James VI of Scotland and I of England (Charles James) (19 June 1566 – 27 March) was a King who ruled over England, Scotland and Ireland, and was the first Sovereign to reign in the three realms simultaneously.
Along with Alfred the Great, James is considered to have been one of the most intellectual and learned individuals ever to sit on the English or Scottish Throne. Under him, much of the cultural flourishing of Elizabethan England continued; individuals such as Sir Francis Bacon (afterwards Viscount St Albans) and William Shakespeare flourished during the reign. James himself was a talented scholar, writing works such as Daemonologie (1597), The True Law of Free Monarchies (1598), Basilikon Doron (1599) and A Counterblast to Tobacco (1604).
In 1586, James VI and Elizabeth I became allies under the Treaty of Berwick. James sought to remain in the favour of the unmarried Queen of England, as he was a potential successor to her Crown; his mother was the granddaughter of Margaret Tudor (Elizabeth I's aunt). Margaret Tudor's brother, Henry VIII, had feared that the English Crown would go to a Scottish individual; thus, in his will, he excluded Margaret and her descendants from the line of succession. Although technically excluded by the will-which, under an Act of Parliament, had the force of law insofar as succession was concerned-both Mary and James were serious claimants to the English Crown, as they were Elizabeth I's closest relatives.
Also in 1586, Mary was implicated in the Babington Plot, a scheme which sought to put the former Scottish Queen on the Throne after murdering Elizabeth I. Elizabeth had previously spared Mary's life after the Ridolfi Plot, but could no longer tolerate the danger posed. Consequently, Mary was executed for her crimes in 1587; but for the will of Henry VIII, James would have been the heir-presumptive to the English Crown.
Following her execution, Mary's Scottish supporters became weak; James managed to significantly reduce the influence of the Roman Catholic nobles in Scotland. He further endeared himself to Protestants by marrying Anne of Denmark - a Princess from a Protestant country and daughter of Frederick II of Denmark – by proxy in 1589. Another marriage, this time with both parties personally present, occurred on 21 January 1590 at Krondborg during James's visit to Denmark. Soon following his return via Leith on 1 May, he attended the North Berwick Witch Trial, in which several people were convicted of having used witchcraft to create a storm in an attempt to sink the ship on which James and Anne had been travelling. At first, James and his new queen were close, but they gradually drifted apart. The couple produced eight children, three of whom survived infancy and one was stillborn. They decided to live apart after the death of their daughter Sophia.
James faced a Roman Catholic uprising in 1588; he was forced to reconcile with the Church of Scotland, and at length agreed to the repeal of the Black Acts in 1592. James, fearing that dealing too harshly with the Catholic rebels might anger many English Catholics, agreed to pardon some of his opponents, thereby angering the Protestant Church. He faced in 1600 a conspiracy formed by John Ruthven, 3rd Earl of Gowrie (son of the Earl of Gowrie executed in 1584); upon the failure of the plot, Lord Gowrie and his associates were killed, and even Protestant nobles came to be repressed by the King.
Upon the death of Elizabeth I in 1603, the Crown should have passed (under the will of Henry VIII) to the Lady Anne Stanley. Nevertheless, James was the only serious claimant to the English Crown; all the others, including the Lady Anne, were not powerful enough to defend their claims. Thus, an Accession Council met and proclaimed James King of England. He and his wife were crowned on 25 July at Westminster Abbey.
Parliament met in a state of anti-Catholic paranoia after the failed Gunpowder Plot. It voted four subsidies to the King, who still remained unsatisfied with his revenues. James imposed customs duties without parliamentary consent, although no monarch had taken so bold a step since the reign of Richard II. The legality of such an action was challenged in 1606 by the merchant John Bates; the Court of Exchequer, however, ruled in the King's favour. The decision of the court was denounced by Parliament. Relations between James I and Parliament were also soured by the latter's refusal to pass the King's plan to allow free trade between England and Scotland.
In the last session of Parliament (which began in 1610), Lord Salisbury proposed the Great Contract, which would have led to the Crown giving up feudal dues in return for an annual parliamentary subsidy. The plan, however, failed because of factionalism in Parliament. Frustrated by the members of the House of Commons and by the collapse of the Great Contract, James dissolved Parliament in 1611.
The Crown deep in debt, James blatantly sold honours and titles to raise funds. In 1611, he used letters patent to invent a completely new dignity-that of Baronet; one could become a Baronet upon the payment of £1,080. A Barony could be sold for about £5,000, a Viscountcy for about £10,000, and an Earldom for about £20,000.
