Son of Henry, Lord Darnley, and Mary, queen of Scots, born in Edinburgh castle, June 19, 1566, died in the palace of Theobalds, March 27, 1625. His reign began in July, 1567, when his mother, queen regnant of Scotland, was dethroned, and power passed finally into the hands of the Protestant party. He resided at Stirling castle, under the guardianship of the earl of Mar, and his preceptor was the learned George Buchanan, who, on being reproached with having made the king a pedant, declared that it was the best he could make of him. During his minority the contest between kingsmen and queensmen was bitterly waged, and the earls of Murray, Lennox, Mar, and Morton were successively regents. In 1577, on the overthrow of Morton, James assumed power, and the next year this assumption was confirmed by parliament. He early exhibited that fondness for masculine favorites which has left a cloud on his name. He was seized by some of the nobility in 1582, but recovered his liberty and power, and banished his enemies. The latter returned in 1585, and forced the king to capitulate.

He formed an alliance with Elizabeth in behalf of Protestantism, then threatened by the great Catholic powers, and wrote a book to prove that the pope was Antichrist. He sought, but ineffectually, to save his mother's life, when she had been sentenced to death in England. He adhered to England during the expedition of the armada, knowing that Philip II. would not conquer it for him. In 1589 he made a voyage to Denmark, and married Anne, second daughter of Frederick II. His reign was much disturbed by internal troubles caused by the nobles, the clergy, and the citizens of Edinburgh. His Basilicon Doron, intended for the instruction of his son Henry, was published in 1599. He endeavored to restore episcopacy, but with no success. On the death of Elizabeth, March 24, 1603, James was proclaimed king of England by the queen's council, in violation of the will of Henry VIII. His right, however, had been recognized by Elizabeth, and rested upon his descent from Henry VII. through his great-grandmother Margaret. He left Edinburgh April 5, and journeyed to London, his clumsy person and gross manners making a most unfavorable impression on his new subjects. Cecil monopolized power. Raleigh was tried and condemned for treason, and was kept for 13 years in prison.

A disgraceful peace was made with Spain in 1604. Arbitrary sentiments prevailed at court, and the king had trouble with his parliaments. The gunpowder plot, in 1605, was caused by the disappointment of some Catholics, whom he had encouraged to hope for the mitigation of the penal laws under which they suffered. In 1612 two heretics were burned at Smith-field, the last executions of the kind in England. Henry, prince of Wales, died the same year, under suspicious circumstances. The princess Elizabeth, ancestress of the present English dynasty, was married to the elector palatine, Feb. 14, 1613. The "grand oyer of poisoning" took place in 1615-'16 (see Overbury, Sir Thomas), ending in the disgrace of the earl of Somerset, who had been a royal favorite, though now superseded by George Villiers, first duke of Buckingham of that name. Raleigh was released, and allowed to make his voyage to Guiana, but was put to death on his return, to gratify the Spanish government. James's foreign policy was shameful, and the English felt the disgrace all the more because of the contrast it made with that of Elizabeth. When the thirty years' war broke out, though it involved the fate of his daughter and son-in-law, and they lost their dominions and became exiles and beggars, he would do nothing for them.

A leading object with him was to conciliate Spain, and obtain the hand of a Spanish princess for his eldest son. Other means having failed, Buckingham, who now ruled both king and prince, persuaded Charles to go to Spain, to urge his suit for the infanta. This journey led only to disappointment, Buckingham taking offence, and, it is said, causing the marriage to be broken off. Bacon, who was lord chancellor and a peer, was disgraced in 1621, on account of his corrupt acts. War was declared against Spain in 1624, and parliament was dissolved the same year. The hand of the princess Henrietta Maria, daughter of Henry IV. of France, was now sought for Charles, and an alliance with that country against the house of Austria was contemplated. A small force was sent to the continent, to help the Protestant cause, and this was followed by a larger one; but the first accomplished nothing, and of the second one half the men perished on board their ships, France and Holland not allowing them to land. Buckingham's favor with the king was now lost, but he had great influence over the prince of Wales; and the king falling sick, the duke and his mother were suspected of having poisoned him.

His death was really caused by a tertian ague, acting on a constitution undermined by intemperance, chagrin, and mortification. The most remarkable event of James's reign was the authorized translation of the Bible into English, which was done under his patronage and by his direction. James was a man of considerable learning, but his scholarship was deformed by the most offensive pedantry, as his writings were by the grossest superstition, witches being the especial objects of his fear, hatred, and persecution.