[MR] Wikipedia: Accession of James VI / I

Garth Groff and Sally Sanford mallardlodge1000 at gmail.com
Mon Jul 29 03:26:21 PDT 2019


Noble Friends,

On this date in 1567, James VI was crowned King of Scotland (apparently no
long styled "King of Scots", which was a different concept of kingship).
James was just 13 months old, and became king upon the forced abdication by
his mother, Mary Queen of Scots. Scotland was then ruled by regents, the
bane of Scotland's governance, until James gained full control in 1583:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_VI_and_I

James succeeded Queen Elizabeth I of England on 24 March 1603. This is
generally considered the end of our SCA period of interest, but let's not
forget that James was already a powerful monarch in Scotland in name or in
fact for 36 years during the SCA period.

Because James and his descendants ruled two independent countries with
separate governments and separate laws until 1707, the James all get two
confusing regnal numbers after their names beginning in 1603. Whether he's
James VI / I or James I / VI depends on which side of the border you stand.
Since I'm a proud Scot in both actual ancestory and SCA character, VI comes
first for me, even though I'm less than thrilled with James or most of the
other Stuart rulers. Generally historians put the English number first,
since of the two kingdoms England is much larger and historically more
important than Scotland (Ha!) and James I and his descendants all ruled
from England and largely ignored Scotland.

The numbering situation gets to be even more fun with the exiled Stuart
pretenders, James II / VII, James  III / IX and Charles III (aka "Bonnie
Prince" Charlie), as they styled themselves. If Charles, Prince of Wales,
ascends to the throne will he be Charles III (logical) or Charles IV
(though unlikely, taking the Bonnie Prince into account)? And what will
happen if Scotland goes independent again, but continues to accept the
Windsors as heads of state? At least William and Georgie won't need two
regnal numbers. This is all fascinating, but beyond the SCA.

Yours Aye,

Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆


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