James VI and I 1566-1625
King of Scotland from 1567 and of England from 1603

James was born in Edinburgh Castle, the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, and Lord Darnley. He was baptized Charles James at Stirling Castle. On his mother's forced abdication in 1567 he was proclaimed king as James VI. During his infancy, power was exercised through a sequence of regents; eventually some stability was achieved by James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton, who laid down the foundations for James's later personal reign. Morton was executed in 1581, largely at the instigation of James's relations, the Earl of Arran and the Duke of Lennox. An extreme Protestant reaction followed, and the king was seized in the so-called Ruthven Raid, led by William Ruthven (1582). Although presbyterian ministers were not involved, the General Assembly, by approving 'this late work of reformation', stamped a life-long suspicion of the aims of the kirk in the young king's mind.

Within 10 months James had escaped and a counter-coup was organized by Arran. In 1584 a parliament reiterated the primacy of the Crown over all estates, including the Church; within days more than a score of radical ministers had fled into exile in England along with some of the Ruthven lords. The exiles returned by the end of 1585 and Arran was displaced from power, but the assertion of royal power, now under the guiding hand of the Chancellor, John Maitland of Thirlestane (1543-95), continued.

The execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1587 drew a token protest from her son, but it was not allowed to disturb the agreement recently concluded with England by the Treaty of Berwick (1586). In 1589 James visited Denmark, and there married Princess Anne of Denmark, who was crowned queen in May 1590. During the early 1590s a careful playing-off took place of Roman Catholic and ultra-Protestant factions against each other, and by 1596 a new stability resulted.

On the death of Elizabeth I of England (1603), James succeeded to the throne of England as great-grandson of James IV's English wife, Margaret Tudor. Although he promised to visit Scotland once every three years, he did not return until 1617. A joint monarchy became for Scotland an absentee monarchy, although the king's political skill and knowledge allowed him to govern Scotland 'by his pen'.

In England, he was at first well received by his English subjects. After the failure of the Gunpowder Plot (1605), severe laws were brought in against Roman Catholics. Eventually, growing dislike of the joint rule of two kingdoms, Puritan resentment of his high-church stance, his use of court favourites, and his friendship with Spain all embittered the fragile relations between Crown and parliament, especially after 1621. The death of the king's eldest son, Henry, Prince of Wales (1612), caused the succession to pass to his second son, the future Charles I, who became closely attached to the king's new favourite, George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham.

James's achievements as King of England are still a matter of dispute, but he is widely recognized as one of the most successful kings of Scotland, where politics and society were transformed during his long reign.

Bibliography: C Durston, James I (1993); A Fraser, King James VI of Scotland, I of England (1974).