James’s controversial reign over two countries saw him in constant struggles with Parliament particularly when it came to spending treasury money. Parliament on the other hand was determined to control taxation. But James believed that he was only answerable to God alone and should be able to do as he liked. As James ignored Parliament for most of the decade, his personal relationships with favourites - offering them expensive gifts and high ranking titles - also irked the authorities. But few at the time were aware of the intimate nature of some of these relationships. Gay lovers The people’s enthusiasm, however, was perhaps more motivated by self-interest than James’s own firm belief in the Divine Right of Kings to govern as they alone felt. Of course the English Puritans were delighted to see him. He was sure to be on their side, for the Reformation had been carried out much more strictly in Scotland than in England. And of course the English Catholics were delighted to see him – for was he not the son of the Catholic Mary Queen of Scots?

In 1604 a three-day conference was arranged at Hampton Court in Surrey which was set up as an attempt to try and hear both sides with James as mediator. James, who was born a Catholic but raised a Protestant rejected most of the ideas put forward by both sides. See also: Cultural depictions of James VI and I On the ceiling of the Banqueting House, Rubens depicted James being carried to heaven by angels. Villiers in turn showered honours on his own family, all of which James benignly approved, for, said he one day in the presence of the entire Villiers family, “I desire to advance you above all others.” When this kind of lead was being given by the King, bribery and corruption became understandingly rife in high places.

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Thompson, Francis (1968), Harris and Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Newto Main article: Jacobean era Portrait after John de Critz, c. 1605. James wears the Three Brothers jewel, three rectangular red spinels; the jewel is now lost. Anne, however, exercised little influence over her ungainly husband. She had a passionate temper which often made her behave like a spoilt child. She was says a historian, “utterly ignorant of the art of governing either herself or others, or of calculating the probable consequences of her words and actions.”

This course will examine the ideas and writings of King James VI & I, beginning with his rule over Scotland and including England after 1603. Labelled 'the wisest fool in Christendom', and long regarded as one of the British Isles' less successful rulers, more recently he has been effectively rehabilitated by 'revisionist' historians who argue that he was a highly intelligent and politically astute monarch. The focus here will be mainly on James' ideas, as expressed though his own writings and those of his contemporaries. demonstrate a detailed and critical command of the body of knowledge concerning the ideas and writings of James VI & I Unfortunately this new dog for the moment pleased only his new master and mistress; to the noblemen and Parliament he positively snarled. James took no heed of the anger of these people; instead he made “Steenie” first a knight, then a Viscount, then an Earl, next a Marquess; finally he gave him the highest honour in the land – a dukedom, together with all the authority and power of England’s Chief Minister. Under James, the Plantation of Ulster by English and Scots Protestants began, and the English colonisation of North America started its course with the foundation of Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607 [182] and Cuper's Cove, Newfoundland, in 1610. During the next 150 years, England would fight with Spain, the Netherlands, and France for control of the continent, while religious division in Ireland between Protestants and Catholics has lasted for 400 years. By actively pursuing more than just a personal union of his realms, James helped lay the foundations for a unitary British state. [183]

Letter of Mary to Mar, 29 March 1567, quoted by Stewart 2003, p.27: "Suffer nor admit no noblemen of our realm or any others, of what condition soever they be of, to enter or come within our said Castle or to the presence of our said dearest son, with any more persons but two or three at the most."

e.g. Lee, Maurice (1990), Great Britain's Solomon: James VI and I in his Three Kingdoms, Urbana: University of Illinois Press, ISBN 978-0-2520-1686-8. Herein is not only a great vanity, but a great contempt of God's gifts, that the sweetness of man's breath, being a good gift of God, should be willfully corrupted by this stinking smoke. Donaldson, Gordon (1974), Mary, Queen of Scots, London: English Universities Press, ISBN 978-0-3401-2383-6Rhodes, Richards & Marshall 2003, p.1: "James VI and I was the most writerly of British monarchs. He produced original poetry, as well as translation and a treatise on poetics; works on witchcraft and tobacco; meditations and commentaries on the Scriptures; a manual on kingship; works of political theory; and, of course, speeches to parliament ... He was the patron of Shakespeare, Jonson, Donne, and the translators of the "Authorized version" of the Bible, surely the greatest concentration of literary talent ever to enjoy royal sponsorship in England."