King James 1

 

James, was King James VI of Scotland and successor to the England's Elizabeth as James I. Elizabeth had ordered the execution of James' mother, Mary, Queen of Scotts, a Catholic who had allegedly plotted to seize the English throne.

 

James had been a king---as he often reminded people---since his infancy. Within a year of his birth, his father had been killed, strangled by assassins after an explosion drove him from his house. Before another year had passed, his mother, Mary, Queen of Scots, had fled Scotland, suspected of having arranged her husband's death. She left her infant son behind, and James was raised by a series of guardians, several of whom also met violent deaths.

 

His precarious childhood and perhaps congenital illnesses as well, took a toll on the boy. James became a strange mixture of brilliance, eccentricity, and fearfulness. Among other habitual precautions, he always wore a thick quilted doublet to ward off dagger thrusts. His appearance inspired neither confidence nor love. Observers noted that his tongue seemed too large for his mouth, causing a speech impediment, and also made him slobber when he drank from a cup. His legs were weak, causing him to lean on other men's shoulders and walk in a circular fashion. When upset, he fiddled nervously with his codpiece, and his large, curious eyes followed strangers who entered his presence, making them uncomfortable.

 

Members of James' court claimed James never washed his hands, only rubbed this finger ends slightly with a wet napkin.

 

Yet James had real achievements. He wrote learned treatises on a number of subjects, from witchcraft (which he believed in) to tobacco (which he was the first to condemn it, calling smoking "loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, dangerous to the lungs)" and as a result he did not like Sir Walter Raleigh. As king of England, he sponsored a new translation of the Bible that remains one of the great literary works in the English language. In 1604, believing the existing English Bibles did not sufficiently emphasize obedience to authority, he ordered a new translation; that became known as the King James Bible satisfied him on that point. In politics, he injected the theory of the divine right of kings into English history and claimed that "the monarch is the law. Rex est lex loquens, the king is the law speaking."

 

James also had definite ideas on what England's foreign policy should be. In the first year of his reign, he secured a peace treaty with Spain, ending fifteen years of warfare. Not all his courtiers were pleased; some attributed the negotiations to cowardice on James' part.

 

James was involved with efforts to colonize the Americas.

 

In 1621 he banned lotteries. He died in 1625 and his son Charles took his place.