ABSTRACT
James VI and I is still presented as a king who failed to use the means available to him to excite loyalty and affection in his subjects. This failure is often attributed to his dislike of the sort of public appearances at which his predecessor performed so well. The ‘public image’ of the king, we are told, was transmitted ineffectually; in the words of Malcolm Smuts, ‘projecting an image of majesty was never James’ strong suit’.1 Such arguments ignore James’s very innovative and consistent use of other, more powerful, means for ‘projecting an image of majesty’, not the least of which was the public pulpit. The number of political sermons preached and printed increased dramatically in James’s reign through the government’s support for sermons on political anniversaries such as the Gowrie conspiracy and Gunpowder Plot.2 As well as expanding on the arrangements for preaching at court, James and his bishops oversaw a huge increase in the number of such ‘political anniversary sermons’ preached to the ordinary people of England in public pulpits such as Paul’s Cross in London.
