Below you will find historical information on King James I & VI, and how I twisted and warped it to suit my needs. This information is by no means complete, whether through my own laziness or an entire lack of information on the subject, and I advise you to do your own research if you want to find out more.
King James was probably an okay guy.
Born June 19, 1566 – died March 27, 1625. You might have heard of his mother, Mary. Queen of Scots. Perhaps the whole story is unfamiliar to you, but let me summarize it as follows: Mary got fucked over. As a result of said fuckery, James became King James VI of Scotland at the precocious age of one.
At the age of 37(-ish), Elizabeth I of England checked out, and because of whatever the fuck goes on between all those royals, James became King James I of England and did a whole bunch of stuff that involved peace, so on that end he was a pretty swell dude. Rather chivalrous, too. He was going to marry Anne of Denmark, but she got marooned in Norway. Now, I don’t want to poke the bear, but Norway seems a bit out of the way if you’re going to Scotland from Denmark. I’m not saying she swung by a lover or had a particularly confusing hen night, she was only 14, after all, but… it’s an odd place to get marooned.
Oh, yeah. King Jimmy scored his wife when she was 14. I guess courting her involved a lot of playgrounds. But back to the (now a little awkward) chivalry, because he hopped right on a boat and sailed out to go get her.
King James was probably not an okay guy.
Because when he sailed back home with Anne, they got caught in a storm. You might say, “yes, I can’t see how that would happen on the open seas.” Ah, but not King James. No, no! He was so full of himself that he decided this was an attempt on his life by witches, and probably the devil himself.
Likely, this was because he got a taste of the witch panic in Denmark, but now that I’ve read some stuff from a source not credible enough to link, it might also be because he wasn’t into women all that much. For now, let’s just stick with the witch panic thing because it’s far more in theme with what I’m doing here and unbiased research is overrated.
King James didn’t just kill witches left and right.
Not that he was particularly fond of them either, but he was very hands on with the whole witch thing. Take Agnes Sampson, for instance. Even though she was considered one of the main culprits in the plot to sink his ships, he didn’t believe her outright, and it wasn’t until she quoted some things he said to Anne in “private” that he went, “Yeah, alright. Burn, baby, burn.”
Or the case of Brian and Anne Gunter. Brian brought his daughter Anne (there were lots of Annes in King James life, it turns out) before the king and claimed she was bewitched. He came up with a bunch of bullshit, and James didn’t really go for it. He sent the girl to be examined by the Archbishop of Canterbury, who couldn’t be arsed and passed it on to his holy homie Samuel Harsnett, a witch-skeptic. He determined she was fine. Brian Gunter got his ass tossed in prison for three years for wasting the king’s time.
King James is not in the story.
The only reason I gave him his own little segment here is because in the story, John Fian has a few strong opinions about the king, and it could be that some readers (obviously not smart ones like you) might assume King James was a total asshat.
He did a lot of good things. Ended the war with Spain. Tried for peace in Europe, but could at least settle for peace in Great Britain. United the crown. He’s more or less responsible for the definitive version of the bible.
He did bad things, too. The witch thing I might have mentioned earlier. He had an affair with another woman called Anne (but not the Gunter girl), and if you ask me that’s just lazy. If you can’t even trust yourself to get remember her name, you don’t deserve to fuck around. Also, he’s more or less responsible for the definitive version of the bible.
No, I did not write that twice by mistake.
Either way, King James did a lot of stuff and I would like to invite you, if these are subjects that interest you, to do your own research. There is more than enough information available and if I can find it, surely you can, too. Hell, go to Scotland. It’s definitely worth the trip, even if you’re not gonna witch about. Just take in everything witch-related through a 16th century filter.
Sources:
Britannica
Historic Royal Palaces
History How It Happened
Real Royalty
Wikipedia