Few kings have been more savagely caricatured or grossly misunderstood than England’s first Stuart. Yet, as this new biography demonstrates, the modern tendency to downplay his defects and minimise the long-term consequences of his reign has gone too far. In spite of genuine idealism and flashes of considerable resourcefulness, James I remains a perplexing figure – a uniquely curious ruler, shot through with glaring inconsistencies. His vices and foibles not only undermined his high hopes for healing and renewal after Elizabeth I’s troubled last years, but also entrenched political and religious tensions that eventually consumed his successor. A flawed, if well-meaning, foreigner in a rapidly changing and divided kingdom, his passionate commitment to time-honoured principles of government would, ironically, prove his undoing, as England edged unconsciously towards a crossroads and the shadow of the Thirty Years War descended upon Europe.
Chapter 1. Heir to Scotland’s Woe
Chapter 3. Love and Liberation
Chapter 4. Lessons in Life and Kingcraft
Chapter 5. The Headsman and the King of Spain
Chapter 6. ‘Cupide Blinde’ and Wyches’ Waies
Chapter 7. The Wrath of Earls and Kirk
Chapter 8. ‘King and Sovereign Lord’ of Scotland
Chapter 9. Towards the ‘Land of Promise’
Chapter 10. Scotland’s King of England
Chapter 11. The King, His Beagles, His Countrymen and His Court
Chapter 12. Religion, Peace and Lucifer
Chapter 13. Parliament, Union, Gunpowder
Chapter 14. Finance, Favouritism and Foul Play
Chapter 15. Favourite of Favourites
Chapter 17. ‘Baby Charles’ and ‘Steenie’
Chapter 18. Dotage, Docility and Demise
Chapter 19. Ruler of Three Kingdoms