How Successful Was James VI & I In Dealing With The Problems Of Multiple Kingdoms

How successful was James VI & I in dealing with the problems of multiple kingdoms?

The success of James VI & I in the governing of the three kingdoms is a key point in historiographic debate. Whilst there are elements of James’s methods, in terms of dealing with the problems which arose due to the vast differences of the multiple kingdoms, which could have been more successful; overall the post-revisionist view of James’s success seems to present the most convincing argument. Success must be seen within the context of the time, without allowing the benefit of hindsight and the events which were to follow to paint an untrue portrait of James’s leadership.

One problem which James encountered after coming to the English throne was English xenophobia,

The English would have been content with Scotland being treated in much the same way as Wales or Ireland, however this was not acceptable in the minds of the Scottish people, nor James as he wanted a unified Britain. Jenny Wormald suggests that ‘visible hostility of his subjects led him increasingly to tone down the ‘British’ language which he employed so enthusiastically’ . This suggests that, whilst at the beginning of his reign James attempted to blatantly attempt to unite the kingdoms. An example of this would be “you [the English] are to be the husband, they [the Scots] the wife”. Whilst he intended for this to bring about a greater union, the image only served to make relations tenser. After this approach did not work he changed his tactics towards more covert methods of unification. By adapting his methods, it is clear that James was able to react to situations, making him an effective leader. Whilst true unification did not occur under James’s reign, his actions in regards to this still improved relations slightly. There were many factors which were both cohesive and divergent. The fact that Scotland and England were part of one continuous land