The Welsh The Biography by Terry Breverton

Author:Terry Breverton [Breverton, Terry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Biography, Historical, Languages, Non-Fiction, Wales
ISBN: 9781445608082
Publisher: Amberley Publishing
Published: 2012-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

8

Wales, the Stuarts & Civil War 1604–1707

In 1621, John Davies wrote, ‘It is a matter of astonishment that a handful of the remaining Britons, in so confined a corner, despite the oppression of the English and the Normans, have for so many centuries kept not only the name of their ancestors but also their own original language to this very day, without any change of importance, and without corruption’ (Antiquae Linguae Britannicae).

Government

Mary had become Queen of Scotland when only nine days old upon the death of her father, James V, and was married to Francis II of France until his death in 1560. James Stewart was the only son of Mary, Queen of Scots. His father was her first cousin and second husband, Henry Stewart, Lord Darnley. Both Mary and Darnley were great-grandchildren of Henry VII through Margaret Tudor, the elder sister of Henry VIII. Darnley’s downfall was caused by his involvement in the murder in 1566 of David Rizzio, a favoured Italian courtier who had allegedly impregnated Mary. Darnley was himself murdered in 1567, and James Stewart may well have been the child of Rizzio rather than Darnley. The Earl of Bothwell, responsible for killing Darnley, married Mary in 1567, a month after his acquittal for the murder, but an immediate uprising forced Mary to abdicate in favour of her son James Stewart, who became James VI of Scotland. Mary tried to regain the throne, but was forced to flee to England to the protection of Elizabeth I. Unfortunately, Mary had previously claimed Elizabeth’s throne as her own and was considered its legitimate queen by many Catholics. Elizabeth thus had Mary confined in a number of castles and manors in England. After almost nineteen years in custody, Mary was tried and executed in 1587 for her involvement in plots to assassinate Elizabeth.

Elizabeth Tudor died heirless in 1603, and James Stewart (later known as Stuart) succeeded her as James VI of Scotland and James I of England. Scotland and England were now run as individual sovereign states, with their own parliaments, judiciary and laws, though both were ruled by James ‘in personal union’. He was proclaimed ‘James the First, King of England, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith’ in London, but a year later issued a proclamation at Westminster changing his style to ‘King of Great Britain, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, etc.’ Wales was not included. Henry VIII’s last will and testament had excluded the Stuarts from succeeding to the English throne, so the accession of James could have been illegal. If Rizzio was his father, this would also have made his accession invalid. James married Anne of Denmark when she was fourteen. In 1610, James’s son Henry Frederick Stuart was invested as the Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester, probably giving Wales an Italian-Scottish-Danish figurehead, but died of typhoid fever aged eighteen. His brother Charles became heir to the Crown. James ruled Scotland from London, but kept the Council of Wales to control Welsh law and administration.

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