King James I of England (VI of Scotland) - Research Paper Example

“King James I of England” The research paper below discusses a fraction of the life of King James the VI of Scotland and I of England. The basic purpose of the paper is to uncover the reasons behind King James’s deep interest in witchcraft and the subject of demonology. This paper seeks to explain why King James sought to the rigorous witch hunts particularly throughout Scotland and also why he did not rally the same in England. The paper starts with a brief introduction about King James’s road to monarchy, followed by the reasons behind his interest in demonology and witchcraft. This paper also explains some of the torture tactics that were used by the King and his company in order to persecute the witches and how the witch hunts initially began. Some of the content of the King’s book on the subject is also covered in the research paper in order to prove certain points from history and the King’s obsession with the idea and persecution of witches. Introduction King James I of England and VI of Scotland had had a rough past before he was crowned as the King of England in 1603, following the demise of Queen Elizabeth. Following the death of his mother, Queen Mary, at the age of thirteen months he was crowned as the King of Scotland. It is said that King James was amongst the most learned Kings in history, he knew a vast variety of languages due to which he did not need translators in order to perform trade deals. The fact that he ruled England and Scotland both comes as a surprise to many, since it is obvious that the Scott and the English have always remained at odds. Yet a Scott ruled England for a considerable period of time and was quite loved by the English, therefore it is said that King James united the English and Scott and was responsible for reducing the animosity that existed between the two (Mabry , 30-31). King James’s Interest in Demonology Demonology has been defined as the study of demons or of demonic belief (Merriam-Webster). Demonology was a topic that had gained immense popularity by the 16th century. Therefore at the time when King James started his scholarly career in the study of demonology, a lot of literature regarding the topic already existed to provide assistance. As a subject, demonology was restricted to the elite while the poor merely stuck to their beliefs regarding the devil and its worshippers. King James’s interest in Demonology is said to have its roots in his visit to Denmark, when he was going to see his future wife. On his visit, he met with the famous Danish demonologist Niels Hemmingsen, in 1589-1590. The idea of demonology was only remotely known in Scotland till it was taken interest in by King James; rather many of the scholars say that King James was the one who introduced the idea of Demonology in Scotland (Ryynanen , 1-39). King James was the only monarch in history to have studied and written a book on the subject of demonology. The title of the book was Daemonologie. Many scholars see the political inclinations of the book and argue that the third part of the book, with descriptions of the demons seems somewhat different than the first two parts and is thought to have been influenced by the political turmoil he had to face during the 1590s. On his visit to Denmark, King James was stuck in a terrible storm and that is what triggered his belief in the idea of witchcraft and demonology. The Witch Hunts While on his way to Denmark, the King’s ship was stuck in a dangerous storm, which was later confessed to have been a witch plot to take the life of King James. It was this confession in the 1590 that led to the rigorous witch hunt throughout Scotland in 1590 (Normand and Roberts). Amongst the very first instances of the persecutions during the witch hunt was that of Geillis Duncane, the maidservant of David Seaton - a deputy bailiff. Duncane was skilled in medicinal treatment through herbs. This skill led to her curing many of the people who came to her with various ailments. This made Seaton curious as to why someone would want to help others without a motive and it is also famous that Seaton was a person devoid of all compassion so he just could not succumb to the idea of a poor maidservant having the power to cure people off their illnesses. When one day Duncane was caught by Seaton, leaving her house late at night and was unable to provide an adequate explanation as to the reason behind her action, Seaton accused her of being a Satan worshipper. Her refusal to give in to the idea led to Seaton getting her tortured. The torture tactics that were used on those accused of witchcraft were savage. It is said that the torture tactics used on Seaton were still milder compared to those used on others. Seaton’s finger bones were crushed, then her head was tied with ropes and then the ropes were tightened to exert pressure on her head. When after these torture tactics, Duncane still did not confess her association with witchcraft, her body was examined for marks of the devil and a mark was discovered on the neck after which Duncane confessed her association with the devil and that she used witchcraft in order to cure the people who used to come to her with ailments. After this confession, she was asked to name her partners in crime which led to her accusing more than seventy people of witchcraft. These seventy people included males as well as females. When these people were asked to spill the truth they stated that their association with the devil was part of an extended conspiracy to assassinate and thus overthrow King James as the monarch. This band of witches was to be led by the Earl of Bothwell, however sufficient evidence to prove the involvement of the Earl