Elizabeth Charlotte Wittelsbach, Duchess of Orleans

Other Events and Attributes:

• FamilySearch ID: LH6T-7RL
• Initiatory (LDS): 31 Oct 1998, OAKLA

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• FamilySearch ID: LC2Z-G17
• Initiatory (LDS): 11 Jul 2001, VERNA

Karl married Charlotte Hesse-Kassel, Electress Palatine on 22 Feb 1650 in Kassel, Hesse-Nassau, Deutschland. Charlotte was born on 20 Nov 1627 in Heidelberg Castle, Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Deutschland; died on 26 Mar 1686 in Heidelberg Castle, Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Deutschland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

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• FamilySearch ID: LH8F-Y4J
• Initiatory (LDS): 8 Dec 1998, OAKLA

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• FamilySearch ID: LZJY-48S
• Initiatory (LDS): 24 Jun 1880, SGEOR

Frederick married Elizabeth Stuart, Queen of Bohemia on 14 Feb 1613 in Chapel Royal, St. James's Palace, London, Middlesex, England. Elizabeth (daughter of James Stuart, VI King of Scotland, I King of England and Anna Frederiksdotter) was born on 19 Aug 1596 in Falkland Palace, Falkland, Fifeshire, Scotland; died on 13 Feb 1662 in London, Middlesex, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• FamilySearch ID: LZV6-YWM
• Initiatory (LDS): 12 Apr 1901, SLAKE

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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]

Other Events and Attributes:

• FamilySearch ID: LZW7-367
• Initiatory (LDS): 4 Apr 1901