James Stuart, VI King of Scotland, I King of England

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• FamilySearch ID: MXNL-V9L
• Initiatory (LDS): 8 Jan 1903, SLAKE

Notes:

James VI and I (19 June 1566 - 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as Ja m es VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I fro m t he union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until hi s de ath. The kingdoms of Scotland and England were individual sovereig n state s, with their own parliaments, judiciary, and laws, though both w ere rule d by James in personal union.

He succeeded to the Scottish throne at the age of thirteen months, aft e r his mother Mary, Queen of Scots, was compelled to abdicate in his fav or . Four different regents governed during his minority, which ended off ici ally in 1578, though he did not gain full control of his government u nti l 1583. In 1603, he succeeded the last Tudor monarch of England and I rela nd, Elizabeth I, who died without issue. He continued to reign in al l thr ee kingdoms for 22 years, a period known as the Jacobean era afte r him, u ntil his death in 1625 at the age of 58. After the Union of th e Crowns, h e based himself in England (the largest of the three realms ) from 1603, o nly returning to Scotland once in 1617, and styled himsel f "King of Grea t Britain and Ireland". He was a major advocate of a sing le parliament fo r both England and Scotland. In his reign, the Plantatio n of Ulster and B ritish colonization of the Americas began.

At 57 years and 246 days, his reign in Scotland was longer than any of h i s predecessors. He achieved most of his aims in Scotland but faced gre a t difficulties in England, including the Gunpowder Plot in 1605 and rep ea ted conflicts with the English Parliament. Under James, the "Golden Ag e " of Elizabethan literature and drama continued, with writers such as W il liam Shakespeare, John Donne, Ben Jonson, and Sir Francis Bacon contri but ing to a flourishing literary culture. James himself was a talented s chol ar, the author of works such as Daemonologie (1597), True Law of Fre e Mon archies (1598), and Basilikon Doron (1599). He sponsored the transl atio n of the Bible that was named after him: the Authorized King James V ersio n. Sir Anthony Weldon claimed that James had been termed "the wises t foo l in Christendom", an epithet associated with his character ever si nce. S ince the latter half of the twentieth century, however, historian s have r evised James's reputation and have treated him as a serious an d thoughtfu l monarch.

He was less than a year old when he saw his mother for the last time, a n d thirteen months old when he was crowned King of Scots in Stirling aft e r her forced abdication.

His childhood was constantly disturbed by the struggles of the nobles w h o vied for control of him. Given a demanding academic education by hi s tu tor George Buchanan (who tried to teach him to hate his mother) an d advis ed by four successive regents, he grew up to be a shrewd, wary in tellectu al who managed to reconcile the warring factions among his nobil ity wit h such success that he has been described as 'the most effectiv e ruler Sc otland ever had'.

Other opinions were more mixed; David Hume wrote that 'many virtues.. . i t must be owned, he was possessed of, but no one of them pure, or fre e fr om the contagion of the neighbouring vices,' whilst Henri IV of Fran ce ca lled James 'the wisest fool in Christendom'.

James was a firm believer in the Divine Right of Kings and in the righ t o f his bishops to run the Scottish Church; his response to Calvinist p rote sts was 'No Bishop, No King'. His great ambition was to succeed Eliz abet h I on the throne of England, and so he made only a formal protest w hen s he signed his mother's death warrant in 1587.

Two years later, he married Anne of Denmark. Happy together at first th e y had three sons and four daughters, but gradually drifted apart.

On 24 March 1603 James achieved his lifelong ambition when Queen Elizabe t h I died and he inherited the throne of England. He moved south immedia te ly, and would have liked his two kingdoms to be completely united. How eve r, Scotland retained its own parliament, established Church and lega l an d educational systems.

James enjoyed the pomp and circumstance of the English court, and return e d to Scotland only once, in 1617. He liked to boast that he now ruled h i s northern kingdom with a stroke of his pen, but in his later years h e lo st something of his grasp of the Scottish situation .

When he forced through the 1618 General Assembly of the Church of Scotla n d his Five Articles of Perth, measures intended to bring the worship a n d government of the Church of Scotland into line with the Church of Eng la nd, he met with strong opposition .

Realising that he had made an error of judgement, he did not enforce t h e Articles, and did not try again to introduce ecclesiastical innovatio ns . He died on 27 March 1625.

