James
James, the name of five kings of Scotland and two kings of England, Ireland, and Scotland. The most important are:
(1473–1513), reigned 1488–1513. He married Margaret Tudor, daughter of Henry VII of England, in 1503. James invaded England in 1513 and was killed at Flodden Field.
(1512–1542), reigned 1513–42. He was the son of James IV. James was defeated by the English at Sol way Moss in 1542. He died soon after and was succeeded by his infant daughter, Mary, Queen of Scots.
(1566–1625), king of England and Ireland, 1603–25. He was also James VI, king of Scotland, 1567–1625. James I was the first Stuart king of England. He was intelligent and well educated, but so poor a judge of men and so rigid in his thinking that King Henry IV of France called him ``the wisest fool in Christendom.'' James believed in the theory that kings rule by divine right and are not subject to the laws of men. He antagonized Parliament, inadvertently preparing the way for the Great Rebellion that overthrew his son, Charles I, who was beheaded in 1649.
James was the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, and her second husband, Lord Darnley. Through Mary he was descended from Henry VII of England. James was crowned king of Scotland as an infant after the forced abdication of his mother. After coming of age James ruled Scotland capably. He wanted to gain the English throne and was on good terms with Queen Elizabeth I, a distant cousin, even after she had Mary put to death in 1587. Elizabeth named James her successor before her death in 1603.
In foreign affairs, James made and kept an unpopular peace with Spain. The first English settlements in America---Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607 and Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1620---were made during his reign. A Protestant with Catholic tendencies, he opposed any change in the Church of England and expelled Puritan clergymen from their positions.
James took a great interest in learning. He commissioned scholars to make a new translation of the Bible, completed in 1611. It was named the King James Version in his honor, and became the most popular English Bible. James himself wrote works of poetry, literary criticism, and theology.
(1633–1701), king of England and Ireland, 1685–88. He was also James VII, king of Scotland, during the same period. James II was the last Roman Catholic king of England. His subjects soon came to believe he intended to destroy the Church of England. He was overthrown in the Glorious Revolution of 1688.
James was the younger son of Charles I and a grandson of James I. He was made duke of York in 1643. During the reign of his brother, Charles II (1660–85), James served as lord high admiral, 1660–73 and 1684–85. Soon after James succeeded Charles, a Protestant rebellion led by the duke of Monmouth was put down. Suspected rebels were treated savagely during the “bloody assizes” (trials) held by Judge Jeffreys. Dissatisfaction increased when James appointed Catholics to high offices.
In 1688 James's second wife, Mary of Modena, a Catholic, gave birth to a son. Fearing a Catholic succession, leaders in Parliament invited William of Orange, husband of James's Protestant daughter Mary, to claim the throne for himself and his wife. Later that year, William's forces invaded England. James found himself abandoned and fled to France. In 1689 he landed in Ireland, but was defeated by William in the Battle of the Boyne (1690) and returned to France.