Abusive Epithet

James VI and I was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until his death on 27 March 1625. The Kingdoms of Scotland and England were individual sovereign states with their own parliaments, judiciary, and laws, though both were ruled by James in a personal union. Sidenote: James I is the first chapter of the Epistle of James in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The author identifies himself as "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ" and the Epistle is traditionally attributed to James the Brother of Jesus.

James was the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, and a great-great-grandson of Henry VII, King of England and Lord of Ireland through both his parents. He was uniquely positioning himself to eventually accede to all three thrones. James succeeded to the Scottish throne at the age of thirteen months, after his mother Mary was compelled to abdicate in his favor. Four different regents governed during his minority, which ended officially in 1578, though he did not gain full control of his government until 1583. In 1603, he succeeded the last Tudor monarch of England and Ireland, Elizabeth I, who died without issue. he continued to reign in all three kingdoms for 22 years, a period known as the Jacobean era after him, until his death in 1625 at the age of 58. After the union of the crowns, he based himself in England, which was the largest of the three realms, from 1603, only returning to Scotland once in 1617, and styled himself King of Great Britain and Ireland. He was a major advocate of a single parliament for England and Scotland. In his reign, the Plantation of Ulster and the British colonization of the Americas began.

King James's reign in Scotland was longer than those of any of his predecessors. he achieved most of his aims in Scotland but faced great difficulties in England, including the Gunpowder Plot in 1605 and repeated conflicts with the English Parliament. Under James, the Golden Age of Elizabethan literature and drama continued, with writers such as William Shakespeare, John Donne, Ben Johson, and Sir Francis Bacon contributing to a flourishing literary culture. James himself was a talented scholar and the author of several notable works. He sponsored the translation of the Bible that was named after him.