Scotland's Bloody History

8 - 1587 The Wisest Fool

Whether or not he should have become Scotland's monarch in 1566 at the age of one, when his mother Mary was executed in 1587 his reign was fully legitimised. As a baby he had been removed from his mother, raised as a Protestant and taught to hate her and the Catholic Church.

His mother was executed in England when he was just 21 years old and, with Elizabeth I of England still childless at the age of 54, it was becoming increasingly obvious that James VI would eventually become King of England too.

Even before Elizabeth's death, James VI was being contacted by English courtiers to ensure a smooth transition when the time came.

He turned out to be a very well educated and intellectual monarch, speaking numerous languages and having views on many theological matters. He authored works on the divinity of kings, yes he really believed a king was on a higher spiritual plain. He also became extremely interested in opposing witchcraft.

When Elizabeth finally expired in 1603, James VI of Scotland was proclaimed James I of England. Historians usually call him James VI and I because Scotland is the older of the two kingdoms. Sadly, English historians often seem to take pride in conveniently forgetting that he was James VI of Scotland first. Many documentary makers seem to forget that he was ever king of Scotland!

So we finally have a Scots king of England. Some north of the border will have believed that this was the natural order of events and it does raise some interesting prospects.

Just imagine what he could have achieved. He could have made the English wear the kilt, eat haggis and play the bagpipes. He could have built Wembley stadium in Edinburgh and banned the game of cricket from ever being played!

But he didn't do any of that. What he did do was dreadful for Scotland. He abandoned his people and moved to England!

All of those wars of independence, all of those kings who had fought to keep Scotland independent and then our own king moves to England, effectively giving away our independence to a greater Britain. From that point on, the Scottish influence within the union became less and less important. The fact that the English adopted James as their own added insult to injury, but that is just what they have done with the Scottish oilfields more recently!

James VI & I took on extensive projects including setting up the commission to translate the Bible into English and, rather surprisingly for such a devout man, he also came up with a foolproof method of identifying witches.

This was quite a simple procedure which required a tight band of cloth being wound around the suspect's head. Then a very sharp knife is worked up under the cloth band and the skin. The blade is gradually worked around the head until the entire scalp can be lifted off the skull. Amazingly all the genuine witches confessed before the process was complete!

Speaking of witches, James VI influenced William Shakespeare, actually requesting that the bard introduce a storyline within his "Scottish Play" to show that James VI would one day become the Scottish King. Hence the invention of Banquo.

During Macbeth and Banquo's meeting with the three weird sisters early in the play, Banquo was told that although he would not be a king himself, he would nevertheless beget a line of kings who would come after him. These kings were, of course, the Stewarts and the divine James VI was the culmination of the witches' prophecy. Banquo is the only invented character in Shakespeare's play because even the witches are mentioned in Holinshed's supposed "history" of the time.

After James' egotistical fifty-eight year reign of Scotland we finally get his son who became Charles I of both countries. James VI had reigned through an era of peace in both countries and although there were inflationary pressures at times, the Jacobean period was seen as fiscally quite sound with low taxes and general prosperity.