When Queen
Elizabeth I died with no heir in 1603, James VI of Scotland
became King of England. It was the beginning of the Stuart Dynasty.
James
I Stuart 1603-1625
- James
was the son of Mary Stuart who had been condemned to death by Elizabeth I
in 1587
- As
James the VI of Scotland he united the two kingdoms of England and
Scotland under one crown with the name of James I
- He
was a protestant, unlike his mother
- Like
the Tudors, he worked with a small council of ministers
- He
only summoned Parliament to ask for money
- He
surrounded himself with Scottish favourites and his court was
disreputable, corrupt
- That caused a pessimistic view of human nature we can recognize in the works of two famous playwrights of the time, Ben Jonson and William Shakespeare (especially in his last works: Henry VIII , Othello, Macbeth, The Tempest)
