Seeking book recommendations : The Stuarts in England

[Valmy]

I was saying that you can consider James a Homo only if you only give credence to his male affairs and completely ignore his female ones and his wife.

Well, there's also the direct secret passage between Villiers bedroom and James's in James's favourite country houses.  Indeed that house was expanded because James gave an order unique, in English history, that it's owner 'expand it for the more commodious enjoyment of the King'.  The passage between their chambers was added during that expansion.

Also James's rumours are very old .  He was called Queen James, there was 17th century verse, contemporary to James, about him fucking Villiers and the first historical accusation came from Jeremy Bentham in the late 18th century.

But it's wrong to talk of gays when you're talking about pre 20th century figures because they didn't exist.  But, as far as sodomites go, James I is one of the more likely candidates.

I am well aware of all of that...but James did have a ton of Children with his wife and had at least one affair with a woman.  His sexuality is just more  complex than simply being gay or straight.  He is the Buddha Rhubarb of Kings.

[Valmy]

There is no first-rate biography of James I that I'm aware of 

That is bizarre as he is one of the most important kings in British history.  How odd.

[garbon]

The Stuart Age by a chap called Barry Coward is a very good read for the period 1603-1714. Apart from anything else Coward details the areas of controversy and the different schools of thought on these matters, the bibliography is also very good, enabling you to put together a very good reading list for your deeper investigations.

Thanks.

There is no first-rate biography of James I that I'm aware of 

I spent a while looking for one a while back and got absolutely nowhere.

That sucks.

[Sheilbh]

I am well aware of all of that...but James did have a ton of Children with his wife and had at least one affair with a woman.  His sexuality is just more  complex than simply being gay or straight.  He is the Buddha Rhubarb of Kings.

He was a monarch.  The most important thing any monarch does is to produce an heir.  But, as I say, we don't and can't know anything about the sexuality of people in the past because homosexuality is a recent invention.  What we can do is say whether there was gossip of sodomy around them (eg. James, Byron) or whether they suggest at a very strong sexual desire towards other men (eg. Shakespeare, Tennyson).  So I think Shakespeare, for example, shows strong hints of bisexuality while I think it can be said with reasonable confidence that James was a sodomite.

That is bizarre as he is one of the most important kings in British history.  How odd.

I think he's drowned out.  He's caught between the Elizabethan 'golden age' and England's revolution.  For those reasons an interesting but unspectacular king is likely to just get skipped over.

[Valmy]

He was a monarch.  The most important thing any monarch does is to produce an heir.  But, as I say, we don't and can't know anything about the sexuality of people in the past because homosexuality is a recent invention.  What we can do is say whether there was gossip of sodomy around them (eg. James, Byron) or whether they suggest at a very strong sexual desire towards other men (eg. Shakespeare, Tennyson).  So I think Shakespeare, for example, shows strong hints of bisexuality while I think it can be said with reasonable confidence that James was a sodomite.

Yes to produce an heir but he was reported to be deeply in love with his wife at first before they started to drift apart and he started sleeping with Anne Murray.  I mean why did he go get a female mistress if he was solely a Sodomite?  Just to keep up appearances?

[garbon]

Richard Cust Charles I: A Political Life
Christopher Hibbert Charles I: A Life of Religion, War and Treason

So far the top one (realized I'd put the wrong title yesterday) is far superior.  Goes into a lot of depth about all the events during Charles's rule.  The latter has 10 pages devoted to 1629-1640. Its focus seems to be heavily on pre-kingship years.

[Sheilbh]

Yes to produce an heir but he was reported to be deeply in love with his wife at first before they started to drift apart and he started sleeping with Anne Murray.  I mean why did he go get a female mistress if he was solely a Sodomite?  Just to keep up appearances?

I've never said he was solely a sodomite.  I've just said he was a sodomite

[Richard Hakluyt]

Things are getting tricky here, if Valmy accuses Sheilbh of saying that King James "posed as a somdomite" who knows where the squabbles will end 

[garbon]

In the end.

[garbon]

For Habs, I integrated Mary Stuart into a new password they made me make for work.

[Valmy]

I've never said he was solely a sodomite.  I've just said he was a sodomite

Oh...well yes that is almost certainly true.

[garbon]

Also, who are the craytastics who wrote the wikipedia article on the english civil war?  Between it and the individual pages for each of the wars, that's a tome.

[Oexmelin]

Yeah, I wondered about MIM's statement as well.

All of the great fur traders and explorers in Canada were Scottish.

No. They were French. 

[Barrister]

Yeah, I wondered about MIM's statement as well.

All of the great fur traders and explorers in Canada were Scottish.

No. They were French. 

You are - mistaken.

[Oexmelin]

How so ?