James married Anna Frederiksdotter on 23 Nov 1589 in Old Bishop's Palace, Oslo, Oslo, Kongeriket Norge. Anna (daughter of Frederick Christiansen, II King of Denmark and Norway and Sophia Mecklenburg) was born on 12 Dec 1574 in Skanderborg, Skanderborg, Kongeriget Danmark; died on 2 Mar 1619 in Hampton Court Palace, London, Middlesex, England; was buried on 13 May 1619 in Westminster Abbey, Middlesex, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Henry Frederick Stuart, Prince of Wales was born on 19 Feb 1594 in Stirling Castle, Stirlingshire, Scotland; died on 6 Nov 1612; was buried in Westminster Abbey, Middlesex, England.
2. Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia was born on 19 Aug 1596 in Falkland Palace, Falkland, Fifeshire, Scotland; died on 13 Feb 1662 in London, Middlesex, England.
3. Margaret Stuart was born on 24 Dec 1598 in Dalkeith House, Midlothian, Scotland; died in Mar 1600 in Linlithgow Palace, Linlithgowshire, Scotland; was buried in Holyrood Abbey, Edinburgh, Edinburghshire, Scotland.
4. Charles Stuart, I King of England and Scotland was born on 19 Nov 1600 in Dunfermline Palace, Dunfermline, Fifeshire, Scotland; died on 30 Jan 1649 in Whitehall, London, Middlesex, England; was buried on 9 Feb 1649 in St. George's Chapel, Windsor, Berkshire, England.
5. Robert Stuart, Duke of Kintyre and Lorne was born on 18 Jan 1602 in Dunfermline Palace, Dunfermline, Fifeshire, Scotland; died on 27 May 1602 in Dunfermline Palace, Dunfermline, Fifeshire, Scotland; was buried in Dunfermline Palace, Dunfermline, Fifeshire, Scotland.
6. Mary Stuart was born on 8 Apr 1605 in Greenwich Palace, Greenwich, Kent, England; died on 23 Sep 1607 in Westminster Abbey, Middlesex, England.
7. Sophia Stuart was born on 22 Jun 1606 in Greenwich Palace, Greenwich, Kent, England; died on 23 Jun 1606 in Greenwich Palace, Greenwich, Kent, England.

Other Events and Attributes:

• FamilySearch ID: 98R8-Q1R
• Initiatory (LDS): 25 Jul 2003, JRIVE

Henry married Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots on 29 Jul 1565 in Palace of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh, Edinburghshire, Scotland. Mary (daughter of James Stewart, V King of Scotland and Mary Guise, Queen consort of Scotland) was born on 8 Dec 1542 in Linlithgow, Linlithgowshire, Scotland; died on 8 Feb 1587 in Fotheringhay Castle, Northamptonshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• FamilySearch ID: MP41-8G1
• Initiatory (LDS): 29 Nov 1894

Other Events and Attributes:

• FamilySearch ID: L1CF-G6Q
• Initiatory (LDS): 27 Jun 1902, SLAKE

Matthew married Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox on 29 Jun 1544 in St. James Palace, Westminster, Middlesex, England. Margaret was born on 8 Oct 1515 in England; died on 7 Mar 1578. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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• FamilySearch ID: 9QCS-425
• Initiatory (LDS): 25 May 1923

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• FamilySearch ID: LZLD-PLT
• Initiatory (LDS): 3 Dec 1996, MTIMP

James married Mary Guise, Queen consort of Scotland on 18 May 1538 in Notre-Dame de Paris, Paris, Paris, Île-de-France, République française. Mary was born on 22 Nov 1515 in Bar-le-Duc, Meuse, Lorraine, République française; died on 11 Jun 1560 in Edinburgh Castle, Edinburghshire, Scotland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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• FamilySearch ID: L1MB-CZW
• Initiatory (LDS): 1 Nov 2014, DENVE

Other Events and Attributes:

• FamilySearch ID: L1HN-PRR
• Initiatory (LDS): 1 Feb 1901, SLAKE

James married Margaret Tudor, Queen consort of Scots on 8 Aug 1503 in Holyrood Abbey, Edinburgh, Edinburghshire, Scotland. Margaret (daughter of Henry Tudor, VII King of England and Elizabeth York, Queen consort of England) was born on 28 Nov 1489 in Westminster, Middlesex, England; died on 18 Oct 1541 in Methven Castle, Perthshire, Scotland; was buried in Perth, Perthshire, Scotland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• FamilySearch ID: LDHD-PNT
• Initiatory (LDS): 3 Oct 1901, SLAKE