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James I

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19 June 1566 - 27 March 1622. James VI King of Scots 1567-1625. James I King of England 1603-1625.

As the son of Mary, Queen of Scots and her second husband Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, James became King of Scots on 19 July 1567 at the age of 13 months, when his mother was forced to abdicate and fled to England. James never saw his mother again but was in touch via letters with her, however, they did not have a good relationship and James did not do much to help his mother in captivity, nor to prevent his mother’s execution. Being a boy-king, he had counsellors ruling in his name. He was raised as a Protestant and received a good education. When Elizabeth I died childless in 1603, James succeeded her on the English throne as James I of England. He was crowned at Westminster Abbey on 25 July 1603 becoming the first Stuart King to unite the English and the Scottish Crowns. His attempt to unite the governments, however, was not successful, but the transition was rather peaceful. He is the 9th great-grandfather of ruling Queen Elizabeth II. Shortly after his succession to the English throne, in 1605, there was a failed attempt to blow up Parliament and to have him killed, which is today known as Guy Fawkes Night on Novem-ber 5. Guy Fawkes and other Roman Catholic conspirators plotted gunpowder in one of the chambers, but the attempt was discovered and prevented before it was too late. Married Anne of Denmark in 1589 and had eight children with her, of whom only three (Henry, Elizabeth and Charles) survived infancy. His son Henry died at age 18, and thus his younger son Charles succeeded him. James want-ed Charles to marry the Spanish Princess and sent him to Spain, but the trip failed. Succeeded by his second son Charles. Mixed reception in historiography: on the one hand intellectual and interested in philosophy, on the other hand promoter of the divine right of kings, favoritism, persecution of witches and smokers. King James loved the arts and was the patron of William Shakespeare’s acting company, the King’s Men. Drama flourished at his court. He further had the (King James’) Bible translated into English, making the Bible accessible to the English-speaking world. James wrote Dae-monologie in 1597, which is said to have inspired Shakespeare’s play Macbeth. Daemonolo-gie is about magic, witchcraft and spirits and James firmly believed in the persecution of witches. The first town in North America was called Jamestown in his honor in 1607 and in 1624, Vir-ginia became the King’s Royal Colony. When he died in 1625, James was king for 58 years.

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