ESSAY: How successfully did James I deal with religious problems during his reign?

Coming from Scotland and having a Catholic wife and mother meant that James was expected to be lenient towards both Catholic and Protestant faiths. Scotland had a Presbyterian church, and by many, James was considered to be a hotter sort of Protestant. This led to many puritans gaining the hope that James would reform the Church of England. James wanted for there to be peace between the two faiths in England; however he was less than willing to allow the Church of England to become Presbyterian. It was tradition for the monarch to run the church under an Episcopal structure, with the help of bishops to enforce the rules. James wanted to continue this yet still sought ways in which he could keep puritans to remain within the Church of England. He went about this through discussion of Puritan reforms during the Hampton Court Conference and set about enforcing new rules in which people now had to abide by.  He also took on a lenient stance towards Catholics in an attempt to keep the peace at home.

James also wanted peace abroad. Through the Spanish match, ending the war with Spain and his many attempts at playing peacemaker he tried to avoid a religious war breaking out in Europe and therefore gained a passive stance when it came to foreign affairs.

Many believe that James’s endeavour towards reconciliation was successful due to the minimal uproar in English religious affairs. However others would disagree, saying that the thirty year war and outbreak of the ‘puritan revolution’ of 1642 was enough to convince anyone of his failure. Personally I agree with the latter, as when looking at his initial aims at the beginning of his reign it s hard to argue that he was entirely successful in achieving them.  

One of James’s aims was to Improve upon the Church of England; meaning that he wanted both Catholics and Protestants to remain part of the church.  He also wanted to continue the long lived tradition of the monarch being head of the church along with bishops acting as his rule enforcers. However there were some traditions that the King was willing to abandon in the pursuit of peace, such as the idea that all subjects should follow the same religion as the monarch. James was protestant, however he was willing to accept Catholicism as ‘toleration was his intention’ – Dicken and Fellows. James also intended on ruling out and getting rid of extremists – this being primarily radical Puritans and Jesuits. He set off in an attempt to achieve these aims at the Hampton Court Conference of January 1604, after he was met with the Millenary Petition.  He agreed to discuss the terms that the Puritans had presented to him including: the expulsion of ‘popish practices’, a sufficient ministry and an end to pluralism. James got angered when Presbyterianism was mentioned; however the outcome was still relatively positive. He allowed a few reforms, yet was still able to maintain his stance on a Presbyterian church as he made sure that the majority of practices, previously rejected by Puritans, were still enforced (e.g. wearing a surplice). He also produced 141 canons by which the Church had to abide by; one of which was that they all had to sign an oath professing their loyalty to the King. This successfully allowed the king to identify rebellious and radical figure and remove them from the picture, therefore lessening his opposition.  Also, luckily for James, only 1% of those asked refused to sign the oath, meaning that he was still able to succeed in his aim of keeping the majority of both Catholics and Protestants within the Church of England. In addition to this, after 1605, James was willing to turn a blind eye if ministers chose not to comply to the rules as long as they remained neutral; this proves to have a positive effect as there is little evidence of Puritan resentment in the early years of James’s reign. 

This would appear to be a success for James; however when looking at the bigger picture it did little in his favour. An example of this would be that, because of his angered state at the mention of Presbyterianism, he missed a vital opportunity to fully bring the Puritan faith back into the Anglican Church.  This would have been extremely beneficial to James as he would have been able to maintain the peace by showing himself as a tolerant leader and the Church as a place in which both religions could co-exist peacefully. It would also have diminished his distaste towards extreme Protestants as, if they had joined the church, they would have been at least partially within his control. Also, although there may be little evidence in the early periods of his reign, his insistence on Puritans conforming to the rules of the church whilst the reforms that they were promised were not enforced, caused a deep-rooted hostility within the Puritan religion. This would eventually blow up in James’s face as the eruption of the ‘puritan revolution’ which was soon to come in 1642. It could be argued that it was the fault of the bishops that the reforms were not enforced however the bishops followed the instruction of James. Therefore the responsibility lies firmly on his shoulders, as, as King, he should have overcome the bishop’s obstructions. 

