious matters, he equally faced turmoil. The Puritan movement wanted to simplify all Church of England services and remove anything ceremonial that appeared too Catholic.
Any kind of ornamentation was frowned upon, even down to wedding rings. Puritans wanted to do away with the episcopacy altogether, causing James to famously say, “No Bishop, no King”.
In Scotland he introduced the “Five Articles of Perth”, which enforced Anglican practices north of the border. In England there were three Catholic plots to remove him from the throne in the first years of his reign. The most famous of all was the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 (see also page 70 in this issue). Planned by Robert Catesby and a group of Catholic conspirators, a Yorkshire soldier named Guy Fawkes was sent to blow up the House of Lords during the State Opening of Parliament on 5th November.
The plot was thwarted when one of the conspirators, Francis Tresham, sent a letter to his brother-in-law Baron Monteagle to warn him not to attend the State Opening of Parliament. Monteagle showed the unsigned letter to Sir Robert Cecil. As a result, guards searched the cellars and discovered the barrels of gunpowder being guarded by Guy Fawkes. The conspirators were tracked down and Catesby was killed in a subsequent siege. Guy Fawkes was arrested, tried, found guilty and executed.
Although the Gunpowder Plot was unsuccessful, it shook James’s confidence and he feared for his life. A Venetian Ambassador observed, “The King…does not appear, nor does he take his meals in public as usual. He lives in the innermost rooms with only Scotsmen about him!” It is highly likely that James dwelled on the fact that his own father had been deliberately killed through gunpowder.
With all the divisions that existed within the Church, one lasting benefit came during the reign when in 1604 James authorised a new translation of the Bible into English, as people had come to challenge some of the translations in Henry VIII’S Great Bible of 1535.
Now known as the Authorised Version or the King James Bible, the mammoth task was undertaken by 47 scholars, who each produced their own translation. All the translations were compared to produce one single draft. This was then revised by the Bishops and the King’s Council, before the final edition was passed on to the King himself for approval. It was finally published in 1611 and, although it has been further revised across the centuries, it remains a much-loved translation of the Bible to this day and is said to be one of the most influential books ever published in the English language.
The book was printed by Robert Barker, whose father had been Elizabeth I’s official printer. He later received unexpected notoriety in 1631 when a glaring error was spotted in the Ten Commandments. Barker had unwittingly omitted the word “not” from the Commandment “Thou shalt not commit adultery”! This edition has become known as “The Wicked Bible” and although all copies were ordered to be burned, 11 are rumoured to survive. Barker was fined £300, many thousands of pounds in today’s money, and was later imprisoned.
Although James had a turbulent reign in both Scotland and England, he had an equally tempestuous private life. Because it was essential that he produced heirs to continue the Stuart line in 1590 he married Anne, daughter of King Frederick II of Denmark and Norway. She was 15 and he was 23.
It was said to be a “marriage of convenience” and they were soon living separate lives. Queen Anne had a home of her own at Somerset House in The Strand, which was renamed Denmark House during her occupancy and her main interests seemed to be clothes and jewellery. She was a Lutheran when they wed, but converted to Catholicism after the marriage, which was something of a snub to her Protestant husband.
Queen Anne became seriously ill in 1617, but James only visited her three times in the last two years of her life and not at all as she lay dying. Neither did he attend her funeral when she died in 1619, although was said to be “overcome with melancholy” after her death.
The couple had three sons and four daughters. Queen Anne also suffered several miscarriages and had two stillborn children. The eldest son, Henry, Prince of Wales, died of typhoid at the age of 18. The second surviving son, Charles, Duke of York, later succeeded his father as King Charles I. Their only daughter to survive into adulthood, Elizabeth, married Frederick V, Elector Palatine, eventually becoming King and Queen of Bohemia, considered to be the most glamorous couple of their time. Elizabeth is known as “The Winter Queen” and her grandson became George I of England, our first Hanover monarch.
Away from his wife, King James I had a number of favourites at court and formed strong emotional attachments to several men. Two principle favourites were Robert Carr and George Villiers.
Carr had been born in Wrington, Somerset, the son of Sir Robert Carr and his wife Janet, a sister of Sir Walter Scott. He was first spotted by the King at a tilting match — mock combat between two armoured knights on horseback. James took an instant liking to the young man and soon gave Carr a knighthood and Sherborne Castle, which had been built by Sir Walter Raleigh. In 1611 James made him Viscount Rochester and later a Privy Councillor, and on the death of Sir Robert Cecil in the following year, Carr took over the position as the King’s chief minister. He was not considered suited to the role and proved to be corrupt. Yet in 1613 James created him 1st Earl of Somerset and made him Treasurer of Scotland.
Three years later Carr was tried and found guilty of the murder of Sir Thomas Overbury, his secretary and adviser, although it was originally reported that Overbury had died of natural causes. By this time Carr and the King had fallen out, so James had no interest in supporting his former favourite. Carr remained imprisoned in the Tower of London until 1622, although was eventually pardoned.
