Introduction
When James VI of Scotland became also James I of England in 1603, Walter Raleigh responded by trying to put James’s cousin Arabella Stewart (1757-1625) on the throne instead. His reasoning had nothing to do with the union of Scotland and England. Now confined to the Tower for an indefinite stay, Raleigh occupied himself in writing a History of the World and declared the Union the best thing James had done.
NEITHER ought we to forget or neglect our thankfulness to God for the uniting of the northern parts of Britain to the south — to wit, of Scotland to England; which, though they were severed but by small brooks and banks, yet, by reason of the long-continued war, and the cruelties exercised upon each other; in the affection of the nations they were infinitely severed. This I say, is not the least of God’s blessings which his majesty hath brought with him unto this land: no, put all our petty grievances together, and heap them up to their height, they will appear but as a mole-hill compared with the mountain of this concord. And if all the historians since then have acknowledged the uniting of the red rose and the white for the greatest happiness (Christian religion excepted) that ever this kingdom received from God;* certainly the peace between the two lions of gold and gules,* and the making them one,* doth by many degrees exceed the former.
* A reference to The Wars of the Roses (1455-1487), in which two rival Royal Houses, of York (the White Rose) and of Lancaster (the Red Rose), vied for the crown. The House of Lancaster emerged victorious in 1485 when Henry Tudor defeated King Richard III in battle at Bosworth in Leicestershire. He subsequently married Elizabeth of York, Richard’s niece and Edward IV’s daughter.
* A heraldic term for red. The word comes from Latin gula (throat) by way of Old French, and has its origin in pieces of red-dyed fur used as a neck ornament. In Shakespeare’s Hamlet Greek hero Pyrrhus, son of Achilles, is described as “total gules; horridly trick’d / With blood of fathers, mothers, daughters, sons” after killing Priam, King of Troy.
* The accession of James VI of Scotland as James I of England created a ‘personal union’, in which one man held both crowns at the same time. The two crowns remained separate and there were two separate Parliaments until 1707, when James’s great-granddaughter Anne Stuart ceased to be Queen Anne of Scotland and England, and became Queen Anne of Great Britain with one crown and one Parliament. The ‘Honours of Scotland’, the crown jewels, were pushed into a lumber room, where Walter Scott unearthed them in 1794: see The Honours of Scotland. A Scottish Parliament with significant sovereignty was restored in 1999. See also John Buchan on A Parliament for Scotland.
Précis
In 1614, Walter Raleigh looked back over the years under James VI and I, and setting aside other grievances, expressed his conviction that the union of Scotland and England in 1603 had been the greatest blessing not only of James’s reign, but of British history, more so even than the end of the Wars of the Roses. (57 / 60 words)
In 1614, Walter Raleigh looked back over the years under James VI and I, and setting aside other grievances, expressed his conviction that the union of Scotland and England in 1603 had been the greatest blessing not only of James’s reign, but of British history, more so even than the end of the Wars of the Roses.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 60 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 50 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: besides, despite, just, otherwise, ought, until, whether, who.
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