Personal relationships of James I of England
Encyclopedia
The personal relationships of James I of England
included relationships with his male courtier
s and his marriage to Anne of Denmark
, with whom he fathered children. The influence his favourite
s had on politics, and the resentment at the wealth they acquired, became major political issues during his reign.
Growing up, James (b. 1566) did not know his parents — his father, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley
, was murdered in 1567, and his mother, Mary, Queen of Scots, was forced to flee when she married the suspected murderer, James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell
. Two of his grandparents died before he was born; his grandfather was killed in a skirmish while James was still a boy, and his grandmother lived in England. He had no siblings. His first documented male favourite, at the age of 13, was his older relative Esmé Stewart, 1st Duke of Lennox
.
James adopted a severe stance towards sodomy using English law. His book on kingship, Basilikón Dōron, (Greek
for "Royal Gift") lists sodomy
among those “horrible crimes which ye are bound in conscience never to forgive”. He also singled out sodomy in a letter to Lord Burleigh giving directives that Judges were to interpret the law broadly and were not to issue any pardons, saying that "no more colour may be left to judges to work upon their wits in that point."
However, nearly two centuries later, Jeremy Bentham
, in an unpublished manuscript, denounced James as a hypocrite after his crackdown: "[James I], if he be the author of that first article of the works which bear his name, and which indeed were owned by him, reckons this practise among the few offences which no Sovereign ever ought to pardon. This must needs seem rather extraordinary to those who have a notion that a pardon in this case is what he himself, had he been a subject, might have stood in need of."
At the age of 13, James made his formal entry into Edinburgh. Upon arriving he met the 37-year-old, married, father of 5 children, Franco-Scottish lord Esmé Stewart, 6th Lord d'Aubigny
, whom the Puritan
leader Sir James Melville described as "of nature, upright, just, and gentle". The two became extremely close and it was said by an English observer that "from the time he was 14 years old and no more, that is, when the Lord Stuart came into Scotland... even then he began... to clasp some one in the embraces of his great love, above all others" and that James became "in such love with him as in the open sight of the people often he will clasp him about the neck with his arms and kiss him".
The King first made Aubigny a gentleman of the bedchamber. Later, he appointed him to the Privy Council and created him earl and finally duke of Lennox. At the end Lennox chose James and the king taught him the doctrines of Calvinism. The Scottish Kirk remained suspicious of Lennox after his public conversion and took alarm when he had the earl of Morton tried and beheaded on charges of treason. The Scottish ministry was also warned that the duke sought to "draw the King to carnal lust".
In response the Scottish nobles plotted to oust Lennox. They did so by luring James to Ruthven Castle as a guest but then kept him as prisoner for ten months. The Lord Enterprisers forced him to banish Lennox. The duke journeyed back to France and kept a secret correspondence with James. Lennox in these letters says he gave up his family "to dedicate myself entirely to you"; he prayed to die for James to prove "the faithfulness which is engraved within my heart, which will last forever." The former duke wrote "Whatever might happen to me, I shall always be your faithful servant... you are alone in this world whom my heart is resolved to serve. And would to God that my breast might be split open so that it might be seen what is engraven therein."
James was devastated by the loss of Lennox. In his return to France, Lennox had met a frosty reception as an apostate Catholic. The Scottish nobles had thought that they would be proven right in their convictions that Lennox's conversion was artificial when he returned to France. Instead the former duke remained Presbyterian and died shortly after, leaving James his embalmed heart. James had repeatedly vouched for Lennox's religious sincerity and memorialized him in a poem called Ane Tragedie of the Phoenix, which likened him to an exotic bird of unique beauty killed by envy.
Following Esme's death James married Anne of Denmark
in 1589 to establish a strong Protestant alliance in Continental Europe, a policy he continued by marrying his daughter to the future King of Bohemia. James was initially said to be infatuated with his wife, even though he cheated on her (during her pregnancy with the Prince of Wales) with Anne Murray, but the relationship later cooled and there were marital frictions, as Anne had held Catholic sympathies, which caused James grief in that those religious issues were the death of his own parents. The two had 8 children with the last being born during 1607. By then James had lost interest in his wife and it was said that she led a sad, reclusive life, appearing at court functions on occasion. Despite his neglect of Anne, James was affected by her death, and was moved to compose a poem in her memory.
