KING JAMES I OF ENGLAND AND VI OF SCOTLAND (d. 1625); Responsible for the accursed version of the Bible that bears his name, James was the son of a homosexual who was murdered in his bed at twenty-two, together with the page he was buggering. James, King of Scotland and England, was himself homosexual, but, understandably, unable to act on his own instincts.
All of James’ great loves were heterosexual men completely unable to return the love this unhappy man so desperately needed. Fewer heads in history were ever more uneasy wearing the crown. The joke that circulated about King James in his own day is telling: “Habuimus regem Elisabetham, habemus reginam Jacobum” (“We have had King Elizabeth, now we have Queen James.”)
Consummated or not (and one has to take into account the hetero-default of most historians of the day) throughout his life James had close relationships with male courtiers, which has caused debate among historians about their exact nature. In Scotland Anne Murray was known as the king’s mistress.
After his accession in England, his peaceful and scholarly attitude contrasted strikingly with the bellicose and flirtatious behavior of Elizabeth, as indicated by another contemporary epigram Rex fuit Elizabeth, nunc est regina Iacobus (Elizabeth was King, now James is Queen).
Some of James’s biographers conclude that Esmé Stewart, Duke of Lennox; Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset; and George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, were his lovers. John Oglander observed that he “never yet saw any fond husband make so much or so great dalliance over his beautiful spouse as I have seen King James over his favourites, especially the Duke of Buckingham” whom the king would, recalled Edward Peyton, “tumble and kiss as a mistress”.
Restoration of Apethorpe Palace, Northamptonshire, undertaken in 2004–08 revealed a previously unknown passage linking the bedchambers of James and Villiers. All of this is delighfully made visible in the Apple+ and Starz historical miniseries Mary and George. Very sexy, and let’s just say it leaves little to the imagination.
Under James, the “Golden Age” of Elizabethan literature and drama continued, with writers such as Shakespeare, John Donne, Ben Jonson and Sir Francis Bacon contributing to a flourishing literary culture. James himself was a talented scholar, the author of works such as Daemonologie (1597) and Basilikon Doron (1599).
Sir Anthony Weldon claimed that James had been termed “the wisest fool in Christendom”, an epithet associated with his character ever since (and, I’m sure we need not remind you if you’ve been paying attention!…one of the essential archetypes of same-sex people across time and cultures in history.)
James’s preference for handsome young men led to murderous rivalry and corruption at his court. The king indulged his second son Charles, who was in turn besotted with his father’s favorite, the dashing George Villiers. As the result of King James I’s refusal to grant more religious toleration to Catholics, there was at least one attempt by the Vatican to assassinate James. The infamous Gunpowder Plot of 1605, celebrated as Guy Fawkes Day in Britain, aimed to assassinate James and blow up Parliament. Jesuit involvement was suspected, leading to heightened tensions between Catholics and Protestants. The plot was foiled, resulting in severe repercussions for Catholics in England.
For a solid history of James I, The Six Loves of James I, by Gareth Russe provides an excellent overview of this patron of the King James edition of the Bible and his boyfriends.