History May 8
1. Recap on history of Scotland and the accession of the Stuarts (see
separate sheet on Scotland up to1328). The first of the Stuart kings came
to the throne in 1371. James IV married Margaret Tudor, daughter of
Henry VII of England laying the foundation for the later union of the
crowns. There was an expansion of universities and grammar schools and
the education system was superior to England. In 1512 James IV as an
ally of France invaded England and was defeated at the Battle of Flodden
and the king was killed. James V became king at the age of 1 and was
controlled by regents. He marries Mary de Guise. He lost to the English
at the battle of Solway Moss in 1542 and shortly after his death Mary
Queen of Scots was born. Henry VIII tried to marry his son Edward off
to Mary. Mary instead was packed off to France to marry the heir to the
French throne. In 1554 Mary de Guise took over the regency and
advanced French interests. Resistance grew amongst Protestants and
after Mary de Guise died and French and English troops left and the
Scottish reformation was in full flow and the Mass was outlawed. Queen
Mary married the dauphin of France in 1558 and became Queen of
France in the following year following the death of the king. Her
husband then died and Mary now 19 returned to Scotland. Mary’s
husband Darnley was murdered and she was abducted by Bothwell who
she married. She was captured and imprisoned in Loch Leven Castle and
forced to abdicate in favour of James VI who was an infant. She escaped
from the castle and raised an army but was defeated at Battle of Langside
and took refuge in England. In England Mary became the focal point for
catholic conspirators and she was executed in 1587. In 1603 Jams VI of
Scotland became James I of England and the crowns although united
were distinct and separate.
2. A little more on King James who was the son of Darnley, Mary’s cousin
and Mary. Queen Elizabeth was opposed to the marriage. Mary refused
to make Darnley king. She was accused of having a liaison with David
Riccio and he was murdered in the Queen’s presence. Mary was worried
that Darnley intended to murder her and her son and take the throne for
himself. She escaped in fear of her life and returned at the head of a
loyal group of nobles. There were intense intrigues between nobles and
James’s legitimacy was called into question. On night of 9 February 1567
the house where Darnley was staying was blown up by gunpowder and he
was strangled. Mary married Bothwell one of the main suspects in the
plot to murder Darnley. The nobles had no wish for Bothwell to be king
and Mary and her husband were separated and Mary was imprisoned in
Loch Leven Castle and forced to abdicate. King James was 13 months
old. The previous six Scottish monarchs had been minors when they came
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to the throne, a testament to how difficult it was to remain on the throne.
Scotland was a poor country with little good land and poor
communications. Vast distances and poor roads made it difficult to
control the country from the centre and the clan system meant that the
local laird often had more power than the king. The king married Anne
of |Denmark and they had 7 children 3 of which survived to adulthood.
There were plots against the king’s life, but he managed to maintain
control and the general level of prosperity increased.
James effectively left his mother in the lurch; she had hoped to reach an
association with her son, but James wanted to stay in with Elizabeth and
maintain his right to the succession. James was the senior descendant of
henry VII from Margaret who had married James IV of Scotland. There
were other possible claimants such as Arabella Stuart and Lord Derby
and the infant of Spain, but no one really contested James’s right. Cecil
was his main supporter in England, but he did not let Elizabeth know.
When the Queen died a string of horses was available to get the news to
James within 5 days and James then made his way to London with his
entourage.
There were religious divisions between mainstream English, Puritans and
neo-Catholics. James sided with the high Anglicans and this annoyed the
Catholics and this lead to the Gunpowder Plot. Word of the plot reached
Cecil and the commons was searched the conspirators were captured and
dealt with severely. Some have suggested a conspiracy with Cecil in on
the whole thing and Guy Fawkes set up to bring in potential
collaborators.
James was against tobacco smoking. He wanted an Anglo-Scottish
union. This was scuppered by the English and there was no union until
1707. The English did not like the number of Scots on the payroll and
thought the barrenness of Scotland would act as a brake on England.
James was spendthrift and lazy. In the latter part of his reign he was in
poor health. In his reign the colonies of Virginia and Massachusetts were
set up and the beginnings of the British Empire can be seen in the East
Indies and India.
The rebellion in Ireland was crushed and the lands forfeited were to be
settled by Protestants and this far from settling the problem stored up all
sorts of problems for the future. His first born son Henry died and this
meant that the crown would pass to the weaker hands. Princess Elizabeth
married the elector Palatine a protestant in Germany and he was elected
King of Bohemia in 1618 which led to the 30 Years War.
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3. James had constant quarrels with Parliament and considered that it was
there just to agree with his decisions. Parliament held the purse strings.
Charles I was less intelligent than his father and as the second son was
not expected to rule. He believed in the divine right to rule. He married a
catholic princess and Charles had catholic sympathies and sided with the
high Church party. Parliament responded by denying him money and
there were military disasters against Spain that compelled him to recall
parliament. The king’s adviser Buckingham was sacked and the king
dissolved Parliament. The king tried to raise money and threw those into
prison who would not pay. There was a row with parliament who were
determined to deny the king’s prerogative and there was the Petition of
Right which accorded all men habeas corpus and denied forced loans.
The king refused to comply and imprisoned three members of parliament.
The king raised money by selling baronetcies and managed to rule
without parliament from 11 years from 1629-1640. Puritans were
persecuted and many left for America. There was an attempt to force the
principles of the English church on Scotland who rebelled and occupied
Northumberland. In order to pay them off the Long Parliament was
assembled in 1640.Parliament demanded that the king surrender his
sovereignty to the state. The arrogance of parliament split the country
into Royalists and Parliamentarians and the seeds of the Civil War were
sown. We shall get back to the causes of the Civil War later.
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