, whom he addressed in verse as "my mistress and my love".
, Elizabeth of Bohemia
and Charles I of England
. Henry died from typhoid fever at the age of 18. Elizabeth, at the age of 16, married Frederick V, then Elector
of the Palatinate, and took up her place in the court at Heidelberg
(Germany). Charles grew up in the shadow of his elder brother, but following Henry's death he became heir to the throne, and succeeded his father in 1625.
. In 1607, at a royal jousting contest, 17-year-old Robert Carr
, the son of Sir Thomas Carr or Kerr of Ferniehurst, was knocked from a horse and broke his leg. According to Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk
, James fell in love with the young man, and as the years progressed showered Carr with gifts. Carr was made a gentleman of the bedchamber and he was noted for his handsome appearance as well as his limited intelligence. His downfall came through Frances Howard, a beautiful young married woman. Upon Carr's request James stacked a court of bishops that would allow her to divorce her husband in order to marry Carr. As a wedding present Carr was named Earl of Somerset.
In 1615 James fell out with Carr. In a letter James complained, among other matters, that Carr had been "creeping back and withdrawing yourself from lying in my chamber, notwithstanding my many hundred times earnest soliciting you to the contrary" and that he rebuked James "more sharply and bitterly than ever my master
Buchanan
durst do".
At this point public scandal erupted when the underkeeper of the tower revealed that Carr's new wife had poisoned Sir Thomas Overbury
, his best friend who had opposed the marriage. James, angered over Carr's attachment to his wife, exploited the opportunity and forcefully insisted that they face trial.
Carr blackmailed the King, threatening to reveal that they had slept together. At the trial, while testifying before the Lords in Westminster Hall, two men were posted beside him by order of the King, prepared to muffle him with cloaks should he begin to divulge delicate matters. They were not needed, and though he refused to admit any guilt, his wife confessed, and both were sentenced to death. The King commuted the sentence. Nevertheless they were imprisoned in the Tower for seven years, after which they were pardoned and allowed to retire to a country estate.
, the son of a Leicestershire
knight. They had met in 1614, around the same time that the situation with Carr was deteriorating. Buckingham was described as exceptionally handsome, intelligent and honest. In 1615 James knighted him and 8 years later he was the first commoner in more than a century to be elevated to a dukedom. Restoration of Apethorpe Hall
, undertaken 2004–2008, revealed a previously unknown passage linking the bedchambers of James and his favourite, George Villiers.
The King was blunt and unashamed in his avowal of love for Buckingham:
17th century commentators, such as the poet Théophile de Viau
did not mince words in describing the king's relationship. In his poem, Au marquis du Boukinquan, de Viau writes: "Apollo with his songs / debauched young Hyacinthus...And it is well known that the king of England / fucks the Duke of Buckingham."
Buckingham became good friends with James’s wife Anne; she addressed him in affectionate letters begging him to be "always true" to her husband. In a letter to James, Buckingham said "sir, all the way hither I entertained myself, your unworthy servant, with this dispute, whether you loved me now... better than at the time which I shall never forget at Farnham, where the bed's head could not be found between the master and his dog". James in some letters addressed him as his spouse saying that "I desire only to live in this world for your sake... I had rather live banished in any part of the Earth with you than live a sorrowful widow's life without you... God bless you, my sweet child and wife, and grant that ye may ever be a comfort to your dear dad and husband". A few years later James died with Buckingham at his side.
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
included relationships with his male courtier
Courtier
A courtier is a person who is often in attendance at the court of a king or other royal personage. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as the residence of the monarch, and social and political life were often completely mixed together...
s and his marriage to Anne of Denmark
Anne of Denmark
Anne of Denmark was queen consort of Scotland, England, and Ireland as the wife of King James VI and I.The second daughter of King Frederick II of Denmark, Anne married James in 1589 at the age of fourteen and bore him three children who survived infancy, including the future Charles I...
, with whom he fathered children. The influence his favourite
Favourite
A favourite , or favorite , was the intimate companion of a ruler or other important person. In medieval and Early Modern Europe, among other times and places, the term is used of individuals delegated significant political power by a ruler...
s had on politics, and the resentment at the wealth they acquired, became major political issues during his reign.
Growing up, James (b. 1566) did not know his parents — his father, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley
Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley
Henry Stewart or Stuart, 1st Duke of Albany , styled Lord Darnley before 1565, was king consort of Scotland and murdered at Kirk o'Field...
