James I to the Interregnum
A quick overview of the Kings of England from James I in 1603 to the Interregnum in 1651.
King James I 1603-1625 to The Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell 1653-1658
A quick overview of the Kings of England from James I in 1603 to the Interregnum in 1651.
King James I 1603-1625 to The Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell 1653-1658
This post is number 9 in the series Kings and Queens of England
Below is a brief overview of the Kings of England from James I in 1603, in whose reign the first American colonies were established, to the Interregnum in 1649, when for eleven years England was a republic.
JAMES, Henry VII’s great-great-grandson and the son of Mary Queen of Scots, held the Scottish and English crowns together as James VI and I.* His reign built on Elizabeth’s successes, in culture with the publication of the Authorised Version of the Bible, and in adventure with the establishment of the first American colonies.
However, the struggles for power persisted too. In 1605, Guy Fawkes and his Roman Catholic confederates narrowly failed to blow up James and his English Parliament, and after James’s son Charles I came to the throne in 1629, the Parliaments in London and Edinburgh became increasingly restive, demanding a new power-sharing constitution, and the nationwide enforcement of an extreme brand of Swiss Protestantism.
Charles refused, and in 1639 Civil War broke out.
The capture, trial for ‘treason’ and subsequent execution of Charles I in 1649 ushered in a new, republican England under Parliament’s commander-in-chief, General Oliver Cromwell.* But the ‘Lord Protector’ had all Charles’s authoritarianism, and none of his charm.
Next in series: The Interregnum to Anne
This arrangement persisted until 1707, when the two crowns (and Parliaments) were merged in the Act of Union. The numbering of the monarchs reflected the two separate crowns: James VI of Scotland and I of England; Charles I (of both); Charles II; James VII and II; William III and II and Mary II; Anne. Anne was the first Queen of Great Britain.