King James I Essay, Research Paper
This is a paper over King James I of England that I wrote for
my honors english class. I received an A on the the
assignment. King James I On June 19, 1566 in Theobalds,
Hertfordshire, England, Mary Queen of Scots gave birth to
her only child, a boy whom she named James. James’ father
was Henry Stewart, also known as Lord Darnley. Darnley
was killed in an unexplained explosion at his house when
James was eight months old. Only seven months later, Mary
Queen of Scots had to give up her throne because she was
defeated by rebels. Mary left the country and James never
saw her again. James took the throne of Scotland when he
was only 15 months old and became King James VI of
Scotland ("James I" 481). James got most of his culture and
education before he was 14 years old. During his early life,
the boy king spent most of his time with Scottish lords and
his tutors, especially George Buchanan, his favorite tutor
("James I, King of England" 1). He received a superior
education and was known for his great knowledge. He
always had a great respect for the Scottish lords that were
around him as he grew up ("James I" 481). James enjoyed
writing. He wrote and published many poems and translated
many long French works. Later in life he also wrote many
books on topics such as kingship, theology, withcraft, and
tobacco. He also ordered the translation of acient Greek and
Hebrew versions of the Bible into English in the Authorized
King James Version of the Bible ("James I, King of England"
1). 2 He also enjoyed riding horses and hunting. This may be
due to the fact that he was very frail and sometimes needed
help walking. When he was on a horse, he was able to
function normally. Despite his physical hinderances, King
James was regarded as being very confident in his decisions.
At the age of 15, James ordered the execution of a man
suspected to have been involved with the death of Henry
Stewart, James’ father ("James I" 481). James wanted to
follow Queen Elizabeth I of England to the throne so badly
that he would have done anything to keep peaceful relations
with her. When his mother was beheaded in 1587, he merely
made a formal protest and let the incident blow over ("James
I, King of England"1). In 1589, James was married with
Anne of Denmark, the daughter of Fredrick II of Denmark.
They had there first child, Prince Henry, in 1594 ("James I"
481). Prince Henry was an ideal prince and won the love of
the people. Following Henry were Princess Elizabeth and
Prince Charles. Prince Henry and Princess Elizabeth were
both very beautiful children, but Prince Charles was a
different story. Charles, like his parents, was a sickly child
and had to have help walking when he was young (Chute
260). Apparently James was not very fond of women and
never had a mistress ("James I" 481). The only time he ever
paid a great deal of attention to his wife was when she
converted to Roman Catholicism ("James I, King of
England" 1). King James was a very giving man. He liked to
gain support from people by buying them gifts. In 1605, he
spent 2530 pounds at two jewellers (Levi 4). Although he
spent a lot of money, he was not very good at budgeting it
("James I" 481). In 1603, King James VI got his wish. As
Stanford E. Lehmberg states in the Grolier Electronic
Encyclopedia, "Since Elizabeth had no children and there
were no other descendants Guy 3 of Henry VIII, the Tudor
line was extinguished upon her death. Throughout her reign
Elizabeth refused to designate a successor, but it is clear that
she expected King James VI of Scotland to follow her.
When Elizabeth died on Mar. 24, 1603, James, the son of
Mary Queen of Scots, but a Protestant, succeeded without
incident as King James I of England" (1). King James I was
also the first Stuart king of England. Many people came to
see the new king’s coronation in London. The town was
bustling with people and unfortunately the plague. At the time
the king was crowned, over 1100 people a week were
dying from the plague (Chute 258). There were two things
that James loved even more than giving or receiving money;
and those were peace and expansion. He tried his hardest to
keep the peace. One of his men stated that he would "rather
spend 100,000 pounds on embassies, to keep or procure
peace with dishonor, than 10,000 pounds of an army that
would have forced peace with honor" (Chute 261-2). King
James greatly supported the expansion in America. He
chartered the London Company in 1606. By doing this, he
hoped to start a colony in North America. The London
Company founded Jamestown in Virginia in 1607 ("London
Company" 1). King James I made many great contributions
to the theater. Shortly after he became king, he made the
Chamberlain’s Men, a group of travelling actors who made
their living preforming plays, royal servants. The
Chamberlain’s Men were changed to the King’s Men. There
were nine actors named to the elite group. Among them was
none other than William Shakespeare. The King’s Men were
sponsered by James, which was a great relief for thier
pocket books. They were issued scarlet cloth to make
uniforms that represented the king. The royal family saw five
times as many plays a year as Queen Elizabeth had (Reese
155). 4 Shakespeare made references to events surrounding
King James in many of his plays. In 1605, the Gunpowder
Plot was discovered. Someone planted several barrels of
gunpowder under the Parliament. If their plan would have
worked, King James, his family, and all of the Lords and
Commons would have been killed. Shakespeare was
thought to have based his play Macbeth on those events
(Rowse 379). In Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Hamlet made a
speech against Danish drunkenness. Once, when Christian of
Denmark payed a visit to his son in law, King James I, he
did not stay sober past dinner. His daughter, the Queen of
England, passed out while dancing, three other women were
too drunk to appear in masque, someone else was sick, and
another woman spilt custard on the King. It quite an
embaressment for James, but it made Shakespeare a great
anecdote (Levi 219). Although it appeared the King James I
of England was a great ruler, it was said that the fall of
English politics and religion that led to the English Civil War
can be traced back to him. On March 27, 1625, after
warning his heir, Charles I, of future dangers to the
monarchy from the Parliament, King James I breathed his
last breath ("James I, King of England" 2).
Chute, Marchette. Shakespeare of London. New York:
Penguin Books, 1991. "James I." The New Encylopedia
Britannica. Chicago: Encylopedia Britannica, Inc., 1992.
"James I, King of England." Multimedia Encyclopedia
Version 1.5. CD-ROM. Grolier Electronic Publishing. 1992.
Lehmberg, Standford E. "Queen Elizabeth I." Multimedia
Encyclopedia Version 1.5. CD-ROM. Grolier Electronic
Publishing. 1992. Levi, Peter. The Life and Times of William
Shakespeare. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1988.
"London Company." Multimedia Encyclopedia Version 1.5.
CD-ROM Grolier Electronic Publishing. 1992. Reese, M.
M. Shakespeare: His World and His Work. New York: St.
Martin’s Press, 1980. Rowse, A. L. William Shakespeare: A
Biography. New York: Harper and Row, 1963.