James I (James the Conqueror), 1208-76, king of Aragón and count of Barcelona (1213-76), son and successor of Peter II. After a minority was disturbed by private wars among the nobles, James soon consolidated royal power and tried to create a new nobility dependent on him. He seized the Balearic Islands (1229-35) and Valencia (1238) from the Moors and helped Castile to recover control of Murcia after a Moorish rebellion (1266). A crusade to Palestine (1269) was unsuccessful. By the Treaty of Corbeil (1258) with Louis IX of France, James gave up several claims in S France, while the French king renounced his rights in Catalonia, derived from Charlemagne. James's own chronicle of his reign has been translated into English. He was succeeded in Aragón by his son Peter III. Another son was king of Majorca as James I.

James I, 1566-1625, king of England (1603-25) and, as James VI, of Scotland (1567-1625). James's reign witnessed the beginnings of English colonization in North America (Jamestown was founded in 1607) and the plantation of Scottish settlers in Ulster.

Early Life

The son of Lord Darnley and Mary Queen of Scots, James succeeded to the Scottish throne on the forced abdication of his mother. He was placed in the care of John Erskine, 1st earl of Mar, and later of Mar's brother, Sir Alexander Erskine. The young king progressed in his studies under various teachers, notably George Buchanan, and acquired a taste for learning and theological debate. During James's minority, Scotland was ruled by a series of regents—the earls of Murray, Lennox, Mar, and Morton. The king was the creature of successive combinations of the nobility and clergy in a complicated struggle between the remnants of his mother's Catholic party, which favored an alliance with France, and the Protestant faction, which wished an alliance with England.

In 1582, James was seized by William Ruthven, earl of Gowrie (see Ruthven, family), and other Protestant adherents. He escaped in 1583 and began his personal rule, though influenced by his favorite, James Stuart, earl of Arran. James considered an alliance with his mother's French relatives, the Guise, but in 1586, to improve his prospects of succeeding to the English throne, he allied himself with Elizabeth I. This caused a break with his mother's party, and he accepted her execution in 1587 calmly.

James, by clever politics and armed force, succeeded in subduing the feudal Scottish baronage, in establishing royal authority, and in asserting the superiority of the state over the Presbyterian Church. In 1589, against the wishes of Elizabeth, James married Anne of Denmark. He succeeded in 1603 to the English crown by virtue of his descent from Margaret Tudor, daughter of Henry VII.

King of England

Although at first welcomed in England, James brought to his new kingdom little understanding of its Parliament or its changing political, social, and religious conditions. James's reliance on favorites whose qualifications consisted more of personal charm than talent for government, the extravagance and moral looseness of the court, and the scandalous career of James's favorite Robert Carr, earl of Somerset, all furthered discontent.

Religious Controversies

On his arrival in England, the king was presented with the Millenary Petition, a plea for the accommodation of Puritans within the Established Church. However, at the Hampton Court Conference (1604), called to consider the petition, James displayed an uncompromising anti-Puritan attitude, which aroused great distrust. (This conference commissioned the translation of the Bible that resulted in the Authorized, or King James, Version.)

James's inconsistent policy toward English Roman Catholics angered both Catholic and Protestant alike. The Gunpowder Plot (1605), which sprang from Catholic anger at the reimposition of fines and penalties that James had earlier relaxed, led to greater harshness toward Catholics and prevented any cordial relations thereafter. Yet the suspicion arose that the king favored the Catholics, because he sought to conciliate Spain and attempted to arrange a marriage between the Spanish infanta and Prince Charles (later Charles I).

Conflicts with Parliament

James's relations with the English Parliament were strained from the beginning because of his insistence upon the concept of divine right of monarchy and his inability to recognize Parliament as representative of a large and important body of opinion. As it was, Parliament—and particularly the House of Commons, where Puritanism was strong—soon became the rallying point of the forces opposing the crown. The Commons blocked (1607) James's cherished project of a union with Scotland. They also complained bitterly about James's methods of raising revenue by imposing new customs duties and selling monopolies. The Great Contract of 1610, a compromise whereby James would relinquish some of his feudal rights in return for a yearly income, did not come to fruition.

