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 939i86j 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.