James VI and I : Collected Essays by Jenny Wormald

Author: Jenny Wormald

United Kingdom, Great Britain

Published on 2 April 2026 by Birlinn General (John Donald) in the United Kingdom.

Paperback | 528 pages, 8 Plates, black and white
234 x 158 x 44 | 680g

The renowned historian Jenny Wormald was a ground-breaking expert on early modern Scottish history, especially Stewart kingship, noble power and wider society. She was most controversial in her book-length critique of Mary, Queen of Scots. Unfortunately, Jenny never got round to producing a similar monograph on a monarch she was infinitely more fond of, King James VI and I, before her untimely death in 2015.

In the absence of such a book, this volume brings together all the major essays by Jenny on James. She wrote on almost every aspect and every major event of James' reign, from the famous Gunpowder Plot, the Plantation of Ulster, the Gowrie Conspiracy, to the witchcraft panics, as well as James' extensive writings. She wrote extensively on James' Scottish rule, but she was also keenly interested in James as the first king of all of Britain, and many of her essays unpick the issues surrounding the Union of the Crowns and James' rule over all three of his kingdoms.

This book is an invaluable resource for any scholar on this crucial time in the history of the British Isles.