The Stuarts

James I

James Charles Stuart was born on the 19th of June 1566 in Edinburgh Scotland to Mary Queen of Scots and her second husband Henry Stuart.  Both of his parents were great-grandchildren of Henry VII through his daughter Margaret Tudor, thus giving James a claim to the English throne. James grew up without his parents as he father was murdered in February 1567 and his mother was arrested and imprisoned the same year. When she was forced to abdicate on the 24th of July 1567, James became the king of Scotland at the age of thirteen months, seventh of his name. 

He was brought up by the Earl and Countess of Mar and was brought up as a member of the Protestant Church of Scotland. He was also the Godson of Queen Elizabeth I of England.  During his education he developed a lifelong passion for literature and learning, and he later wrote numerous works. During his childhood his uncle (the illegitimate half-brother of his mother) James Stewart served as regent until his assassination in 1570 and was followed by three more regents until 1579 when he became a full ruler.  During this time Frechman Esmé Stewart, the future Earl of Lennox arrived at Court and quickly became a favourite. James made him the only duke in Scotland. In fact Lennox was James's lover.

Portrait of Anne of Denmark in 1605.

Indeed the king showed little interest in women and preferred male company.  However a marriage was required to reinforce his monarchy and in 1590 he married fifteen-year-old Anne of Denmark. In the first years of their marriage James was infatuated with his bride and the queen gave birth to seven children, of whom three reached adulthood: Henry Frederick who died in 1612 of typhoid fever at age 18, Elizabeth (later queen of Bohemia) and Charles (later King of  England).  Anne died in March 1619. 

James ruled Scotland until 1603, when upon the death of Elizabeth I, who had no children, he inherited her throne becoming King James I of England and Ireland. He left Scotland on 5 April and promised to return every three years - a promise he did not keep.  James was very well received by the lords and even claimed that he was "swapping a stony couch for a deep feather bed."

In the early years of his reign he focused mainly on foreign policy and his leisure activities, leaving the day-to-day running of the government to his Lords. He was keen to establish a single country under one monarch, one parliament and one law, however this plan met opposition in both England and Scotland. He later assumed the title of "King of Great Britain" instead of "King of England" and "King of Scotland" but this title held no legal standing in England, but was imposed in the Scottish Parliament. 

Under James the respected image of monarchy built by the late Elizabeth I was undermined by a scandal-ridden court due to the king's dependency on favourites and him often neglecting government duties for leisure pastimes such as hunting.

In 1605 James survived the Gunpowder Plot, a plan by fervent Catholic Guy Fawkes to blow up the Parliament House during the king's second session. However, the plot was discovered on the 5th of November. Fawkes was executed, which is still celebrated on Bonfire Night in the UK. This failure led James to sanction any harsh measures that had been put in place to control the English Catholics and eventually tolerated Catholics at Court. 

Furthermore it is under James's reign that the English colonisation of North America began with the foundation of Jamestown, Virginia in 1607. 

In his later years James suffered from arthritis, gout and kidney stones as well as losing his teeth and heavy drinking. This led to him being absent from London in his later years. After suffering a stroke he died at Theobalds House on the 27th March 1625, his disputed lover George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham at his bedside during a violent attack of dysentery (a type of infectious, bloody diarrhea). James was later buried in Westminster Abbey. Until the 19th century the position of tomb was lost until it was found in the Henry VII vault during an excavation. 

Portrait of James by Daniel Mytens in 1621. 

James was widely mourned as despite his flaws he had remained loved by his people who had enjoyed uninterrupted peace and low taxation. 

However, James's reputation suffered from anti-Stuart historians who blamed him for laying the foundations of the English Civil War. They defended that James installed his son Charles with the belief in the divine right of kings.