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 James I
(1566-1625) was the first Stuart king of England.
He became James VI of Scotland in 1567 when his mother
Mary, Queen of Scots, gave up that throne.
When his cousin Elizabeth I died, he became King James I of
England in 1603, and ruled both England and Scotland until his
death. His son Charles I
succeeded him.
James believed in
the divine right of kings, the belief that kings get the right to
rule from God, rather than from the consent of people.
He set up a strong royal government in Scotland, but the
English Parliament opposed his attempt to rule as absolute monarch
in England. This dispute
over who should have power continued under Charles I, and led to
the English Civil War in 1642.
James supported
the Anglican Church, and sponsored a translation of the Bible in
1611 that is now known as the King James Version.
However, he persecuted certain Protestant groups such as
the Puritans. Some of the
Puritans migrated to America in 1620.
Jamestown,
the first permanent English settlement in America, was named in
his honour. But James
showed an interest in colonies only in Northern Ireland, where he
seized land from Irish Catholics and gave it to English and
Scottish Protestants.
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