The beginning of the
Stuart Dynasty
When Elizabeth died in
1603, James I, son of Mary o Scotland, became the first Stuart king of England.
He was learned and he wrote treatises in English and in Latin. He based his
power on the "divine right" so he thought he was the representative of God on
the earth. He ruled with a council formed by few people and summoned Parliament
only to asked money. But parliament always refused to levy new taxes, so the
king got the money in other ways. His court was characterized by corruption.
The religious problem
began strong again: the Catholics were fined if didn't follow the English
Church and the Puritans disapproved the Church of England bishops. When the
Puritans suggested that the Church should be governed by lay elders, James
insisted on retaining the bishops. All those ministers who refused to use the
book of the common prayer or refused the authority of bishops were removed from
their livings and some of them went to Holland or America. The king encouraged
a new version of the Bible, the "King James Bible". The Catholics plotted
against him but the plot failed and the plotters were killed. This event is
commemorated in England on 5th November, when children burn figures
of Guy Fawkes.
James I was a peacemaker
because war was too expensive and this made him unpopular peace with Spain. The
English power began to decade because the king neglected the navy and didn't
care of foreign policy. However in this period the English settlement overseas
began: in the 1690,. The Pilgrim Fathers religious dissenters left England for
America on the Mayflower and founded New Plymouth. These new colonies received
the political and economical agitators and traded with England. In the soon
period, the East India Company founded trading posts in India and Indonesia.
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