13. Wise Fool

James I of England (VI of Scotland) had clear ideas of what kingship meant. It meant he'd been chosen by God to run the show and Parliament wasn't going to get in his way. The trouble was, Parliament controlled the money. And James's attitude wasn't going to make any friends there.

A fine scholar, he proved himself pretty useless as a politician. No wonder they called him "the wisest fool in Christendom".

Illustration: Title page of a King James Bible, lasting legacy of the first Stuart King
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Music: Bach Partita #2c by J Bu licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (aka Music Sharing) 3.0 International License