would have drawn England into foreign policies for his own advantages (as
in her sister Mary's marriage to Philip of Spain); marrying a fellow
countryman could have drawn the Queen into factional infighting. Elizabeth
used her marriage prospects as a political tool in foreign and domestic
policies. However, the 'Virgin Queen' was presented as a selfless woman who
sacrificed personal happiness for the good of the nation, to which she was,
in essence, 'married'. Late in her reign, she addressed Parliament in the
so-called 'Golden Speech' of 1601 when she told MPs: 'There is no jewel, be
it of never so high a price, which I set before this jewel; I mean your
love.' She seems to have been very popular with the vast majority of her
subjects.
Overall, Elizabeth's always shrewd and, when necessary, decisive
leadership brought successes during a period of great danger both at home
and abroad. She died at Richmond Palace on 24 March 1603, having become a
legend in her lifetime. The date of her accession was a national holiday
for two hundred years.
THE STUARTS
The Stuarts were the first kings of the United Kingdom. King James I of
England who began the period was also King James VI of Scotland, thus
combining the two thrones for the first time.
The Stuart dynasty reigned in England and Scotland from 1603 to 1714, a
period which saw a flourishing Court culture but also much upheaval and
instability, of plague, fire and war. It was an age of intense religious
debate and radical politics. Both contributed to a bloody civil war in the
mid-seventeenth century between Crown and Parliament (the Cavaliers and the
Roundheads), resulting in a parliamentary victory for Oliver Cromwell and
the dramatic execution of King Charles I. There was a short-lived republic,
the first time that the country had experienced such an event. The
Restoration of the Crown was soon followed by another 'Glorious'
Revolution. William and Mary of Orange ascended the throne as joint
monarchs and defenders of Protestantism, followed by Queen Anne, the second
of James II's daughters.
The end of the Stuart line with the death of Queen Anne led to the
drawing up of the Act of Settlement in 1701, which provided that only
Protestants could hold the throne. The next in line according to the
provisions of this act was George of Hanover, yet Stuart princes remained
in the wings. The Stuart legacy was to linger on in the form of claimants
to the Crown for another century.
JAMES I (1603-25 AD)
James I was born in 1566 to Mary Queen of Scots and her second husband,
Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley. He descended from the Tudors through Margaret,
daughter of Henry VII : both Mary Queen of Scots and Henry Stewart were
grandchildren of Margaret Tudor. James ascended the Scottish throne upon
the abdication of his mother in 1567, but Scotland was ruled by regent
untilJames reached his majority. He married Anne of Denmark in 1589, who
bore him three sons and four daughters: Henry, Elizabeth, Margaret,
Charles, Robert, Mary and Sophia. He was named successor to the English
throne by his cousin, Elizabeth I and ascended that throne in 1603. James
died of a stroke in 1625 after ruling Scotland for 58 years and England for
22 years.
James was profoundly affected by his years as a boy in Scottish court.
Murder and intrigue had plagued the Scottish throne throughout the reigns
of his mother and grandfather (James V) and had no less bearing during
James's rule. His father had been butchered mere months after James' birth
by enemies of Mary and Mary, because of her indiscretions and Catholic
faith, was forced to abdicate the throne. Thus, James developed a guarded
manner. He was thrilled to take the English crown and leave the strictures
and poverty of the Scottish court.
James' twenty-nine years of Scottish kingship did little to prepare him
for the English monarchy: England and Scotland, rivals for superiority on
the island since the first emigration of the Anglo-Saxon races, virtually
hated each other. This inherent mistrust, combined with Catholic-Protestant
and Episcopal-Puritan tensions, severely limited James' prospects of a
truly successful reign. His personality also caused problems: he was witty
and well-read, fiercely believed in the divine right of kingship and his
own importance, but found great difficulty in gaining acceptance from an
English society that found his rough-hewn manners and natural paranoia
quite unbecoming. James saw little use for Parliament. His extravagant
spending habits and nonchalant ignoring of the nobility's grievances kept
king and Parliament constantly at odds. He came to the thrown at the zenith
of monarchical power, but never truly grasped the depth and scope of that
power.
