The Union of the Crowns
James VI of Scotland inherits the English throne and moves to London, uniting the two crowns under one monarch while the kingdoms stay separate.
- Scotland: A New History — Michael Lynch, Pimlico (1992)
- The Oxford Companion to Scottish History — Michael Lynch (ed.), Oxford University Press (2001)
When Elizabeth I died childless, her nearest heir was her cousin’s grandson James VI of Scotland, son of Mary, Queen of Scots. He became James I of England and moved south, returning to Scotland only once. He styled himself King of Great Britain and promoted a union flag, but the two parliaments, churches and legal systems stayed separate. Scotland now had an absentee king, and its politics would increasingly be shaped in London. James’s plantation of Ulster, begun in 1609, sent tens of thousands of Lowland Scots across the North Channel.
- Scotland: A New History — Michael Lynch, Pimlico (1992)
- The Oxford Companion to Scottish History — Michael Lynch (ed.), Oxford University Press (2001)
- Making Ireland British, 1580–1650 — Nicholas Canny, Oxford University Press (2001)
Why it matters today
1603 is the start of the shared British story, and a reminder that it began with a Scottish king taking over England, not the other way round. The century of tension that followed, with an absent monarch, previewed the arguments about who really governs Scotland.