King James VI and I: Selected Writings

Contemporary Review, May, 2004

King James VI and I: Selected Writings. Neil Rhodes, Jennifer Richards and Joseph Marshall, editors. Ashgate. [pounds sterling]49.50. xiv 413 pages. ISBN 0-7546-0482-9. The 'revision' of James I among historians and biographers has been a marked feature during the last decade or so. Once dismissed as the 'wisest fool in Christendom' he is now regarded as a serious figure, a man of understanding and abilities in politics and, in religion, a far more tolerant man than his subjects.

He also published more works than any other British sovereign including Queen Victoria: he was 'a compulsive communicator'. This volume brings together his 'more significant works ... to demonstrate the diversity of his interests and achievements as a writer'. The last such volume appeared in 1617 and omitted poetry. In addition to poetry, the King produced translations, controversial pieces (the most famous was that against tobacco), meditations, commentaries on scripture, political theory and kingship. He also was a patron of Shakespeare, Jonson and Donne and was behind the Authorised Bible. He was, the editors write, himself part of an early seventeenth-century literary renaissance that came with the expansion in the book trade. As a writer he may have failed to get his views accepted but an understanding of his writings is essential to an understanding of his reign and historical significance. This well edited collection will prove essential for any historian of the period. (E.H.F.)