James VI and I

James VI and I
Portrait attributed to John de Critz, c. 1605
King of England and Ireland (more...)
Reign	24 March 1603 – 27 March 1625
Coronation	25 July 1603
Predecessor	Elizabeth I
Successor	Charles I
King of Scotland (more...)
Reign	24 July 1567 – 27 March 1625
Coronation	29 July 1567
Predecessor	Mary
Successor	Charles I
Regents	See list James Stewart, Earl of Moray (1567‍–‍1570) Matthew Stewart, Earl of Lennox (1570‍–‍1571) John Erskine, Earl of Mar (1571‍–‍1572) James Douglas, Earl of Morton (1572‍–‍1579)
Born	19 June 1566 Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh, Scotland
Died	27 March 1625 (aged 58) Theobalds House, Hertfordshire, England
Burial	7 May 1625 Westminster Abbey
Spouse	Anne of Denmark ​ ​ (m. 1589; died 1619)​
Issue more...	Henry Frederick, Prince of Wales Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia Margaret Charles I, King of England Robert, Duke of Kintyre and Lorne Mary Sophia
Names James Charles Stuart
House	Stuart
Father	Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley
Mother	Mary, Queen of Scots
Signature

James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until his death in 1625. Although he long tried to get both countries to adopt a closer political union, the kingdoms of Scotland and England remained sovereign states, with their own parliaments, judiciaries, and laws, ruled by James in personal union.

James was the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, and a great-great-grandson of Henry VII, King of England and Lord of Ireland, and thus a potential successor to all three thrones. He acceded to the Scottish throne at the age of thirteen months, after his mother was forced to abdicate in his favour. Four regents governed during his minority, which ended officially in 1578, though he did not gain full control of his government until 1583. In 1589, he married Anne of Denmark. Three of their children survived to adulthood: Henry Frederick, Elizabeth, and Charles. In 1603, James succeeded his cousin Elizabeth I, the last Tudor monarch of England and Ireland, who died childless. He continued to reign in all three kingdoms for 22 years, a period known as the Jacobean era, until his death in 1625. After the Union of the Crowns, he based himself in England (the largest of the three realms) from 1603, returning to Scotland only once, in 1617, and styled himself "King of Great Britain and Ireland". He was an advocate of a single parliament for England and Scotland. In his reign, the Plantation of Ulster and English colonisation of the Americas began.

At 57 years and 246 days, James's reign in Scotland was the longest of any Scottish monarch. He achieved most of his aims in Scotland but faced great difficulties in England, including the Gunpowder Plot in 1605 and conflicts with the English Parliament. Under James, the "Golden Age" of Elizabethan literature and drama continued, with writers such as William Shakespeare, John Donne, Ben Jonson, and Francis Bacon contributing to a flourishing literary culture.^[1] James was a prolific writer, authoring works such as Daemonologie (1597), The True Law of Free Monarchies (1598), and Basilikon Doron (1599).^[2] He sponsored the translation of the Bible into English (later named after him, the Authorized King James Version), and the 1604 revision of the Book of Common Prayer.^[3][4] Contemporary courtier Anthony Weldon claimed that James had been termed "the wisest fool in Christendom" (wise in small things, foolish otherwise) an epithet associated with his character ever since.^[5] Since the latter half of the 20th century, historians have tended to revise James's reputation and treat him as a serious and thoughtful monarch.^[6] He was strongly committed to a peace policy, and tried to avoid involvement in religious wars, especially the Thirty Years' War that devastated much of Central Europe. He tried but failed to prevent the rise of hawkish elements in the English Parliament who wanted war with Spain.^[7] He was succeeded by his second son, Charles I.