The Character of James I

We now come to a figure whose person or shadow we will encounter at almost every step of our walking tour. James VI of Scotland became King James the first of England on the death of Queen Elizabeth. As king his weaknesses and strengths--for he had both--were multiplied in effect. If, as Heraclitus says, character is destiny, then a king's character is his kingdom's destiny.

Fortunately we know quite a bit about James I, from his own writings and from comments written by observant and probably trustworthy contemporaries. Our tour guide has read it all and digests it beginning at the bottom of page 48.

Gardiner foreshadows here, a technique not always appropriate in a history, but used to good effect here. He shows that the character of the king made it almost impossible for him to deal with the religio-political situation he is inheriting. On plus side, James was intelligent, intellectually curious, and--for a monarch--well-educated. (Most branches of learning were not considered useful to a king.) But he was vane, dogmatic, a poor judge of character, and showed a flaw that Gardiner sometimes shares: a difficulty in judging what is important and what is not. Gardiner shows these defects led to intolerance in government even though James himself was a tolerant man. Expect to see the effects of this blog-by-blog for a considerable time.

Note that this is not a comprehensive assessment of James's character. Gardiner will return to the subject several times. It is enough of an introduction, however, to explain the development of relations betwwen the king and the Scottish clergy (pages 49-51), the Scots feudal nobility (pages 51-53), and the corporate Presbyterian Kirk (pages 53-55).

Next time we will look at a case that shows some of the conflicts exacerbated by James's character: Black's case. If you want to read ahead, it starts at the bottom of page 56.