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Images of Britain at the Anglo-Scottish Court, 1603

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Images of Britain at the Anglo-Scottish Court, 1603 TmKING OF HEARTS: JAMES AND 1, THE 'UNIONOF LOVE' AND IMAGES OF BRITAINAT THE ANGLO-SCOTTISHCOURT, 1603-1608 A thesis submitted to the Department of History in confomity with the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Queen's University Kingston, Ontario, Canada Apd, 1999 copyright O Joseph Brian Rochon, Apt31999 National Library Bibliothèque nationale 1+1 of,", du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395. rue WelIington Ottawa ON KIA ON4 Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Canada Canada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant a la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sell reproduire, prêter, distribuer OU copies of this thesis in microfq vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or eiectronic formats. la forme de microfiche/nlm, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protege cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son pemission. autorisation. In 1603, the union of the English and Scottish crowns in the person of James VI and I brought together two traditionally hostile nations. in an effort to ameliorate the problems of ruling this composite monarchy and to ensure peace in his new realms, the King worked to fashion a reconstituted British nation. He directed much of his nation- building efforts at his court in Westminster and specificdy laboured to create a core of Anglo-Scottish or British aristocrats. Not only was the court the centre of his visible world, but its members were to provide a mode1 for the rest of the nation to emulate. Duriag the first five years of his English reign, the King and his pro-union agents tried to project the court and crown as distinctly British institutions. In his efforts to forge an Anglo-Scottish "Union of Love" based on fiatemal sentiment and mutual affection, King James activefy pursued a number of integrationist policies. To eliminate a visual symbol of division, James proclaimed himself King of Great Britaîn. He then worked to make Scots and Enghshmen naturd in both kingdoms so that they would possess the same Freedoms and privileges uiroughout Britain. Fhally, the King encouraged Anglo-Scottish mariages in an attempt to increase the bonds of love between the two nations. Hoping to provide examples of the individual unions he wanted his subjects to embody, he personally orchestrated several high-profile maniages between leading Sconish and Enghsh figures at court. Through the naturalisation of individual Scots and the promotion of Anglo- Sconish marriages, James was able to give his Westminster court a genuinely British flavour. When he attempted to implement pro-British policies outside the court, however, he encountered a recalcitrant English House of Commons. Parochialist sentiments and Scotophobia moved the Commons to resist most of the Iegaf changes that would have enabied James' vision to be reaiised beyond the bonds of the imperial court. In the course of researching and writing this thesis, I have incurred a great debt to Professor Paul Christianson. 1 wish to thank him for his encouragement, insight and patient supervision. 1 would also like to thank Professor Keith Brown of the University of St Andrews for some early suggestions and encouragement. Speciai thanks is due to both the Department of History and the School of Graduate and Professional Studies for providing me with the financial support that made my research possible. Finally, I wodd be remiss if 1did not achowledge the debt owed to Linda Barbon and Judy Wong whose shared coffee breaks helped me to work hitfully into the wee hours of the moming on more than a few occasions. CHAPTER1: Introduction and Histonographical Overview............................................................. 1 Precedence, Precedents and Propaganda: The Name of Britain and the Search for Status Equality................................................................. 23 CHAPTERIII: Naturalisation and Nationality, 1603- 1608.. ............................................................... -69 CHAPTER IV: "Tweene Scots and Engfish: who can wonder thed If he that marries kingdomes, manies men?" : Anglo-Scottish Marriage and British National Integration, 1604-08.. .................... 102 Conclusion................................................................................................................ 