The Character of James I

he never washed his hands, only rubbed his finger ends slightly with the wet end of a napkin...weakness made him forever leaning on other men's shoulders; his walk ever circular, his fingers...ever fiddling about his cod piece...

He was very liberal of what he never had in his own grip, and would rather part with £100 he never had in his keeping than one twenty shilling piece within his own custody... A very wise man was wont to say that he believed him the wisest fool in Christendom, meaning him wise in small things but a fool in weighty affairs."

However - in reading the above account we must remember that Weldon hated the Scots, and wrote a very abusive pamphlet about them, of which a typical example is:

"To be chained in marriage with one of them were to be tied to a dead carcass and cast into a stinking ditch."

When James found out about this pamphlet he dismissed Weldon - who got his revenge by writing a savage attack, The Court and Character of King James, which may be seen as a character assassination - but which has coloured uniformed opinion of the king ever since. The judgement of more discerning historians would agree with de Fontenay that James was intelligent, that he had appalling manners, that he often over-estimated his position in foreign affairs, that his fondness for young male favourites was very unpopular and that he neglected state matters to indulge his passion for hunting. Observers who wrote during his reign as King of Great Britain, and James' own letters during that period, show him as timorous, impulsive, socially ill at ease, financially inept, and emotionally immature. However - they also show him to be intelligent, perceptive, a patron of the arts, and in possession of an astute wit. The issue is not merely James' characteristics, but a question of degree and extent.

It is significant that many of the character studies describe James' physical appearance. Nowadays we separate character from physical appearance - but in the early seventeenth century the form and features of the physical body were believed to reflect the mind and soul, making physical defects quick to be seized upon by hostile writers.

Many of James' personality traits can be traced back to his childhood. Deprived of both his parents as a baby (his mother was probably an accomplice in the murder of his father) he grew up as a lone boy who was to crave affection throughout his life. His marriage to Anne of Denmark became loveless after a successful start. James turned to a series of young men. The visit of his French cousin, Esme Stewart (later Duke of Lennox), in the 1580s when James was fourteen possibly awakened homosexual feelings and emotional dependence. A string of male favourites followed. These supplied the family life that James had never known as a child and was unable to successfully create as an adult - despite having two sons, Henry and Charles, and one daughter, Elizabeth, who survived into adulthood. It is striking that James' relations with Buckingham, his last favourite, were more cordial than with his own son, Charles. James signed his letters to Buckingham "your darling Dad" and addressed him as "Steeny". It is uncertain whether James was a practising homosexual - but contemporaries were scandalised by the way James caressed his favourites in public and resentful of the honours that he heaped upon them. James had nobody on whom to model himself a king. It is unfortunate that his manners, which were extremely coarse, had not been corrected as a child. Persuading the king not to lecture his subjects, which he was inclined to do after he became King of England, might have been more difficult. James liked to prove the correctness of his position by lengthy explanations, but the members of the English parliament did not enjoy James haranguing them for hours at a time. James went so far as to apologise for this in 1621, saying, I never meant to weary myself or you with such tedious discourses as I have done heretofore."

The positive side of this aspect to James' character was his love of learning. He was genuinely interested in philosophy and theology, and wrote a number of books including The Trew Law of Free Monarchies - which was a justification of the divine right of kings, and Basilikon Doron - which set out his views on religion. James was unusually tolerant for the early seventeenth century, and the execution of Catholic priests virtually ended in his reign.

Another part of James' character that attracted unfavourable contemporary comment was his lack of physical courage. There had been a number of plots against him when he was King of Scotland and within three years of his accession to the English throne those involved in the gunpowder plot tried to blow up not only the king but also the assembled members of the Lords and Commons. So James had good reason to be wary of assassins, especially after the death of Henry IV of France confirmed the vulnerability of kings. However, contemporaries did not like their sovereign to show signs of weakness. Sir Anthony Weldon wrote scathingly about James' padded clothes - designed to prevent a dagger from reaching his body. Along with his fear of personal violence went a much more praiseworthy desire to avoid war. His hatred of violence and persecution makes him more sympathetic to the modern reader, who is also more charitable towards his lack of physical beauty and his preference for young men. James hated war and sought throughout his reign to prevent England from being drawn into one. Ultimately, he failed - but much of the blame lies with Buckingham and Prince Charles, who exerted great pressure to persuade the king to agree to war against his better judgement.