Back to the Stuarts calendar
Elizabeth became really depressed around this time as many of her closest friends were dying. She was not well either and on
24 March 1603 after nearly 45 years on the throne, Elizabeth died. She had never married, had no children and so no natural successor. Also during her reign she
had never even named her successor. However, her closest advisor in her last years, a man named Robert Cecil, had put together, in secret and with Elizabeth’s
approval, a plan. Shortly after Elizabeth died he announced that James VI of Scotland would become James I of England too. And no, he didn’t add them together
and become James VII of everything. His family, called Stuarts, had been ruling Scotland since 1371.
It happened because Henry VIII had a sister, Margaret, who, Henry VII, their father, had married to the son of James IV, King of Scotland. This was
100 years ago in 1503. Four years after that marriage, James IV died and Margaret and her husband became King and Queen of Scotland. To make it easy for us all,
he was called James as well and so became James V (remember those roman numerals). The new James I of England was the grandson of James V. He was also the son of
Mary, Queen of Scots who we read about in the last period.
James, like Elizabeth, was a Protestant not a Catholic but he was quite tolerant toward Catholics. But not enough for some people and it nearly cost
him his life and gave us a reason to celebrate each year as you will see next. Just out of interest, James called himself King of Great Britain, the first time
the word Britain had been used since Roman Times.
On 24 March 1603 James was crowned King of England thus uniting
England, Scotland and Ireland under one king for the first time ever. The period of history when James was King was known as the Jacobean era just as the time
before was called the Elizabethan era. An era is just a period of time.
One of the first things James did when he came to the throne was to end the long war with Spain, which had continued, on and off, for 20 years.
Ending the war was a great help to the finances of the English government and England and Spain remained at peace for the next 50 or so years.
One final interesting story about Elizabeth. She had been fighting a war in Ireland and on 30 March 1603 the Irish were beaten and, at a peace treaty,
accepted Elizabeth’s sovereignty over them. Sadly she had died on 24 March but they decided not to tell the Irish in case they changed their minds and asked the
new monarch, whoever he or she may be, for better terms. Luckily there were no newspapers, no TV and no social media so the news of Elizabeth's death hadn't yet
reached the Irish.
And one thing I need to tell you about James is that in 1613, yes I know we are going forward a bit, on 14 February, his daughter Elizabeth married
Frederick V, the Elector (or ruler) of Palatine which was an area in Germany. For Great Britain this would be a significant event but you won’t know that till later.
Forward to 1605AD
