The accession of James VI and I and English sentiment, 1603 – 1612

Abstract

This thesis explores the effect of King James VI and I on the English sense of national self from 1603 through 1612. It suggests that the debate regarding union between Scotland and England heightened the English sense of nationhood. Parliament’s rejection of an Anglo-Scottish union constituted a response to both James’ Scottish nationality and his vision of England and Scotland as equal partners within a British union, notions that ran counter to parliamentary expectations of English hegemony within the British Isles. In effect, James threatened the notion that the English held of themselves as an elect people. Ultimately, this study argues that James’ reign was a fulcrum that pushed the English to re-evaluate their place within the British Isles. Although political elites re-affirmed the primacy of English cultural and political dominance in the region, many English rejected a more expansive alternate identity in the guise of Britishness.