James I and Catholicism, on his accession

One the the best-known of Gardiner's assertions about James I is on page 82: that "he was unwilling that the blood of any man should be shed for diversity of opinion in religion." The assertion is very plausible for the period before the Gunpower Treason, but, although we will see echos of the sentiment until James's death, the king was not strongly married to this point of view.