, was murdered in 1567, and his mother, Mary, Queen of Scots, was forced to flee when she married the suspected murderer, James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell
James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell
James Hepburn, 1st Duke of Orkney , better known by his inherited title as 4th Earl of Bothwell, was hereditary Lord High Admiral of Scotland. He is best known for his association with and subsequent marriage to Mary, Queen of Scots, as her third husband...
. Two of his grandparents died before he was born; his grandfather was killed in a skirmish while James was still a boy, and his grandmother lived in England. He had no siblings. His first documented male favourite, at the age of 13, was his older relative Esmé Stewart, 1st Duke of Lennox
Esmé Stewart, 1st Duke of Lennox
Esmé Stewart, 1st Duke of Lennox, 1st Earl of Lennox was the son of John Stewart, 5th Lord of Aubigny who was the younger brother of Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox...
.
James adopted a severe stance towards sodomy using English law. His book on kingship, Basilikón Dōron, (Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
for "Royal Gift") lists sodomy
Sodomy
Sodomy is an anal or other copulation-like act, especially between male persons or between a man and animal, and one who practices sodomy is a "sodomite"...
among those “horrible crimes which ye are bound in conscience never to forgive”. He also singled out sodomy in a letter to Lord Burleigh giving directives that Judges were to interpret the law broadly and were not to issue any pardons, saying that "no more colour may be left to judges to work upon their wits in that point."
However, nearly two centuries later, Jeremy Bentham
Jeremy Bentham
Jeremy Bentham was an English jurist, philosopher, and legal and social reformer. He became a leading theorist in Anglo-American philosophy of law, and a political radical whose ideas influenced the development of welfarism...
, in an unpublished manuscript, denounced James as a hypocrite after his crackdown: "[James I], if he be the author of that first article of the works which bear his name, and which indeed were owned by him, reckons this practise among the few offences which no Sovereign ever ought to pardon. This must needs seem rather extraordinary to those who have a notion that a pardon in this case is what he himself, had he been a subject, might have stood in need of."
Esmé Stewart, 1st Duke of Lennox
Esmé Stewart, 1st Duke of Lennox
Esmé Stewart, 1st Duke of Lennox, 1st Earl of Lennox was the son of John Stewart, 5th Lord of Aubigny who was the younger brother of Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox...
, whom the Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
leader Sir James Melville described as "of nature, upright, just, and gentle". The two became extremely close and it was said by an English observer that "from the time he was 14 years old and no more, that is, when the Lord Stuart came into Scotland... even then he began... to clasp some one in the embraces of his great love, above all others" and that James became "in such love with him as in the open sight of the people often he will clasp him about the neck with his arms and kiss him".
The King first made Aubigny a gentleman of the bedchamber. Later, he appointed him to the Privy Council and created him earl and finally duke of Lennox. At the end Lennox chose James and the king taught him the doctrines of Calvinism. The Scottish Kirk remained suspicious of Lennox after his public conversion and took alarm when he had the earl of Morton tried and beheaded on charges of treason. The Scottish ministry was also warned that the duke sought to "draw the King to carnal lust".
In response the Scottish nobles plotted to oust Lennox. They did so by luring James to Ruthven Castle as a guest but then kept him as prisoner for ten months. The Lord Enterprisers forced him to banish Lennox. The duke journeyed back to France and kept a secret correspondence with James. Lennox in these letters says he gave up his family "to dedicate myself entirely to you"; he prayed to die for James to prove "the faithfulness which is engraved within my heart, which will last forever." The former duke wrote "Whatever might happen to me, I shall always be your faithful servant... you are alone in this world whom my heart is resolved to serve. And would to God that my breast might be split open so that it might be seen what is engraven therein."
James was devastated by the loss of Lennox. In his return to France, Lennox had met a frosty reception as an apostate Catholic. The Scottish nobles had thought that they would be proven right in their convictions that Lennox's conversion was artificial when he returned to France. Instead the former duke remained Presbyterian and died shortly after, leaving James his embalmed heart. James had repeatedly vouched for Lennox's religious sincerity and memorialized him in a poem called Ane Tragedie of the Phoenix, which likened him to an exotic bird of unique beauty killed by envy.
Anne of Denmark
- See also Relationship between James I and Anne of Denmark.
