Welcome everyone!
This month we'll begin reading about The Stuart's family. Good bye Tudors! Hello Stuarts!
James I and VI (1566 - 1625)
Name: King James I
Father: Lord Darnley Henry Stuart
Mother: Mary Queen of Scots
Born: June 19, 1566 at Edinburgh Castle
Ascended to the throne: March 24, 1603 aged 36 years
Crowned: July 25, 1603 at Westminster Abbey, also as James VI of Scotland at Stirling Castle on July 29, 1567
Married: Anne, Daughter of Frederick II of Denmark and Norway, on November 23, 1589
Children: Three sons and five daughters, of whom three survived infancy; Henry, Elizabeth and Charles
Died: March 27, 1625 at Theobalds Park, Hertfordshire, aged 58 years, 9 months, and 7 days
Buried at: Westminster Abbey
James was king of Scotland until 1603, when he became the first Stuart king of England as well, creating the kingdom of Great Britain.
James was born on 19 June 1566 in Edinburgh Castle. His mother was Mary, Queen of Scots and his father her second husband, Lord Darnley. Darnley was murdered in February 1567. In July Mary was forced to abdicate in favour of her infant son. James's tutor, the historian and poet George Buchanan, was a positive influence and James was a capable scholar. A succession of regents ruled the kingdom until 1576, when James became nominal ruler, although he did not actually take control until 1581. He proved to be a shrewd ruler who effectively controlled the various religious and political factions in Scotland.
In 1586, James and Elizabeth I became allies under the Treaty of Berwick. When his mother was executed by Elizabeth the following year, James did not protest too vociferously - he hoped to be named as Elizabeth's successor. In 1589, James married Anne of Denmark. Three of their seven children survived into adulthood.
In March 1603, Elizabeth died and James became king of England and Ireland in a remarkably smooth transition of power. After 1603 he only visited Scotland once, in 1617.
One of James's great contributions to England was the Authorised King James's Version of the bible (1611) which was to become the standard text for more than 250 years. But he disappointed the Puritans who hoped he would introduce some of the more radical religious ideas of the Scottish church, and the Catholics, who anticipated more lenient treatment. In 1605, a Catholic plot to blow up king and parliament was uncovered. James's firm belief in the divine right of kings, and constant need for money, also brought him into conflict repeatedly with parliament.
Abroad, James attempted to encourage European peace. In 1604, he ended the long-running war with Spain and tried to arrange a marriage between his son and the Spanish Infanta. He married his daughter Elizabeth to the elector of the palatinate, Frederick, who was the leader of the German Protestants.
James's eldest son Henry died in 1612 and his wife Anne in 1619. James himself died on 27 March 1625 and was succeeded by his second son, Charles.
The Gunpowder Plot
In 1605, a group of disaffected Catholics plotted to assassinate King
James I by blowing up the House of Lords. They hoped to restore Protestant
England to Catholicism and end the persecution of their faith.
The 'Gunpowder Plot' was foiled at the eleventh hour, an event still
celebrated annually on 5 November and named for the most famous of the
conspirators - Guy Fawkes Night. But who was Guy Fawkes and what are we
remembering?
More information about: The
Gunpowder Plot
"Remember,
remember, the 5th of November; Gunpowder, treason and plot; I see no reason why
gunpowder, treason; should ever be forgot."
And it
hasn't. Four centuries later we still celebrate the capture of Guy Fawkes,
under the House of Lords, with 36 barrels of gunpowder, matches and fuses,
about to blow up King James I and his parliament. But why did Catholics such as
Fawkes plan to blow up the king and how was the plot foiled?
Persecution
of Catholics
When James
I became king in 1603, Britain was a Protestant country following decades of
tension and violence between Catholics and the new religion. The monarch was
the head of the church, with no loyalty to the pope in Rome. Catholicism was a
religion not just disapproved of by the state but actively suppressed.
Persecution
of Catholics had become more and more severe during the reign of Elizabeth I,
particularly after the attempted invasion in 1588 by the Catholic Spanish
Armada, which had been supported by the pope. By the time of Elizabeth's death,
Catholic priests were forced to say Mass in secret in private houses and
Catholics were required to attend Protestant services. Those that didn't were
fined as 'recusants'.
But on the
accession of James I, hopes for a better future were high. His wife was a
Catholic, as had been his mother, Mary, Queen of Scots. All the early signs
were encouraging, as reforms were made, even extending as far as the abolition
of recusancy fines.
But by
1605, under pressure from advisors such as his 'spymaster' Sir Robert Cecil,
and in an effort to placate more extreme Protestants such as the Puritans,
James once again increased penalties on those who still practised the Catholic
religion.
Discontent
grew to the extent that some Catholics were willing to take extreme measures,
sponsored and supported by the Catholic monarchies of Europe. Two plots against
James had already failed by the time five men met in a London inn to discuss a
new plan.
The
plotters and their plan
The
Gunpowder Plot of 1605, as it became known, was the brainchild of Robert
Catesby, a well-to-do gentleman of Warwickshire. Together with Guy Fawkes and
three other plotters, they formulated a plan to strike at the opening of
parliament on 5 November. With the king dead, they would put James' daughter,
Elizabeth, on the throne, returning Britain to the Catholic fold.
Fawkes
posed as a servant called John Johnson, and began sourcing gunpowder. The
plotters rented a cellar under the House of Lords and packed it with enough
explosive to kill the king and the most powerful men in the land as they sat in
the room above.
The
'Monteagle Letter' betrays the plotters
As the plot
neared fruition, something happened which would prove its downfall. Lord
Monteagle, the brother-in-law of one of the plotters, received an anonymous
letter which warned against attending Parliament for the opening.
