King James I

James had a marriage by proxy with Anne of Denmark, younger daughter of King Frederick II of Denmark in August 1589. They were legally married on 23 November.

The couple had three children; Henry Frederick, who died in 1612 at the age of 18, Elizabeth, who became the queen of Bohemia; and Charles, his heir.

In 1619, Anne passed away and the king never married again. At the age of fifty, he began to suffer from arthritis and was also found to have developed kidney stones. Before his death, his arthritis took a toll on his health, often losing consciousness and later he suffered a stroke. A severe bout of dysentery took his life and his body was put to rest in Westminster Abbey.

James was born to Mary, Queen of the Scots, and Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, her second husband.

His father was murdered in 1567 and his mother was forced to renounce her powers in favor of her son and let her illegitimate half-brother, James Stewart, Earl of Moray act as a regent.

The infant prince was only thirteen months old when he was crowned the King of Scotland on 29 July 1567.

As a young boy, he was tutored by poet George Buchanan, under whom he became an accomplished scholar.

In 1576, James became the titular ruler of Scotland and gained complete control of the throne in 1581.

Under the Treaty of Berwick, he and Queen Elizabeth I of England became allies and the following year his mother, who was imprisoned, was put to death.

In 1603, after the death of Queen Elizabeth I, he was declared the King of the joint kingdom of England and Ireland. Later, He moved to London from Scotland.

His accession was however not welcomed by a group of Catholics as he was a Protestant. Their dissatisfaction kept rising and were incensed when he passed a law according which people who did not attend the Protestant church were to be charged heavy fines.

In 1605 he was attacked by a small group of Catholics in the famous ‘Gunpower Plot’ in which the conspirators had planned to blow up the House of Lords by planting barrels of gunpowder underground. However, the plan failed and many of the plotters were either killed during imprisonment or executed.

In the 1580s and 1590s, at the age of 18 the king promoted literature in Scotland and was also part of the literary and art group Scottish Jacobean court poets. He participated in the major literary and art activities of his time and has been credited by the Scots for influencing the English Renaissance poetry and drama.

Wars and feuds were at bay and England was at peace, under the reign of James. He brought an end to the ongoing Anglo–Spanish War and attempted to curtail the long term hatred between the two kingdoms by signing a peace treaty.