Following Esme's death James married Anne of Denmark
Anne of Denmark
Anne of Denmark was queen consort of Scotland, England, and Ireland as the wife of King James VI and I.The second daughter of King Frederick II of Denmark, Anne married James in 1589 at the age of fourteen and bore him three children who survived infancy, including the future Charles I...
in 1589 to establish a strong Protestant alliance in Continental Europe, a policy he continued by marrying his daughter to the future King of Bohemia. James was initially said to be infatuated with his wife, even though he cheated on her (during her pregnancy with the Prince of Wales) with Anne Murray, but the relationship later cooled and there were marital frictions, as Anne had held Catholic sympathies, which caused James grief in that those religious issues were the death of his own parents. The two had 8 children with the last being born during 1607. By then James had lost interest in his wife and it was said that she led a sad, reclusive life, appearing at court functions on occasion. Despite his neglect of Anne, James was affected by her death, and was moved to compose a poem in her memory.
Anne Murray
Between 1593 and 1595, James was romantically linked with Anne Murray, later Lady GlamisGlamis
Glamis is a small village in Angus, Scotland, located four miles south of Kirriemuir and five miles southwest of Forfar. It is the location of Glamis Castle, the childhood home of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.-History:...
, whom he addressed in verse as "my mistress and my love".
Children
Three of James's children grew to adulthood: Henry Frederick, Prince of WalesHenry Frederick, Prince of Wales
Henry Frederick Stuart, Prince of Wales was the elder son of King James I & VI and Anne of Denmark. His name derives from his grandfathers: Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley and Frederick II of Denmark. Prince Henry was widely seen as a bright and promising heir to his father's throne...
, Elizabeth of Bohemia
Elizabeth of Bohemia
Elizabeth of Bohemia was the eldest daughter of King James VI and I, King of Scotland, England, Ireland, and Anne of Denmark. As the wife of Frederick V, Elector Palatine, she was Electress Palatine and briefly Queen of Bohemia...
and Charles I of England
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of 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...
. Henry died from typhoid fever at the age of 18. Elizabeth, at the age of 16, married Frederick V, then Elector
Prince-elector
The Prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire were the members of the electoral college of the Holy Roman Empire, having the function of electing the Roman king or, from the middle of the 16th century onwards, directly the Holy Roman Emperor.The heir-apparent to a prince-elector was known as an...
of the Palatinate, and took up her place in the court at Heidelberg
Heidelberg
-Early history:Between 600,000 and 200,000 years ago, "Heidelberg Man" died at nearby Mauer. His jaw bone was discovered in 1907; with scientific dating, his remains were determined to be the earliest evidence of human life in Europe. In the 5th century BC, a Celtic fortress of refuge and place of...
(Germany). Charles grew up in the shadow of his elder brother, but following Henry's death he became heir to the throne, and succeeded his father in 1625.
Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset
A few years later after the controversy over his relationship with Lennox faded away he began a relationship with Robert Carr, 1st Earl of SomersetRobert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset
Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset, , was a politician, and favourite of King James I of England.-Background:Robert Kerr was born in Wrington, Somerset, England the younger son of Sir Thomas Kerr of Ferniehurst, Scotland by his second wife, Janet, sister of Walter Scott of Buccleuch...
. In 1607, at a royal jousting contest, 17-year-old Robert Carr
Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset
Robert Carr, 1st Earl of Somerset, , was a politician, and favourite of King James I of England.-Background:Robert Kerr was born in Wrington, Somerset, England the younger son of Sir Thomas Kerr of Ferniehurst, Scotland by his second wife, Janet, sister of Walter Scott of Buccleuch...
, the son of Sir Thomas Carr or Kerr of Ferniehurst, was knocked from a horse and broke his leg. According to Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk
Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk
Admiral Thomas Howard, 1st Earl of Suffolk, KG, PC was a son of Thomas Howard, 4th Duke of Norfolk by his second wife Margaret Audley, Duchess of Norfolk, the daughter and heiress of the 1st Baron Audley of Walden....
, James fell in love with the young man, and as the years progressed showered Carr with gifts. Carr was made a gentleman of the bedchamber and he was noted for his handsome appearance as well as his limited intelligence. His downfall came through Frances Howard, a beautiful young married woman. Upon Carr's request James stacked a court of bishops that would allow her to divorce her husband in order to marry Carr. As a wedding present Carr was named Earl of Somerset.
