Up a Tree

James I had more impact on religion than commissioning the Bible that bears his name. Turns out, a few years earlier he wrote a book on demons, and one of England's longest lasting acts prohibiting witchcraft was passed early in his rule. I ran across this information while researching Sharon's side of the tree, and although I don't believe any of them had anything to with the legislation beyond voting on it, I thought I'd post about it before moving on to one of her relatives who's already been mentioned in connection with Guy Fawkes. Coincidentally he served on a couple of the same committees Sir John Hungerford served on, so they would have known each other. James' book on demons, aptly titled Demonology, appeared in 1597 in Scotland and was republished in England in 1603, when he assumed the throne there. Some scholars believe the book influenced Shakespeare's MacBeth, which dates to 1623. Others theorize Will might have been making some sort of subtle p...

I had intended to move on from Sir John Hungerford, but as I reviewed his bio, I ran across another committee assignment -- on a conference committee with the Lords (House of Lords) involving something called the Great Contract.  Sounds impressive enough, so I looked it up.  I'll be trying here to summarize the information from the Encyclopedia Britannica, so any mistakes are purely my own.  James I, just to review, was king in Scotland when Elizabeth I died, and he was next in succession to the English throne. Now we all know it takes money to run a country, but in a country where the rulers are supported by the public coffers, how much money coming in becomes a bit more personal.  The budget for Scotland ran to about £50,000. England was bigger and needed more income, so James may have thought that when he took over, he'd have more to work with. Alas, Elizabeth had left a debt in excess of £400,000. Just running his household would cost more money than his single p...