Monteagle
passed the letter to Robert Cecil, who decided to wait before taking action.
The plotters had no cause to believe their plan was in danger.
Guy Fawkes
is arrested
On 4
November 1605, Cecil ordered searches of the whole of the Houses of Parliament,
and Fawkes was arrested. He was found dressed for a swift exit with spurs on
his boots.
Fawkes
endured two days of torture in the Tower of London before confessing all. It
was enough to buy the remaining plotters time to escape.
Some of them
desperately attempted to instigate the planned Catholic uprising, but to no
avail. The plotters made their final stand at Holbeche House in Staffordshire,
where several, including Catesby, died in a shoot-out with the king's men. The
survivors were taken back to London for trial.
Torture and
execution
Over the
course of the next few weeks, the surviving plotters and many others were
interrogated. On 30 and 31 January 1606, eight people, including Fawkes, were
executed by being hanged, drawn and quartered. Three more were executed in the
following months. Even those who had perished at Holbeche House were exhumed
and decapitated.
The legacy
of the Gunpowder Plot
In the
aftermath of the plot, James I was in no mood for tolerance. New laws were
passed removing Catholics' right to vote and restricting their role in public
life. It would be another 200 years before these restrictions were fully
lifted.
While
religious differences between Catholics and Protestants have largely been
forgotten on mainland Britain, we continue to celebrate the deliverance of
James I and the execution of his would-be assassins - most notably Fawkes -
every 5 November.
The power
of this single image - the burning of a 'guy' atop a bonfire - has ensured the
plot endures in the national memory.
Click on the following images to watch a video about The Gunpowder Plot.
Charles I of England
Charles I (19 November 1600 – 30 January
1649) was monarch of the three
kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution
in 1649.
Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to
obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his royal prerogative,
which Charles believed was divinely ordained. Many of his subjects
opposed his attempts to overrule and negate parliamentary authority, in
particular his interference in the English and Scottish churches and the
levying of taxes without parliamentary consent, because they saw them as those
of a tyrannical absolute monarch.
Charles's reign was also characterized by religious
conflicts. His failure to successfully aid Protestant forces during the Thirty Years' War, coupled with his marriage to
a Roman Catholic, Henrietta Maria of France, generated deep
mistrust among Calvinists. Charles further allied himself with controversial
ecclesiastics, such as Richard Montagu and William Laud,
whom Charles appointed Archbishop of Canterbury. Many of
Charles's subjects felt this brought the Church of
England too close to Roman Catholicism. His religious policies
generated the antipathy of reformed groups such as the Puritans.
His attempts to force religious reforms upon Scotland led to the Bishops' Wars,
strengthened the position of the English and Scottish parliaments and helped
precipitate his own downfall.
Charles's last years were marked by the Civil War,
in which he fought the forces of the English and Scottish parliaments. He was
defeated in the First Civil War (1642–45), after which
Parliament expected him to accept its demands for a constitutional monarchy. He
instead remained defiant by attempting to forge an alliance with Scotland and
escaping to the Isle of Wight. This provoked the Second Civil War (1648–49) and a second
defeat for Charles, who was subsequently captured, tried, convicted, and
executed for high treason. The monarchy
was abolished and a republic called the Commonwealth of England, also referred to
as the Cromwellian Interregnum, was declared. In 1660,
the monarchy was restored to his son, Charles II.
Another source for you to read.
Charles I (1600
- 1649)
Charles I was
king of England, Scotland and Ireland, whose conflicts with parliament led to
civil war and his eventual execution.
Charles I was
born in Fife on 19 November 1600, the second son of James VI of Scotland and Anne
of Denmark. On the death of Elizabeth I in 1603 James became king of England
and Ireland. Charles's popular older brother Henry, whom he adored, died in
1612 leaving Charles as heir, and in 1625 he became king. Three months after
his accession he married Henrietta Maria of France. They had a happy marriage
and left five surviving children.
Charles's
reign began with an unpopular friendship with George Villiers, Duke of
Buckingham, who used his influence against the wishes of other nobility.
Buckingham was assassinated in 1628. There was ongoing tension with parliament
over money - made worse by the costs of war abroad. In addition, Charles
favored a High Anglican form of worship, and his wife was Catholic - both made
many of his subjects suspicious, particularly the Puritans. Charles dissolved
parliament three times between 1625 and 1629. In 1629, he dismissed parliament
and resolved to rule alone. This forced him to raise revenue by
non-parliamentary means which made him increasingly unpopular. At the same
time, there was a crackdown on Puritans and Catholics and many emigrated to the
American colonies.
Unrest in
Scotland - because Charles attempted to force a new prayer book on the country
- put an end to his personal rule. He was forced to call parliament to obtain
funds to fight the Scots. In November 1641, tensions were raised even further
with disagreements over who should command an army to suppress an uprising in
Ireland. Charles attempted to have five members of parliament arrested and in
August 1642, raised the royal standard at Nottingham. Civil war began.
The Royalists
were defeated in 1645-1646 by a combination of parliament's alliance with the
Scots and the formation of the New Model Army. In 1646, Charles surrendered to
the Scots, who handed him over to parliament. He escaped to the Isle of Wight
in 1647 and encouraged discontented Scots to invade. This 'Second Civil War'
was over within a year with another royalist defeat by Parliamentarian general
Oliver Cromwell. Convinced that there would never be peace while the king
lived, a rump of radical MPs, including Cromwell, put him on trial for treason.
He was found guilty and executed on 30 January 1649 outside the Banqueting
House on Whitehall, London.
Click on the following images to watch a video about King Charles I's reign.
The Greg's pupil of the week was given to
LUCIO - DOLORES - FLORENCIA- PILAR
Congratulations!
Here are 3 Conditional sentences for you to learn...