In 1611, James dissolved Parliament and except for the Addled Parliament of 1614, which produced no legislation, ruled without one until 1621. After the death (1612) of his capable minister, Robert Cecil, earl of Salisbury, the king exercised the royal prerogative with even less restraint and entered into battle with the courts of common law, whose position was strongly defended by Sir Edward Coke. After the fall of Somerset, George Villiers, later 1st duke of Buckingham, rose to favor and by 1619 was in complete possession of the king's confidence.

At the Parliament of 1621, called in order to raise money for the cause of the German Protestants and James's son-in-law, Frederick the Winter King, in the Thirty Years War, James was forced to abolish certain monopolies that had been abused by their holders. This Parliament also impeached the lord chancellor, Francis Bacon. It was dissolved by James for asserting its right to debate foreign policy.

The unpopular Spanish policy was pursued until the 1623 expedition of Prince Charles and Buckingham to Spain to facilitate the marriage arrangements ended in failure. A marriage treaty with France was concluded in 1624, and James was unable to prevent Parliament from voting a subsidy for war against Spain. James left to his son, Charles I, a foreign war and events leading up to the English civil war.

Literary Works

James I was active as an author. He produced several youthful essays on literary theory, poetry, and numerous political works. Two other important writings are his True Law of Free Monarchy (1598), an assertion of the concept of divine right of kings, and Basilikon Doron (1599), a treatise on the art of government. His political works have been edited by C. H. McIlwain (1918, repr. 1965).

James I, 1243-1311, king of Majorca (1276-1311), count of Roussillon and Cerdagne, lord of Montpellier, son of James I of Aragón. In 1278 he was forced to become a vassal of his brother, Peter III of Aragón. Having supported the French crusade against Peter, he was expelled (1285) from his territories by Peter's son, Alfonso III, but was restored 10 years later as the vassal of James II of Aragón. He was succeeded by his son Sancho IV (reigned 1311-24).

James I, 1394-1437, king of Scotland (1406-37), son and successor of Robert III. King Robert feared for the safety of James because the king's brother, Robert Stuart, 1st duke of Albany, who was virtual ruler of the realm, stood next in line of succession after the young prince. Albany had already been suspected of complicity in the death of James's older brother, David Stuart, duke of Rothesay. Accordingly, in 1406 the king sent James to France for safety, but the prince was captured on the way by the English and held prisoner until 1424. So, although James technically succeeded his father in 1406, the regent Albany ruled until his own death and was succeeded by his son, and the king's ransom was arranged only at the insistence of Archibald Douglas, 4th earl of Douglas, and other nobles. The king had been well educated by his captors, Henry IV and Henry V of England, who had treated him as a royal guest. Shortly before his return to Scotland in 1424, James married Joan Beaufort, daughter of the earl of Somerset. The Kingis Quair [the king's book] (rev. ed. by W. W. Skeat, 1911), the story of his captivity and his romance with Joan, is usually considered to have been written by him. It and other poems attributed to him would establish him as one of the leading poets in the Chaucerian tradition. James was crowned at Scone and set about governing energetically. He asserted his authority over the nobility, ruthlessly exterminating members of the Albany family and a number of other barons and reducing the Highland clans to order. He also achieved important financial and judicial reforms and sought to remodel the Scottish Parliament, which he convened annually, along English lines. His plans for including burghers in the Parliament and improving commerce and the army were opposed by his militantly feudal nobles, and his vindictiveness, cupidity, and quick temper understandably diminished his popularity. He was assassinated by a group of nobles, one of whom, the earl of Atholl, probably hoped to claim the throne. However, James was succeeded by his son, James II.

(born 1394—died Feb. 20/21, 1437, Perth, Perth, Scot.) King of the Scots (1406–37). The son and heir of Robert III, he was captured by the English in 1406 and held prisoner in London until 1424. During the 13 years in which he truly ruled Scotland (1424–37), he established the first strong monarchy the Scots had known in nearly a century. He weakened the nobility but did not entirely subdue the Highland lords, and he greatly improved the administration of justice for the common people. His murder in a Dominican friary by a group of rival nobles led to a popular uprising in favour of his widow and six-year-old son, who succeeded him as James II.

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