A ‘perfect union’? James VI and his three kingdoms Naomi Pullin The British Problem: Empire, Conflict and National Identities,

1603: James VI of Scotland named King of England Born: 1566 King of Scotland: from 1567 (minority ended 1578 / seizes power 1579) King of England: 1603 (owed much to influence of uncle Sir Robert Cecil) Died: 1625

Focus of this lecture 1. James’s formative years - his ideas and beliefs 2. ‘Perfect Union’ between England and Scotland ( ) – how it was theorised and justified 3 areas: 3. Challenges in achieving Union and wider British and European context

Historiographical debate Whig historians – e.g. Stephen Gardiner, Lawrence Stone and Wallace Notestein View root of English Civil Wars in James’s reign, e.g. Lawrence Stone – the ‘high road’ to Civil War As a long-drawn out struggle between Crown and Parliament ‘Scottishness’ put him at odds with English customs and practises.

Historiographical debate Revisionism from 1970s – e.g. Jenny Wormald Praised as one of great humanist intellectuals of Europe Did much good for the nation at home and abroad Achieved consensus with his Parliament. Cromwell: ‘halcyon days’ for England. >> causes of Civil Wars not rooted in James’s reign (attributable to much more short-term factors)

Historiographical debate Post-revisionism – e.g. Ann Hughes, Richard Cust, Thomas Cogwell Should be cautious about being too reductive Involved both short- and long-term factors, some of which observable in James’s reign. ‘A Perfect Union’?

James: the intellectual Great advocate of the ‘Divine Right’ of Kings Kingship the safeguard for peace and unity - aspired to be Rex Pacificus (King of peace) Motto: ‘Beati Pacifici’ (Blessed be the peacemakers)

King of Scotland from 1567 Wider British and European context Catholic threat: England: Catholic missionaries called for overthrow of Elizabeth and plotted downfall Netherlands: assassination of Prince William of Orange (1584) France: Radical Catholics assassinated King Henri III (1589) and Henri IV (1610) Protestant threat: Scotland: abdication of Mary Queen of Scots in 1567 Calvinist Presbyterian Protestants argued that king could be deposed if broke religious contract with his people

Royal depositions and assassinations Andrew Melville ( ) Mellvillian Presbyterians: Challenge royal authority, esp. of Elizabeth and James Believe that monarch should have no control over the church – to launch a ‘theocracy’) 1596: ‘There are two kings and two kingdoms in Scotland: there is king James, the head of the commonwealth; and there is Christ Jesus, the king of the Church, whose subject James the Sixth is, and of whose kingdom he is not a king, not a lord, not a head, but a member’.

Personal rule over Scotland To take charge of church and restore powers of the bishops Re-assert influence over General Assembly (Scottish Parliament) > Black Acts of 1584 Personal rule that engages directly with his antagonists – enjoys enters into verbal debate with Melvillians and opponents

Political thought of James VI Defence of kingship in: Basilikon Doron (1599) The Trew Law of Free Monarchies (1598, reprinted 1603)

James VI and Kingship “this pernicious opinion; that Popes may tosse the French King his Throne like a tennis ball, and that killing of Kinges is an acte meritorious to the purchase of the crowne of Martyrdome”. (An Apologie for the Oath of Allegiance). “it follows of necessitie, that the Kinges were the authors & makers of the lawes, and not the laws of Kings... The King is above the law”(Basilikon Doron). Removal of the king is a blasphemous act. Monarchy = mediator between religious extremes: ‘ever for the Medium in every thing’ (1607)

James I, coronation medal Henricus rosas regna Jacobus – Henry VII united the roses, James united the kingdoms

Great Britain and the ‘perfect union’ Union of England and Scotland “a perfect union, a blessed union... Reuniting of these two mightie, famous and ancient Kingdomes of England and Scotland, under one Imperiall Crowne”, speech in Westminster parliament, 1604.

Union Jack, 1606 ‘Unity is the perfection of all things’

Core elements to Jacobean Union policy, Attempted legal and parliamentary union of England and Scotland A new polity with common institutions, or an English Empire? John Aylmer – ‘God is English’ Henry Howard 1602: ‘your majestie … will think that your honor in being reputed a king of England will be greater than to be king of scottes’.

A ‘Great Britain’ or a ‘Greater England’? 1607 – Scottish Parliament – ‘a trew and freindlie Unioun’ but would not become ‘a conquered and slavishe province to be governed by a Viceroy or Deputye’. James’s union rejected by Westminster Parliament in 1608, bringing an end to the project

An English King 1616: ‘my desire was to conforme the Lawes of Scotland to the Law of England... my intention was always to effect union by inviting Scotland to England, and not England to Scotland’ Scotland left in hands of aristocratic magnates – Edinburgh Parliament demanded to be given copies of foreign treaties English – concerned about growing influence of Scotsmen in English courts, e.g. merchants taking over trade: 158 Scots in royal household and government

Religious Union 1611 – new official translation of the bible (King James Bible) Aimed to make Scottish church more like more Church of England. > 1618 – Five Articles of Perth

Ireland major rebellion led by Earl of Tyrone > James issued pardons to Irish lords and aims for peace 1607 – Tyrone and other Gaelic leaders flee to Rome Leads James to pursue policy of closer union with Ireland

Plantation of Ulster - a full ‘British venture’ 1630s- 20,000 English and Scottish settlers in ulster 1641 – 125,000 Protestant settlers in Ireland

Aim of plantation To close gateway of foreign powers to England Francis Bacon - ‘unions and plantations are the very nativities and birthdays of kingdoms’ Sir John Davies – Discovery (1612): ‘a mixt plantation of British and Irish, that they might grow up together in one Nation’

Personal failings George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham ( ) Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset ( )

European influence 1604 Treaty of London ends conflict with Spain – Start of Thirty Years War in Europe – raises tensions between Catholic and Protestant powers James’s Protestant son-in-law = Frederick, Elector Palatine / King of Bohemia exiled > James concerned about entering into conflict with Spain and doesn’t intervene 1621 –negotiates marriage of son Charles to Spanish infanta – marks seismic shift in political opinion towards James > dissolution of Parliament 6 January 1622

John Donne, Meditation, XVII (1624) - written against the background of European war “No man is an island, Entire of itself. Each is a piece of the continent, A part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less.”

Conclusions James: a peacemaker or a good tactician? Reign reinforces flaws in the power of British monarchs > Splits within nations and churches > role of international affairs overturning political stability Suggests dangerous Catholic tendencies of Stuart court