James I

James was the first Stuart King of England. He was also King of Scotland and claimed to be King of France. James inherited the Crown of England after the death of his cousin Queen Elizabeth I. He was never a very popular monarch and laid much of the groundwork that would eventually lead to the beheading of his heir Charles I during the English Civil War. During his rule things were relatively stable, however, and much of the cultural flourishing of Elizabethean England continued.