James I (Penguin Monarchs)

Name: James I (Penguin Monarchs)
Rating: 2.5 (5 reviews)

by Thomas Cogswell Book 29 in the Penguin Monarchs series.

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2.5(5)

Thomas Cogswell presents James VI and I as a learned and experienced Scottish king who inherited the English throne in 1603. The biography examines his vision of dynastic union, theories of monarchy and efforts to manage a court and Parliament far larger and more contentious than those he had known in Scotland.

James faced religious division, the Gunpowder Plot, financial weakness and arguments over foreign policy. Cogswell separates the king from later caricature, showing a politically adaptable ruler whose ambitions for peace and union were substantial even when his methods frustrated English subjects.