ABSTRACT
Two weeks after the death of Elizabeth I of England (24 March 1603) James VI, who had become James I of England, made a speech at St Giles’s in Edinburgh. ‘Think not of me as ane king going frae ane part to another, but of ane king lawfully callit going frae ane part of the isle to ane other that sae your comfort be the greater,’ Two days later he left the capital and headed south for London. On the way through England he received addresses of welcome, created many new knights (too many, some thought), hanged a thief without trial and talked freely about his rule by divine right, that he was answerable only to God. It was not a good beginning, and things deteriorated from that moment until twentytwo years later when he died, arguably murdered by his best friend, and certainly mourned by none. He had governed Scotland quite well for the last fifteen years, and then-suddenlyabandoned his people, visiting Scotland only once between 1603 and his death. What had come over him? As he shambled out of St Giles’s that day in April 1603, James, the thirty-six-year-old stuttering ‘know-all’, with a tongue too large for his mouth and none of the handsome features or graceful demeanour of his Stewart forebears, had already decided he would govern the two kingdoms from the southern capital. It is unlikely that he had ever been to England-certainly not to the rich and colourful London. When he got there he saw much to impress him. London was by far the biggest city in Britain, and already one of the largest in western Europe. The port of London was a hive of activity newly enhanced by the creation of the East India Company. New buildings, factories and warehouses were
going up, mostly devoted to trade and commerce. Old St Paul’s dominated the skyline hardly less dramatically than its successor (built after 1666 by Wren) would do. Westminster Abbey and Westminster Hall stood as proud examples of medieval architecture. Perhaps James saw something of the variety of merchandise in shops and marketplaces. He will also have seen sumptuous furnishings in many London houses. He will have compared Hampton Court and Greenwich enviously with the sparse décor of his own palace of Holyrood. He will have noticed how well off the nobles and gentlemen of England appeared to be, with their costly clothing, their coaches and their well-dressed retainers.
