London Revisited: The Road to Civil War
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Hello, I'm Rosemary Hill. Welcome to London Revisited, a close reading series for the London Review of Books and today I'm joined again by Vanessa Harding. Hello Vanessa, welcome. At the end of our last episode, we talked about the death of Queen Elizabeth, who died in 1603, leaving no clear instructions about her heir. So we now begin with James VI of Scotland, who became James I of England, a new monarch, a new age, and a particularly turbulent period in London's history, even by the standards of what's gone before. We'll see London preparing to be besieged for the first time since the Middle Ages. We will see the entire country torn by civil war. By the end of the period we're going to talk about today, Britain had become a republic.
And out of this extraordinary tumultuous period, we hear one of the most eloquent voices of the age, that of John Milton, writing in 1644 against censorship.
Behold now this vast city, a city of refuge, the mansion-house of liberty, encompassed and surrounded with his protection. The shop of war hath not there more anvils and hammers waking, to fashion out the plates and instruments of armed justice in defence of beleaguered truth, than there be pens and heads there, sitting by their studious lamps, musing, searching, revolving, new notions and ideas wherewith to present
How did James VI’s arrival in London reshape the monarchy and public expectations?
as with their homage and their fealty the approaching reformation others as fast reading trying all things assenting to the force of reason and convincement what could a man require more from a nation so pliant and so prone to seek after knowledge What wants there to such a towardly and pregnant soil, but wise and faithful labourers, to make a knowing people, a nation of prophets, of sages and of worthies?
Milton was a Londoner and a parliamentarian. He was writing in defence of free speech. envisaging the ideal of London as it might emerge from the turbulence of the 1640s. But before we get there, let's go back to the beginning of the period when James VI of Scotland arrives in London, becomes James I of England, Not an easy start to the reign because his arrival in London is delayed by yet another outbreak of plague. So his royal entry was postponed until 1604, but also a slightly bumpy landing as far as London was concerned, as far as people were concerned.
I think the thing is that because Elizabeth has been on her last legs for so long, there are enormous expectations of this new king. And some of them are happily met. the fact that he's a mature man, he's married, he's got children. So the question of succession is not going to come up for some time. But of course, particularly religious thinkers on both the Puritan side and the Catholic side have expectations that things that they've been waiting to change will change. And some of those are bound to be disappointed. James himself, of course, is a Protestant.
Yes. So that's one thing that is clear. He is the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, who famously was a Catholic. But he has arrived as a Protestant to be the center of a larger monarchy because this is going to be England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland. all brought together. And one of the things we see is that the iconography, Elizabeth of course used iconography a great deal, the image of Gloriana, the image of England, and this now becomes a bigger picture, Britannia. And James is very...
keen to promote the image of his kingship. And unlike Elizabeth, he's a big spender. So he likes all kinds of splendor, pageants, masks, representations of the monarchy. I mean, this is just a key part of presenting himself to the British people.
And also a bit of a dandy. I mean, 2,000 pairs of gloves? He was a big, big spender. Yes. Elizabeth was a very big spender of other people's money. But James is prepared to splash the cash. And also, as I say, to instill this idea of Britannia, which goes back to the mythic origins of Britain. being founded by Brutus the Trojan and so on. It's all very, very misty, but it is an idea that it's always, I mean, politically, it's always a very good idea if you want to introduce a new theme.
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