Ebook Download The Cradle King: The Life of James VI and I, the First Monarch of a United Great Britain, by Alan Stewart
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The Cradle King: The Life of James VI and I, the First Monarch of a United Great Britain, by Alan Stewart
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As the son of Mary Queen of Scots, born into her 'bloody nest,' James had the most precarious of childhoods. Even before his birth, his life was threatened: it was rumored that his father, Henry, had tried to make the pregnant Mary miscarraige by forcing her to witness the assasination of her supposed lover, David Riccio. By the time James was a one-year-old, Henry was murdered, possibly with the connivance of his mother, Mary was in exile in England and he was King of Scotland. By the age of five, he had experienced three different regents as the ancient dynasties of Scotland battled for power and made him a virtual prisoner in Stirling Castle. In fact, James did not set foot outside the confines of Stirling until he was eleven, when he took control of the country. But even with power in his hands, he would never feel safe. For the rest of his life, he could be caught up in bitter struggles between the warring political and religious factions who fought for control over his mind and body.
- Sales Rank: #1443783 in Books
- Published on: 2003-12-16
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 9.60" h x 1.47" w x 6.38" l,
- Binding: Hardcover
- 448 pages
From Publishers Weekly
Following his biography of the quintessential Elizabethan, Philip Sydney, Stewart tackles the Stuarts with a political treatment of how James VI of Scotland (1567-1625) became James I of England. James's family background and early life in Scotland would have made a fine Jacobean tragedy-his father, Lord Darnley, was murdered with the apparent complicity of his doomed mother, Mary, along with a backstabbing court. Crowned as an infant, James spent his childhood as a political chess piece for various regents' ambitions, and he became jumpy if not slightly paranoid. By adulthood, he had learned enough realpolitik to play off the factious lairds and the Presbyterian kirk, survive rebellions and assassination attempts, and maintain Scotland's traditional European ties. Throughout, Stewart notes, he successfully cultivated Elizabeth I to become her heir. The tactics that had served James well in Scotland, however, did not adapt well to his new country, much less unify the new "Britain." James clashed with Commons, alienated Puritans, cracked down on Catholics, entangled his foreign alliances and invited scandal at court with favoritism (sometimes homoerotic). Although Stewart doesn't dwell on high points like the Gunpowder Plot or the King James Bible, he adds color to his narrative of nonstop plotting and politicking with choice extracts from contemporary records, clandestine correspondence and the occasional lampoon. Timed for the 400th anniversary of James's accession to the British throne this year, this is a thorough if narrowly focused courtside life of the "sovereign who gave his name to the Jacobean age, but who was never truly of it."
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
About the Author
Alan Stewart is the author of the acclaimed biographies Philip Sydney: A Double Life and Hostage to Fortune: The Troubled Life of Francis Bacon (with Lisa Jardine).
Most helpful customer reviews
25 of 28 people found the following review helpful.
The first ruler of Britain, almost a capable plotter
By A. Woodley
What machinations! The court of the Tudors and Stuarts in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century were not easy places to navigate. For a young boy left by his mother to the in-fighting of Lairds and nobles it was an even more difficult place. It would be considered tragic now, that a boy like James should be used as a pawn for others gains, but for his time it was simply a game, and a game with huge wins and losses.
Alan Stewarts book is almost very very good but I felt it fell short on many points. It is a highly readable work, and it covers some excellent matieral I had never read about before - the plotting and constant scheming of the courts. It also, to my relief, treated the issues in context to the time. There was no moralising about what happened, but it was very much presentation of the facts and their consequences.
James VI of Scotland had grown up literally an orphan with his mother imprisoned in England and then beheaded. While he managed to manipulate the Scottish court, the intricacies of the British Court escaped him and his ability to rule England was often compromised. Perhaps too, in comparison to Elizabeth I he paled in significance in all aspects.
This is a pretty good presentation of the first of the Stuart Kings who lasted little more than a century - but in that time managed a huge amount of upheaval to the British landscape and temperament.
16 of 18 people found the following review helpful.
The Scottish take over
By Mark Latchford
Often books about European royalty are so complex that the reader needs to have a finger forever on family trees as he/she wades though the chapters. This book about a critical leader in our Anglo-Saxon past is very easy to read and provides some important new information and highlights the critical bonds between England and Scotland at the end of the Tudor era. I highly recommend this very readable book
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful.
Fine biography of a complex life
By Daniel Putman
This biography of James can be roughly divided into three sections. First is the incredibly complex web of intrigue and shifting political in-fighting that James faced in Scotland. Stewart does a very good job of giving the reader a mental map of who was fighting whom, the relationship of James to his mother Mary and how, as a child and then young adult, James managed to survive the chaos. Making sense of this without oversimplifying it is a challenge and Stewart deserves high praise for his clarity here. This background on James in the development of his personality and interests is essential to understanding the later life of the king.
The second part of the book is the first dozen years or so of James's reign in England. I found this the high point of the book. Stewart does a superb job of tying James's personality, interests and habits to the development of the English Reformation. I thought his lengthy and well-written description of James as religious thinker and religious mediator in England were exceptional. Likewise, James's habits of life as an adult are dealt with in an even-handed yet absorbing way. Stewart shows how James's thoughtful intelligence balanced his desires about his "favourites" and prevented the reign from becoming a 17th century version of Edward II. (James's insights and high intelligence in dialogue with his personal and political desires appears throughout the book.) I also liked Stewart's description of the love/threat relationship between James and his son Henry. Finally, what stood out for me in this section was how James's arguments and disagreements with Parliament laid the seed for future conflicts after his death. These chapters are the heart of the book.
The last third or so of the book is much more about James's relationships with other nations. The chapter called "Of Jack, and Tom" is about the curious and fascinating not-so-secret journey of his son Charles and James's favourite Buckingham to Spain under assumed names to prepare for a marriage between Charles and the Spanish Infanta. This is great stuff, part Monte Python and part a religious version of Secret Agent. But overall I found the last part of the book "rushed" in a way that the first two parts were not. Unlike the equally complex events in Scotland in the first part, here names and places are not as well-explained. I found the chapter called "The Peacemaker," which centers around James's desire to be the mediator of Europe's problems, the weakest in the book. Nevertheless, I do not mean to imply that this is a major issue. It was for me a minor blip in a strong biography.
The greatest strength of the book lies in the smooth transition throughout between James's personality and his kingship. This is a fine biography of one of England's most unusual and interesting kings.
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