Religious dissension was the basis of an event that confirmed and fueled
James' paranoia: the Gunpowder Plot of November 5, 1605. Guy Fawkes and
four other Catholic dissenters were caught attempting to blow up the House
of Lords on a day in which the king was to open the session. The
conspirators were executed, but a fresh wave of anti-Catholic sentiments
washed across England. James also disliked the Puritans who became
excessive in their demands on the king, resulting in the first wave of
English immigrants to North America. James, however, did manage to
commission an Authorized Version of the Bible, printed in English in 1611.
The relationship between king and Parliament steadily eroded. Extravagant
spending (particularly on James' favorites), inflation and bungled foreign
policies discredited James in the eyes of Parliament. Parliament flatly
refused to disburse funds to a king who ignored their concerns and were
annoyed by rewards lavished on favorites and great amounts spent on
decoration. James awarded over 200 peerages (landed titles) as,
essentially, bribes designed to win loyalty, the most controversial of
which was his creation of George Villiers (his closest advisor and
homosexual partner) as Duke of Buckingham. Buckingham was highly
influential in foreign policy, which failed miserably. James tried to
kindle Spanish relations by seeking a marriage between his son Charles and
the Spanish Infanta (who was less than receptive to the clumsy overtures of
Charles and Buckingham), and by executing Sir Walter Raleigh at the behest
of Spain.
James was not wholly unsuccessful as king, but his Scottish background
failed to translate well into a changing English society. He is described,
albeit humorously, in 1066 and All That, as such: "James I slobbered at the
mouth and had favourites; he was thus a bad king"; Sir Anthony Weldon made
a more somber observation: "He was very crafty and cunning in petty things,
as the circumventing any great man, the change of a Favourite, &c. inasmuch
as a very wise man was wont to say, he believed him the very wisest fool in
Christendom."
CHARLES I (1625-49)
Charles I was born in Fife on 19 November 1600, the second son of James
VI of Scotland (from 1603 also James I of England) and Anne of Denmark. He
became heir to the throne on the death of his brother, Prince Henry, in
1612. He succeeded, as the second Stuart King of England, in 1625.
Controversy and disputes dogged Charles throughout his reign. They
eventually led to civil wars, first with the Scots from 1637 and later in
England (1642-46 and 1648). The Civil Wars deeply divided people at the
time, and historians still disagree about the real causes of the conflict,
but it is clear that Charles was not a successful ruler.
Charles was reserved (he had a residual stammer), self-righteous and had
a high concept of royal authority, believing in the divine right of kings.
He was a good linguist and a sensitive man of refined tastes. He spent a
lot on the arts, inviting the artists Van Dyck and Rubens to work in
England, and buying a great collection of paintings by Raphael and Titian
(this collection was later dispersed under Cromwell). His expenditure on
his court and his picture collection greatly increased the crown's debts.
Indeed, crippling lack of money was a key problem for both the early Stuart
monarchs.
Charles was also deeply religious. He favoured the high Anglican form of
worship, with much ritual, while many of his subjects, particularly in
Scotland, wanted plainer forms. Charles found himself ever more in
disagreement on religious and financial matters with many leading citizens.
Having broken an engagement to the Spanish infanta, he had married a Roman
Catholic, Henrietta Maria of France, and this only made matters worse.
Although Charles had promised Parliament in 1624 that there would be no
advantages for recusants (people refusing to attend Church of England
services), were he to marry a Roman Catholic bride, the French insisted on
a commitment to remove all disabilities upon Roman Catholic subjects.
Charles's lack of scruple was shown by the fact that this commitment was
secretly added to the marriage treaty, despite his promise to Parliament.
Charles had inherited disagreements with Parliament from his father, but
his own actions (particularly engaging in ill-fated wars with France and
Spain at the same time) eventually brought about a crisis in 1628-29. Two
expeditions to France failed - one of which had been led by Buckingham, a
royal favourite of both James I and Charles I, who had gained political
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