130 CHAPTERI Introduction and Historiographicd Overview When James VI ascended to the throne of England in 1603, he becarne the derof a composite monarchy. He became the sovereign of not only three kingdoms and one principality, but the head of four nations. Long before he came to the English throne, James had recognised the ~cultieshe wodd emounter as the derof a multi-national date and conceived a unionist plan to aileviate some of the difficulties. In any state which embraces more than one nation or ethnic group, problems of equality, precedence and status equilibrium amongst the wmponent peoples are endemic. James suicerely believed that he could circumvent these inherent dificulties by uniMg the hearts of his subjects and forging a single nation fiorn four. In his efforts to achieve a 'Union of Love', James first had to give his people a new name. On the face of things, the English and Scottish nations would have to appear to merge into one new nation: Britain. The King hoped that by chauging his royal style and working to alter the outward image of his kingdoms first, the substance of an enduring national and political union wodd surely follow. Foremost in his schemes to create an integrated British nation were notions of equality and precedence, or rather a desire to eliminate problems of precedence between the natives of his old and new kingdom.' With the names of Scotland and England put into oblivion, the issue of one nation's superiority Ireland, which was considered a subordinated accessory of the English crown, was not represented in either the debates over political union or the discussion of national union. As it was added to the English monarch's patrimony through conquest, the çtatus of Ireland and its inbabitants was clearly not on the same Ievel as that of either England or Scutland. Ireland always ranked below Scotland and England in terrns of precedence and even James did not seem to consider its inhabitants worthy of inclusion in the new British nation he envisioned. kland wilI not, therefore, figureprominene in any of the following discussions. over another wodd be made irrelevant. He wanted to see his subjects evenhidy identifL themselves as members of a British nation and embrace each other fiaternally as equals. He hoped that muhial love wodd develop over tirne to provide the emotional cernent needed to fuse the two nations together perrnanently. To begin giving his dreams ofa national union corporeal form, James worked to fashion a British aristocracy at his London court. He used his prerogative to naturalise individual Scots when parliament proved reluctant to enact a comprehensive mutual naturalisation of Englïshmen and Scots; he encouraged and at times even orchestrated marriages between his Scottish and English followers; and he elevated Scots to serve as cultural mediators, helping to dispel myths of Scottish incivility. In ail of these efforts, James sought to create a stahis balance at court between the Scottish and English members of his entourage. By making strides towards assimiiaiing the court to his British vision, he was working to effect a union of the two nations. James was always surrounded by the court and its members, so the court aristocracy was the logicd focus of his nation- building schemes. The court aristocracy provides an especially attractive unit of analysis in an examination of Jacobean nation-building for several reasons. Not only are the sources related to the culture and activities of the aristocracy better donimented than for any other social group, but the aristocracy more than any other group can be observed to have possessed a collective awareness. John Modhas pointed out that it was only among the aristocracy, and perhaps the merchant strahim, that a real sense of national identity superseded parochial regional identifications. Only the literate segments of society, and particularly those with political agency, had access to the materials required both to form and maintain national identity2 The expansion of print culture in the Elizabethan era continued through James' reign and collective awareness grew as those who shared in the dissemination of propaganda increasingly conceived of themselves as part of a national community. Despite the focus on societal elites, this thesis ought not to be constmed as an attempt at traditional 'top dom' history which has been so often maligned by many contemporary young North Amencan historiam. While it could be argued that the court aristocracy served as a reference group whose manners and mores served as models for other social groups to emdate, this thesis will not atternpt to open that parîïcular floodgate. Some sense of national identification certdy did trickle down, as it were, from the aristocracy to those of lower social stations, but the effects of this diffusion are difficult to assess and beyond the sape of this thesis. Furthemore, to suggest that generalisations about Anglo-Scomsh aristocratie integration could in any way be viably aitributecl to the entirety of each nation wodd be to commit the dreaded ecological - - pppp 'J. S. Morriii, "The Fashioning of Britain," in Steven G. ELLis and Sarah Barber, eds, Conquest and Union: Fasfrioning a British State, 1485-1725 (London: Longman, 1993, 13. For an aitemative view see Cynthia J. Neville, "Local Sentiment and the 'National' Enemy in Northern England in the Later Middle Ages," Journal of British Studies, 35 (October 1996), 319-437.
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