The King now had a new favourite, George Villiers. Born in Brooksby, Leicestershire, where his family had lived since the 13th century and were described as “minor gentry of Norman stock”, his father was a prosperous sheep farmer. George first came to the King’s attention when he was a handsome 21-year-old taking part in a hunt at Apethorpe House, Northamptonshire, which was then a royal residence.
Many in the King’s circle were critical of the influence that Robert Carr had over the monarch and saw Villiers as a possible distraction. He was appointed Royal Cupbearer, serving drinks to the royal table, which was then a very trusted position within the household because it was essential that no one tried to poison the King.
In 1615 Villiers was knighted as a Gentleman of the Bedchamber and by 1616 had become the favoured one. He was soon given peerages to become Baron Whaddon and Viscount Villiers, and was eventually made Earl of Buckingham. More competent than Carr, Villiers greatly influenced the King, such as in forming a Spanish alliance and raising taxes in England to increase revenue. But he took advantage of his position and was unpopular with Parliament. He took a particular interest in Irish affairs, which included the sale of Irish titles, and with the money he bought land and properties for himself.
Villiers continued to be honoured and was elevated to Marquis in 1618, and finally Duke of Buckingham in 1623. He was also a Knight of the Garter, Master of the King’s Horses, and Lord Admiral of the Fleet.
Despite the discord that seemed to dog the life and reign of King James I, the period had its positive side. It was a time when the first British colonies were founded in America at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607; Newfoundland in 1610, and in 1620 the Pilgrim Fathers departed from Plymouth, Devon, for a new start in America and set up the colony of Plymouth, Massachusetts.
Just as the arts had flourished under Elizabeth I, so James I was a great patron. Shakespeare continued to write during the reign, notably King
Lear, Macbeth and The Tempest, and his sonnets were published for the first time. England’s greatest playwright died in 1616 and that same year George Chapman completed his translations of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey into English, making them available and accessible to all.
There were many notable poets who were prominent during the reign, particularly John Donne, although James was less appreciative of his works than some. Of the poetry of John Donne, then Dean of St. Paul’s, James said, “Dr. Donne’s verses are like the peace of God; they pass all understanding!”
James was himself an author, writing poems and works expounding his views on politics and religion, which included Basilikon Doren on the art of kingship and Daemonologie about witchcraft and devil worship, which he considered to be a form of religion. Intriguingly, he hated smoking and in 1604 wrote A Counterblast to Tobacco, in which he condemned the practice.
Like his predecessors James appreciated art and added to the royal collection. He also founded the Mortlake Tapestry Works in Surrey, where Flemish workers from Brussels and Belgium were brought in to weave tapestries. James was particularly fond of the style of Dutch painters. He also brought in experts in dykes and ditches from Holland to start draining parts of East Anglia to create arable land.
James’s reign today is referred to as the Jacobean era, a name given to the arts, literature and architecture of the period. Jacobean furniture is particularly identifiable, with its rich, deep colours and intricate designs, often containing other materials that had now become more easily available, such as motherof-pearl inlays. Architecture became increasingly classical in style and England’s most prominent architect of the day was Inigo Jones, who designed such buildings as the Banqueting House in Whitehall, the Queen’s House in Greenwich, St. Paul’s Covent Garden, and Wilton House in Salisbury. He also remodelled the front of the old St. Paul’s Cathedral, later destroyed during the Great Fire of London.
In the final years of his life James showed signs of dementia, and suffered from kidney disease and arthritis. His son and heir Charles, now Prince of Wales, effectively ruled for the last year, assisted by the Duke of Buckingham. The pair went to Madrid to continue the long negotiations for securing the Spanish Infanta as a bride for Charles, but failed spectacularly.
Just weeks before James’s death a Marriage Treaty with the French was drawn up instead, agreeing that Charles could marry Henrietta Maria, daughter of King Henry IV of France. Although this solved the Spanish situation, the fact that she was a Catholic was to lead to more problems in the future.
After suffering a stroke two days earlier, James died at his favourite country home Theobalds House, near Hatfield, Hertfordshire, on 27th March 1625 at the age of 58. The Duke of Buckingham was at his bedside. He was buried in Westminster Abbey.
There is one little-known reminder of King James I today in the garden of Buckingham Palace. A lover of silk, James ordered thousands of mulberry trees from France for silkworms to feast on in the hope of having the monopoly on silk production in England. He had them planted on land that now forms the garden of Buckingham Palace and the surrounding areas, and a street in Chelsea is still called Mulberry Walk because of this. Unfortunately, he ordered the wrong variety, with tough leaves that did not appeal to the silkworms and so the project failed. But a centuries-old descendant of one of his original trees is said to remain in the garden.
In the year 2000 our present Queen had 29 different species of mulberry tree planted throughout the garden and is now holder of the National Collection. So Her Majesty has had greater horticultural success than her ancestor, although complains that the birds eat most of her mulberries!