Englishman, is not ashamed in publike print to deny, that ther can be such a thingas Witch-craft: and so maintains the old error of the Sadducees, in denying of spirits.”
Written in the form of a dialogue and divided into three parts,
Daemonologie
was little more than a rehash of the witch lore that had been circulating in Europe for centuries: tales of humans who sell their souls to the devil and in exchange are given extraordinary powers—to fly through the air, raise storms, destroy crops, and generally cause great evil.
“My intention in this labour,” James wrote, “is only to prove two things, as I have already said: the one, that such devilish arts have been and are. The other, what exact trial and punishment they merit.”
The king provided a handy means to identify witches: “So it appears God hath appointed, for a supernatural sign of the monstrous impiety of the witches, that the water shall refuse to receive them in her bosom that have shaken off the sacred water of baptism, and wilfully refused the benefit thereof. Not so much as their eyes are able to shed tears (threaten and torture them as ye please) while they first repent (God not permitting them to dissemble their obstinacy in so horrible a crime) albeit the womenkind especially be able otherways to shed tears at every light occasion when they will, yea, although it were dissemblingly like the crocodiles.”
Six years after the publication of this edifying bit of scholarship, in 1603, James inherited the throne of England. By then his interest in witchcraft was diminishing as he became increasingly focused on the parliaments that would bedevil him throughout his reign. Yet even without the king’s personal attention, the persecution he launched in Scotland raged on for another century or so—a testament to the power of officially sanctioned superstition.
* Not to be confused with the Bothwell who married James’s mother after murdering his father.
9
James I (VI of Scotland) 1603–1625: Arbella Stuart: Too Close for Comfort
I must shape my own coat according to my cloth.
—A RBELLA S TUART
As a great-great-granddaughter of Henry VIII’s sister Margaret, Arbella Stuart had a viable claim to the crown, which, in the bloody politics of the day, put her in a very precarious position. It was a danger Arbella failed to heed
.
King James VI of Scotland became King James I of England in a peaceful transfer of power when Queen Elizabeth died in 1603. His succession had by no means been assured, however. A rival for the crown was James’s first cousin Arbella Stuart, a young woman proud of her “most royal lineage” and determined to forge her own destiny. “I must shape my own coat according to my cloth,” she once declared, “but it will not be after the fashion of this world but fit for me.” Arbella’s royalty made her drive for independence extremely dangerous. And her failure to recognize this inescapable fact led to her doom. Along the way, though, she made some impressively bold strides.
Royal blood ran thick in Arbella Stuart as a descendant on her father’s side of Margaret Tudor, Henry VIII’s older sister (see Tudor family tree, this page ). This “renowned stock,” as Arbella called it, made her a very valuable commodity, and herfamily was determined to profit by it. Orphaned at a young age, she was left in the care of her maternal grandmother, Elizabeth, Countess of Shrewsbury (popularly known as Bess of Hardwick), “a woman of masculine understanding,” as the antiquarian Edmund Lodge described her—“proud, furious, selfish and unfeeling.” Perhaps she wasn’t quite that bad, but Bess was indeed formidable. Four lucrative marriages in succession—the last to the Earl of Shrewsbury, one of the most prominent peers in England, as well as the keeper (for a time) of the captive Mary, Queen of Scots—made Bess one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in England. She had already married her daughter Elizabeth
Written in the form of a dialogue and divided into three parts,
Daemonologie
was little more than a rehash of the witch lore that had been circulating in Europe for centuries: tales of humans who sell their souls to the devil and in exchange are given extraordinary powers—to fly through the air, raise storms, destroy crops, and generally cause great evil.
“My intention in this labour,” James wrote, “is only to prove two things, as I have already said: the one, that such devilish arts have been and are. The other, what exact trial and punishment they merit.”
The king provided a handy means to identify witches: “So it appears God hath appointed, for a supernatural sign of the monstrous impiety of the witches, that the water shall refuse to receive them in her bosom that have shaken off the sacred water of baptism, and wilfully refused the benefit thereof. Not so much as their eyes are able to shed tears (threaten and torture them as ye please) while they first repent (God not permitting them to dissemble their obstinacy in so horrible a crime) albeit the womenkind especially be able otherways to shed tears at every light occasion when they will, yea, although it were dissemblingly like the crocodiles.”
Six years after the publication of this edifying bit of scholarship, in 1603, James inherited the throne of England. By then his interest in witchcraft was diminishing as he became increasingly focused on the parliaments that would bedevil him throughout his reign. Yet even without the king’s personal attention, the persecution he launched in Scotland raged on for another century or so—a testament to the power of officially sanctioned superstition.
* Not to be confused with the Bothwell who married James’s mother after murdering his father.
9
James I (VI of Scotland) 1603–1625: Arbella Stuart: Too Close for Comfort
I must shape my own coat according to my cloth.
—A RBELLA S TUART
As a great-great-granddaughter of Henry VIII’s sister Margaret, Arbella Stuart had a viable claim to the crown, which, in the bloody politics of the day, put her in a very precarious position. It was a danger Arbella failed to heed
.
King James VI of Scotland became King James I of England in a peaceful transfer of power when Queen Elizabeth died in 1603. His succession had by no means been assured, however. A rival for the crown was James’s first cousin Arbella Stuart, a young woman proud of her “most royal lineage” and determined to forge her own destiny. “I must shape my own coat according to my cloth,” she once declared, “but it will not be after the fashion of this world but fit for me.” Arbella’s royalty made her drive for independence extremely dangerous. And her failure to recognize this inescapable fact led to her doom. Along the way, though, she made some impressively bold strides.
Royal blood ran thick in Arbella Stuart as a descendant on her father’s side of Margaret Tudor, Henry VIII’s older sister (see Tudor family tree, this page ). This “renowned stock,” as Arbella called it, made her a very valuable commodity, and herfamily was determined to profit by it. Orphaned at a young age, she was left in the care of her maternal grandmother, Elizabeth, Countess of Shrewsbury (popularly known as Bess of Hardwick), “a woman of masculine understanding,” as the antiquarian Edmund Lodge described her—“proud, furious, selfish and unfeeling.” Perhaps she wasn’t quite that bad, but Bess was indeed formidable. Four lucrative marriages in succession—the last to the Earl of Shrewsbury, one of the most prominent peers in England, as well as the keeper (for a time) of the captive Mary, Queen of Scots—made Bess one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in England. She had already married her daughter Elizabeth
Similar Books
