James, King of Two Countries

After his mother Mary died, James was raised by Protestant leaders in Scotland. James didn’t even get to see his mother or father, for they both died soon after he was born. His tutor, George Buchanan, taught him Protestant theology Greek, Latin, and Philosophy. His tutor also taught that he was given power as a king because of the people and that he should do what the people tell him. But when James was older, he rejected these ideas. Instead, he thought that whatever the king does is God’s will since God gave him power. So, he made a booklet called The True Law of Free Monarchies telling all of his ideas that a king has divine rule over his people. Then, in 1603, Elizabeth 1st of England died. Because James’ mother was Elizabeth’s cousin, and she had no children, James became the leader of England as well. Now he ruled over Scotland and England! When he came to England, he was welcomed by many high leading officials and they planned to give him a parade and it included the famous playwright, William Shakespeare! James was amazed by how rich England was. In fact, England’s courts looked way better than in Scotland. But then, the Black Death returned to England, so the coronation had to be cancelled. So, James and his wife walked to Westminster Abbey and Crowned themselves King and Queen of England. After the Black Death, there were 3 groups of Christians in England. Puritans who wanted to purify all traditions from Catholicism, Protestants who wanted James to keep on being Protestant and Catholics who wanted special privileges. James refused the Puritan ideas and said their services are illegal, and he refused the idea of Catholics having special privileges. He also made a law that if a Catholic did not go to a Protestant church, they would have to pay a fine. He also said that all Catholic priests must go out of the country. Because of this, two Catholics decided to blow up James when he had his next Parliament meeting. Their first attempt they tried to dig underground and blow them up there. But then they met with some water, so they smuggled barrels of gunpowder into the building. However, hours before the building would blow up, someone found him and arrested him to be tortured until he confessed, and he was sentenced to death. After this, Parliament got mad at James because he believed that the king is above the law and sent them all home after meeting. But one thing he did that people liked is that he made an English version of the Bible so that everyone can read it.