Description
Book SynopsisConditioned by a childhood surrounded by the rivalries of the Stewart family, and by eighteen years of enforced exile in England, James I was to prove a king very different from his elderly and conservative forerunners. This major study draws on a wide range of sources, assessing James I’s impact on his kingdom. Michael Brown examines James’s creation of a new, prestigious monarchy based on a series of bloody victories over his rivals and symbolised by lavish spending at court.
He concludes that, despite the apparent power and glamour, James I’s ‘golden age’ had shallow roots; after a life of drastically swinging fortunes, James I was to meet his end in a violent coup, a victim of his own methods. But whether as lawgiver, tyrant or martyr, James I has cast a long shadow over the history of Scotland.
Trade Review'This is an important book, and not only because it is the first full-length biography of James I for nearly sixty years. It is a clearly written and innovative political study, drawn from a deep knowledge of the contemporary documents and chronicles. It gives a challenging, not to say unattractive, picture of a royal thug' - Books in Scotland
