[History] James VI/I and Religion

[Tacticalwithdrawal]

Author: Tostig
Original Thread: James VI/I and Religion

James VI/I and Religion

From Stuart Ascension to Personal Rule: England 1603-1629.
I have a history mock exam on Tuesday, so I thought I might do some revision. Here we go!

On 24 March 1603 James VI of Scotland ascended to the throne of England, Ireland and a few places that no-one really cares about, such as the Channel Islands. . He was the first monarch of England from the House of Stuart, succeeding the last Tudor monarch, Elizabeth I, who had died without children.

From Elizabeth I he inherited a stable kingdom – a broad Church of England kept the majority of people happy, combining much of the ritual of Catholicism with the independence of Protestantism. There were high rates of literacy thanks to an English translation of the Bible, and those who couldn’t read could always have the news read to them in the many coffee houses. There were still very strong anti-Catholic feelings however;- Foxe’s Book of Martyrs was a bestseller, listing all of the atrocities of Mary’s reign, and the defeat of the Spanish Armada was seen as evidence that the English were God’s chosen people.

It was fairly clear who would inherit the throne, and both Puritans and Catholics had expectations from him. Scotland was a protestant nation at this time, however James I’s mother had been a Catholic, and his wife, Anne of Denmark, had converted to Catholicism. Elizabeth had imposed fines on all who didn’t attend the Church of England, and the catholic minority expected these to be dropped. On his way down to London James I was presented with the Millenary Petition by Protestants, which asked for the removal of “popish symbols” such as wedding rings and bowing at the name of Jesus, the removal of Bishops and a new translation of the Bible.

In 1604 James organised the Hampton Court Conference in order to address religious issues. He kept bishops as they helped extend his authority, however he did order a translation to be made, and in 1611 the King James Bible was first published. However in the same year the current Archbishop of Canterbury, Bancroft, issued a set of cannons demanding that puritans obeyed the laws of the Church concerning vestments and obey the 39 Articles of the church. Because of these cannons about one hundred puritan preachers left the church. In 1611 a new Archbishop was appointed, Abbot, who was more lenient towards puritans.

Although he was initially lenient towards Catholics, this was short lived. In 1604 James ordered all catholic priests and Jesuits out of the kingdom, and in November returned recusancy fines to their previous levels. The reason for these changes was that James I needed show his puritan dominated Parliament that he was being even handed after the Hampton Court Conference. In 1605 a group of militant Catholics, a minority within a minority at the time, organised a coup in which the Houses of Parliament would be destroyed at the opening of a new session, killing most of the Royal family, the House of Commons and the House of Lords. They would then have kidnapped Princess Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of King James, and used her as a puppet ruler for Spain. However the Gunpowder Plot failed, for reasons that it would be tedious to go into here, and resulted in a fresh wave of anti-catholic hysteria.

The King published the “Book of Sports” in 1618, detailing what was permissible on a Sunday. Unfortunately for puritans this involved things other than reading the bible, such as dancing and archery, and so they became annoyed with the King. This, together with recusancy fines, caused the Founding Fathers to leave in 1620. Anti-monarchist feelings amongst the puritan minority reached such a level that in 1622 preachers were ordered not to attack James’ foreign policy.


James VI of Scotland and James I of England and Ireland.


Anne of Denmark, James I’s wife.


Effigy of Guy Fawkes, being paraded by the Cliffe Bonfire Society as part of the Bonfire Night celebrations in Lewes, Sussex.