James’s key aim of keeping religious peace within England meant that he would have to allow a moderate extent of toleration towards Catholicism. At the beginning of his reign, James had tried to win the support of Catholics and had even said that ‘I will not persecute any that will be quiet and give an outward obedience to the law’. He wanted both Catholics and Protestants to unite under one church so that he could be ‘the link between Catholics and Protestants, able to speak to both on equal terms’ – Roger Lockyer (historian).  He believed that by marrying his son to the Catholic Spanish Infanta he would become this influential mediator, able to speak and relate with both Catholics and Protestants at home and across seas. He also thought that by eliminating the radical sides of both religions, they would be able to comfortably co-exist under one main church body. However the Spanish match only increased tensions as Protestants saw this as a betrayal of the national interest as Catholics were viewed as the enemy of the state. Also, although James made it clear to a close few that he accepted Catholicism and did not plan on persecution, he did not make it common knowledge. He did not intend on the anti – catholic legislations that were introduced, however he did not exert himself in trying to confront pressures from puritans in parliament, the pope or recusancy fines either. James in fact began collecting these fines as early as 1604, a move that he well knew would upset many Catholics and cause a deep-seated distaste towards him. This, in actuality, can be proved by the many plots against him, formed by angry Catholics; the most famous of these being the gunpowder plot, in which it was schemed to blow up both James and parliament. It can not be argued that this provides no evidence towards James actions being unsuccessful in regard to retaining religious peace within England. 

James mostly wanted to take on the role of the peaceful mediator when regarding foreign affairs. Some would argue that this is due to the turbulent times of his childhood or simply because he believed in peace rather than war. He therefore took on an inactive stance when it came to disputes abroad, in the hope that this would allow him to remain friendly with both Catholic and Protestant faiths. He instead set about first ending the war with Spain at the beginning of his reign. He then married his daughter Elizabeth to the Protestant Elector of Palatine and organised the Spanish match for his son Charles to marry the Catholic Spanish Infanta. He also created a truce between Spain and the Netherlands. All of these movements would suggest that James was truly adamant on religious peace is Europe. Many, in fact, would argue that James took many big steps in the right direction towards peace, for example he advised the Elector Palatine not to take the throne of Bohemia, in an attempt to avoid conflict. However James seemed to have over looked  a crucial flaw in his plan; in order for his policy to work he would have to appear well supported at home, to show that religious peace was possible in Europe. However, quite the opposite was happening. The majority of English citizens were not happy at all as they saw the Spanish match as a betrayal to the state; Catholics were the enemy and therefore so was the Spanish Infanta.  This ultimately led to a great upset; not helping James in his policy at all. 

His grand scheme of bringing a Catholic and Protestant state together under this glorious marriage, was also a huge failure when it came to an end after Charles and Buckingham’s unsuccessful trip to Spain in February 1623. This not only led to the failure of the Spanish match but also to a thirty war which broke out in 1618.  It would have been possible to prevent this, yet James didn’t.  James had initially tried to cultivate a relationship with the Habsburgs of Spain and prove England to be a powerful ally by putting money into equipping the country for war. This, again, led to further failures in trying to maintain the peace as it highlighted the differences in attitudes towards Catholicism in parliament and therefore created tension between MPs. This therefore did not show England to be at religious peace, which was what James needed to show if his policy was going to work. 

James took many steps in the right direction towards his hopeful policy of peace. The Spanish Match, welcoming stance towards Catholicism and the calling of the Hampton Court Conference were all crucial steps towards a more peaceful England. However, although it could be said that much was achieved from the events, I believe, that they all ultimately ended in failure, The Hampton Court Conference, although some Puritan reforms were made, at the end of the day left a deep-seated resentment towards the monarchy, which eventually erupted in a puritan revolution in 1642. 

James’s openness towards Catholicism, no matter how inviting it may have appeared to Catholics, was completely insignificant when he allowed recusancy fines to be introduced and appointed an anti-catholic as Arch Bishop of Canterbury. Evidence can be provided to show that James did little to settle tensions within the Catholic faith as multiple plots were conspired by Catholics in the hope of killing him. And finally the Spanish Match was an admirable yet overly ambitious as he was made to look like a fool by the Spanish with there unreachable marriage terms, he caused tensions at home with negative protestant reactions to the Catholic princess and by not controlling his son, he entered a thirty year long war starting in 1618. 

Overall I think that this proves that James was not successful in dealing with religious problems during his reign. He was unable to settle the tensions between Catholics and Protestants at home that remained from Elizabeth’s reign, and this can be proved through the Catholic plots made against him and the war that finally erupted in 1642 due to the deep-seated distaste towards James within the Puritan faith.  He also failed to successfully deal with religious tensions abroad as he ultimately ended up entering thirty year war in 1618. Therefore, when looking beyond the small amount of change and peace James was able to create, I believe that James was not able to successfully achieve his aims and achieve religious peace.