of Bothwell was non-existent (Review Essays). Duncane revealed names of around 200 witches of North Berwick on Halloween 1589, and this revelation led to the discovery of a detailed plan which the coven had to kill King James (Ryynanen). The Coven had met on the North Berwick shore and confessed that after seeing the King’s ship were instructed by the devil to create the storm, and the storm managed to devastate one of the ships of the King’s fleet. The King was told that the attempt was aimed towards killing him so that the rule could eventually pass to the devil. After these confessions the King personally saw to the trials of the witches and their interrogation processes. Some of the witches were tortured more than others and the King had the idea that women were more easily influenced by demonic powers than men. After the persecution of the North Berwick witches King James took the subject of witchcraft even more seriously and wanted the same for his subjects. He devised a mechanism to find out whether those accused of witchcraft were guilty or not. He said that they would be made to sail in the sea, if the ship drowned it was mark as a symbol of their innocence and if the ship did not drown it would prove that these women were guilty. Therefore as a matter of fact, there was no escape for those accused, either they would drown as a proof of their innocence or would be killed if they survived their voyage. This shows us how afraid King James was of witchcraft and the threat it posed to him and his rule of Scotland and England, that he wanted to eradicate every spec of the threat to his rule, whether or not it was supported by factual evidence or not. In his book demonology, he rallied the idea that the witches should be severely punished by the courts and the punishment must be death. King James stated that the witches should be punished even on the testimony of little children (Review Essays). Witch Hunts in England King James connected his obsession with witchcraft to religion. This is evident from the fact that the chapters of his book Daemonologie all began with reference to the bible. He spoke about the idea of witchcraft as a defense of the religion since he said the witches try to take law and religion in their own hands and need to be eradicated from the surface in order to protect religion. The witch hunts continued for a long period of time, between 1596 and 1597, twenty three women and one man were executed on the grounds of witchcraft. It is said that more than 4000 witches were put to death during the extraneous search of witches (Allen , 2010). A contrast of King James’s preaching regarding witchcraft reflected in his reign in England. When in Scotland, King James carried out rigorous witch hunts and could not stand the idea of witches; he also imposed his teachings strictly onto the people of Scotland and wanted them to take witchcraft as seriously as he did. However in England, King James’s appeared to be a different person when it came to the subject of witchcraft. He never aggressively advanced the idea of witch hunts in England. The primary reason for this was because King James considered England as a very civilized and sophisticated society - one that would not tolerate the idea of the existence of witches. The witch hunts did continue in England but not with the gravity with which they did in Scotland. One of the witch hunts that took place in England got such excessive press coverage that the King realized that in England he could not advance the idea of witchcraft and demonology the way he did in Scotland (Ryynanen). In England the King felt embarrassed discussing the subject of witches. He felt that the English were a civilized society. The English were intellectual people as compared to the Scotts. The English discussed the arts with a lot of interest; however demonology and witchcraft were not part of those discussions. Since King James was himself a very learned man, he wanted to be known in England, land of the intellectuals, as a scholarly person and for his vast knowledge. He wanted his knowledge to become his pride and not a mark of embarrassment. Therefore in England he detached himself from the idea of witches and demonology. However, it does seem a little strange to understand how a person who was so afraid of the existence of sorcery that he wanted to eradicate the very possibility of its existence, could relax about the idea when in a different country (Allen , 2010). Conclusion The research paper shows that King James was obsessed with the idea of witchcraft and demonology. Certain literature suggests the existence of political implications regarding King James’s witch hunts. The literature states that his political insecurity led him to persecute his opponents in the name of witchcraft. This might be true since it just seems odd that a person who would be so obsessed with an idea lets go of it when in a different country. However, it does feel that King James actually believed in the existence of sorcery be there a political motive or not, he thought of it as a social evil and sought to eradicate it from the surface of Scotland. Bibliography Allen, Greg Dawson. "The Pursuit of Witches." Leopard Magazine. Print. October 2002. Mabry, John R. "King James I of England." Pacific Church News. Print. Summer 2009: 30-31. Merriam-Webster. Demonology. 2010. 23 July 2011.Electronic. . Normand, Lawrence and Gareth Roberts. James VI’s Demonology and the North Berwick Witches. Print. Exeter, England: University of Exeter Press, 2000. Review Essays. "Scottish Witch Hunts of 1590." Thesis. Print. 2010. Ryynanen, Timo. "James VI: The Demonologist King." Print. University of Eastern Finland Social Sciences and Economics (2010): 1-39. Read More