King James I

James VI of Scotland and I of England (1566–1625) was the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, and became king of Scotland at thirteen months when his mother was forced to abdicate. He succeeded Elizabeth I in 1603, uniting the crowns, and reigned over both kingdoms until his death. A learned and argumentative monarch, he wrote on kingship in The True Law of Free Monarchies and Basilikon Doron, on witchcraft in Daemonologie (1597), and against tobacco, and he commissioned the translation of the Bible that bears his name. His reign saw the Gunpowder Plot, the Plantation of Ulster and the first English settlement at Jamestown, Virginia.