In 1615 James fell out with Carr. In a letter James complained, among other matters, that Carr had been "creeping back and withdrawing yourself from lying in my chamber, notwithstanding my many hundred times earnest soliciting you to the contrary" and that he rebuked James "more sharply and bitterly than ever my master
Tutor
A tutor is a person employed in the education of others, either individually or in groups. To tutor is to perform the functions of a tutor.-Teaching assistance:...
Buchanan
George Buchanan (humanist)
George Buchanan was a Scottish historian and humanist scholar. He was part of the Monarchomach movement.-Early life:...
durst do".
At this point public scandal erupted when the underkeeper of the tower revealed that Carr's new wife had poisoned Sir Thomas Overbury
Thomas Overbury
Sir Thomas Overbury was an English poet and essayist, and the victim of one of the most sensational crimes in English history...
, his best friend who had opposed the marriage. James, angered over Carr's attachment to his wife, exploited the opportunity and forcefully insisted that they face trial.
Carr blackmailed the King, threatening to reveal that they had slept together. At the trial, while testifying before the Lords in Westminster Hall, two men were posted beside him by order of the King, prepared to muffle him with cloaks should he begin to divulge delicate matters. They were not needed, and though he refused to admit any guilt, his wife confessed, and both were sentenced to death. The King commuted the sentence. Nevertheless they were imprisoned in the Tower for seven years, after which they were pardoned and allowed to retire to a country estate.
George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham
The last of James's three close male friends was George Villiers, 1st Duke of BuckinghamGeorge Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham
George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham KG was the favourite, claimed by some to be the lover, of King James I of England. Despite a very patchy political and military record, he remained at the height of royal favour for the first two years of the reign of Charles I, until he was assassinated...
, the son of a Leicestershire
Leicestershire
Leicestershire is a landlocked county in the English Midlands. It takes its name from the heavily populated City of Leicester, traditionally its administrative centre, although the City of Leicester unitary authority is today administered separately from the rest of Leicestershire...
knight. They had met in 1614, around the same time that the situation with Carr was deteriorating. Buckingham was described as exceptionally handsome, intelligent and honest. In 1615 James knighted him and 8 years later he was the first commoner in more than a century to be elevated to a dukedom. Restoration of Apethorpe Hall
Apethorpe Hall
Apethorpe Hall in Apethorpe, Northamptonshire, England is a Grade I listed country house, dating back to the 15th century.The house is built around three courtyards lying on an east-west axis and is approximately by in area...
, undertaken 2004–2008, revealed a previously unknown passage linking the bedchambers of James and his favourite, George Villiers.
The King was blunt and unashamed in his avowal of love for Buckingham:
I, James, am neither a god nor an angel, but a man like any other. Therefore I act like a man and confess to loving those dear to me more than other men. You may be sure that I love the Earl of Buckingham more than anyone else, and more than you who are here assembled. I wish to speak in my own behalf and not to have it thought to be a defect, for Jesus Christ did the same, and therefore I cannot be blamed. Christ had John, and I have George.
17th century commentators, such as the poet Théophile de Viau
Théophile de Viau
Théophile de Viau was a French Baroque poet and dramatist.Born at Clairac, near Agen in the Lot-et-Garonne and raised as a Huguenot, Théophile de Viau participated in the Protestant wars in Guyenne from 1615-1616 in the service of the Comte de Candale. After the war, he was pardoned and became a...
did not mince words in describing the king's relationship. In his poem, Au marquis du Boukinquan, de Viau writes: "Apollo with his songs / debauched young Hyacinthus...And it is well known that the king of England / fucks the Duke of Buckingham."
Buckingham became good friends with James’s wife Anne; she addressed him in affectionate letters begging him to be "always true" to her husband. In a letter to James, Buckingham said "sir, all the way hither I entertained myself, your unworthy servant, with this dispute, whether you loved me now... better than at the time which I shall never forget at Farnham, where the bed's head could not be found between the master and his dog". James in some letters addressed him as his spouse saying that "I desire only to live in this world for your sake... I had rather live banished in any part of the Earth with you than live a sorrowful widow's life without you... God bless you, my sweet child and wife, and grant that ye may ever be a comfort to your dear dad and husband". A few years later James died with Buckingham at his side.