The death of Elizabeth in 1603 A.D. ended the Tudor dynasty
and placed the Stuarts on the English throne in the person of James I.
England and Scotland were now joined in a personal union, though each country
retained its own Parliament, laws, and state Church. The new king was well
described by a contemporary as the "wisest fool in Christendom." He
had a good mind and abundant learning, but throughout his reign he showed an
utter inability to win either the esteem or the affection of his subjects. This
was a misfortune, for the English had now grown weary of despotism and wanted
more freedom. They were not prepared to tolerate in James, an alien, many
things which they had overlooked in "Good Queen Bess."
JAMES I ON DIVINE RIGHT
One of the most fruitful sources of discord between James
and the English people was his exalted conception of monarchy. The Tudors,
indeed, claimed to rule by divine right, but James went further than they in
arguing for divine hereditary right. Providence, James declared, had
chosen the principle of heredity in order to fix the succession to the throne.
This principle, being divine, lay beyond the power of man to alter. Whether the
king was fit or unfit to rule, Parliament might not change the succession,
depose a sovereign, or limit his authority in any way. James rather neatly
summarized his views in a Latin epigram, _a deo rex, a rege lex_--"the
king is from God and law is from the king."
