Episode 49: Heaven’s Throne on Earth: James I and the Politics of Divine Authority
Description
This episode will cover James I and the Divine Right of Kings.
Primary Source I:James VI, King of Scotland, The True Law of Free Monarchies, 1598.
“Kings are called gods by the prophetical King David, because they sit upon God his throne in the earth, and have the count of their administration to give unto Him. Their office is to minister justice and judgment to their subjects, to maintain the religion presently professed, and to rule all estates and degrees under them, according to their laws. So as a king, being a speaking law, ought to be a pattern to his people, that their acts may be framed according to the example of his virtue.”
James I, King of England and Scotland, Excerpt from a Speech to Parliament, March 21, 1609.
“The state of monarchy is the supremest thing upon earth; for kings are not only God’s lieutenants upon earth and sit upon God’s throne, but even by God himself they are called gods. … They make and unmake their subjects, they have power of raising and casting down, of life and of death, of judgment and of mercy, and yet are accountable to none but God only.” Secondary Source I:
Source: Pauline Croft, a leading modern Stuart historian, writes amid 21st-century reassessments that see James as both learned and out of step with England’s evolving constitutionalism, King James (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003), p. 45.
“James VI and I was an intellectual monarch who sought to harmonize theology and politics in an age of division, but his insistence on the divine right of kings often undermined his own objectives. His conviction that monarchy was sacred, and that resistance equaled sin, left him ill-equipped to navigate the constitutional realities of England. Yet James was not a despot; he preferred persuasion to coercion, peace to war. His tragedy was that his ideals belonged to a fading medieval order, while his subjects increasingly inhabited the modern political world of bargaining, consent, and law.”
Trapped in History Email Links:
robert.malcomson@logan.kyschools.us
trappedinhistorypodcast@gmail.com
Social Media Outlets:
Facebook Group Link: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/zr3rKGzVG2ZN4x8n/
TikTok Link: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZP881jy21/
Instagram: robertmalcomson
Substack Link: trappedinhistory.substack.com / @trappedinhistory
Recommended Websites:
Preston Stewart YouTube Channel (Military/History/Global Events)
https://www.youtube.com/@PrestonStewart
Foreign Policy Research Institute Link:
Council on Foreign Relations
Global Conflict Tracker
https://www.cfr.org/global-conflict-tracker
Institute for the Study of War
https://www.understandingwar.org/
United States
