James I

James I (1566-1625), King of England, b. Edinburgh Castle, Scotland.

James Stuart, King James VI of Scotland, was the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, and her second husband, Lord Darnley.

He became King of England when Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603.

James upset the people of England by making peace with Spain. He quarrelled with Parliament and persecuted Catholics and Puritans. One writer has called him 'the wisest fool in Christendom'.

On 4 November, 1605, a plot to blow up James and his ministers as they met in the House of Lords was discovered, the first plotter arrested being Guy Fawkes.

During James's reign, a translation of the Bible into English was published and the beautiful language of the 'James I Bible', as it is called, makes it popular with many people even today.

See Antonia Fraser Faith and Treason