Christopher Durston examines the personality and political ability of the monarch, the court, finance, parliament, foreign policy and religion, including James's record in Scotland and the legacies of Elizabeth I.
After the rockstar shenanigans of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I, you'd think a biography of James I might be dull, but this very brief book captures a complex character and his court (run so differently from the Tudor court) at a fascinating juncture in European history.