Lord Salisbury died in 1612; another of the King's closest advisors, Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset, was forced to leave office after being disgraced by the Overbury Scandal. Following the loss of the aforementioned advisors, James began to involve himself in matters previously handled by his ministers. James's personal government was disastrous for his finances, and a new Parliament had to be called in 1614 in order to obtain the imposition of new taxes. This Parliament, the second of James's reign, was known as the Addled Parliament because it failed to pass any legislation or impose any taxes. James angrily dissolved Parliament shortly after he summoned it after it became clear that no progress could be made.
Following the dissolution of the Addled Parliament, James ruled without a Parliament for about seven years. Faced with financial difficulties due to the failure of Parliament to approve new taxes, James sought to enter into a profitable alliance with Spain by marrying his eldest son, Charles, Prince of Wales, off to the daughter of the King of Spain. The proposed alliance with a Roman Catholic kingdom was not well-received in Protestant England; James's unpopularity, furthermore, was augmented by the execution of Sir Walter Raleigh. In Scotland, James was despised for his insistence on the passage of the Five Articles of Perth, which were seen as attempts to introduce Roman Catholic and Anglican practices into Presbyterian Scotland.
From 1618 onwards, the religious conflict known as the Thirty Years' War convulsed Europe. James I was forced to become involved because his daughter, Elizabeth, was married to the Protestant Frederick V, Elector Palatine, one of the war's chief participants. During the conflict between Protestants and Catholics, James's attempt to ally himself with Catholic Spain fostered much distrust.
Queen Anne died on 4 March 1619 at Hampton Court Palace and was buried at Westminster Abbey. Rumours were later spread that James was little moved by the death due to his supposed affections for George Villiers. The two met in 1614 and James is said to have nicknamed the young man "Steenie" and bestowed honour upon honour to him, ending with the dukedom of Buckingham in 1623. George Villiers was the first non-royal duke to be created for over a century.
The third and penultimate Parliament of James's reign was summoned in 1621. The House of Commons agreed to grant James a small subsidy to signify their loyalty, but then, to the displeasure of the King, moved on to other matters. James's primary advisor, George Villiers, 1st Marquess of Buckingham (afterwards Duke of Buckingham), was attacked for his plan to have the Prince of Wales marry a Spanish Infanta. The practice of selling monopolies and other privileges was also deprecated. The House of Commons sought to impeach Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Albans, who was implicated in the sale of such privileges during his service as Lord Chancellor, on charges of corruption. The House of Lords convicted Lord St Albans, who was duly removed from office. Although the impeachment was the first in centuries, it occasioned no opposition from James, who believed that sacrificing Lord St Albans could help deflect his parliamentary opposition. In any event, James released Lord St Albans from prison and granted him a full pardon.
A new constitutional dispute arose shortly thereafter. James was eager to aid his son-in-law, the Elector-Palatine, and requested Parliament for a subsidy. The House of Commons, in turn, requested the King to abandon the alliance with Spain. When James declared that the lower House had overstepped its bounds by offering unsolicited advice, the House of Commons passed a protest claiming that it had the right to debate any matter relating to the welfare of the Kingdom. An angry James I ordered the protest torn out of the Commons Journal and dissolved Parliament.
In 1623, the Duke of Buckingham and the Prince of Wales travelled to Madrid in an attempt to secure a marriage between the latter and the daughter of the King of Spain. They were snubbed, however, by the Spanish courtiers, who demanded that the Prince of Wales convert to Roman Catholicism. They returned to England, and called for war with Spain. The Protestants backed them and James summoned Parliament, which granted some funding for the war. Parliament was prorogued, on the understanding that it would later return to grant more funds.
Parliament, however, never actually met when scheduled. The Prince of Wales had promised that, even if he would marry a Roman Catholic, he would not repeal political restrictions which applied to Roman Catholics. When, however, he agreed to marry the Catholic French Princess, Henrietta Maria, he reneged on his earlier promise and undertook to abolish the same religious qualifications. The Prince of Wales then ensured that Parliament did not actually meet, in order to avoid a confrontation over the diverging promises.
James lapsed into senility during the last year of his reign. Real power passed to Charles, Prince of Wales and to the Duke of Buckingham. James died in 1625 of ague, probably brought upon by kidney failure and stroke, and was buried in the Henry VII Lady Chapel in Westminster Abbey. Charles, Prince of Wales succeeded him as Charles I. James had ruled in Scotland for almost sixty years; no English, Scottish or British monarch, with the exceptions of Victoria and George III, has surpassed his mark.