The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol. I., Part D.: From Elizabeth to James I

In Short

David Hume’s history traces the tumultuous transition of the English crown from the formidable reign of Elizabeth I through the uneasy rule of James I. Covering the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, the narrative follows England’s passage from Tudor absolutism to the early structural frictions that eventually provoked the Stuart collapse. It examines the domestic and international crises that forged the period: the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, the repulsion of the Spanish Armada, the Gunpowder Plot, the brutal, haphazard conquest of Ireland, and the gathering constitutional disputes over royal prerogative and parliamentary supply. Hume’s work has endured because it departs from simple partisan chronicle, offering instead an analytical, skeptical examination of political power. He treats religious zeal, factional rivalry, and institutional authority not as simple moral dramas, but as raw forces shaped by economic evolution, human passion, and the slow, uneven emergence of civil liberty.

The Story

The arc of this volume opens with the accession of Queen Elizabeth I to a deeply fractured nation. Inheriting a kingdom torn by religious division and burdened by foreign anxieties, Elizabeth establishes her authority through a combination of personal prudence, political calculation, and carefully guarded frugality. Rather than resolving the fierce theological disputes between Roman Catholics and the rising Protestant factions, she steers a cautious middle course, preserving supreme authority over the church while curbing the radicalism of both sides. Her early reign is defined by delicate foreign relations, particularly in Scotland, where the Protestant Congregation clashes with the French-backed Catholic regency, and where the arrival of Mary, Queen of Scots, introduces a permanent, dangerous rival to the English throne.

As Mary’s disastrous personal choices in Scotland—culminating in the assassination of her husband, Lord Darnley, and her subsequent marriage to the Earl of Bothwell—force her to flee into England, Elizabeth gains a potent hostage. For nearly two decades, Mary’s presence becomes the focal point for Catholic intrigue, domestic plots, and foreign threats against Elizabeth's life. The discovery of Babington’s conspiracy finally pushes the English government to try and execute the Scottish queen at Fotheringay Castle. This act of statecraft removes a internal threat but precipitates open war with Philip II of Spain, whose massive Armada sails for the English Channel. Through a combination of strategic fireships, superior tactical maneuverability, and adverse weather, the English fleet shatters the Armada, cementing Elizabeth’s international stature and national unity.

Yet Elizabeth’s later years are marked by growing domestic strain. In Ireland, centuries of harsh treatment and exclusion have turned the native population into intractable enemies, forcing costly military interventions. At home, Elizabeth relies on royal monopolies and heavy-handed royal prerogatives to fund her administration, keeping parliament at bay through a mixture of charm, economic restraint, and sharp reproofs whenever the Commons dares to meddle in ecclesiastical or state affairs. Upon her death, the crown passes peacefully to her cousin, James VI of Scotland, who ascends the English throne as James I, uniting the two realms under a single sovereign.

James’s reign opens with high hopes but quickly encounters the rigid realities of English political and religious life. Almost immediately, the news of the Gunpowder Plot—a desperate attempt by Catholic zealots under Robert Catesby to blow up King and Parliament—underscores the fanatical passions still burning beneath the surface of the realm. James attempts to govern as a scholarly, moderate peacemaker, keen on civilizing the wilder reaches of his realm, such as the plantation of Ulster, and managing church affairs through disputations like the Hampton Court conference. However, his exalted views of the divine right of kings clash directly with an increasingly assertive House of Commons.

Unlike Elizabeth, who maintained her authority through strict economy and carefully cultivated popularity, James lacks both financial discipline and political tact. His reliance on expensive favorites, most notably the Duke of Buckingham, combined with his constant requests for parliamentary subsidies, alienates the gentry. When Parliament insists on its ancient right to debate foreign policy and royal prerogatives, James responds with sharp rebukes, asserting that parliamentary privileges exist merely by royal grace and permission. This ideological divide deepens as Buckingham drives the nation toward an unwanted and mismanaged war with Spain. By the end of James’s reign, the old Tudor balance of royal dominance and popular acquiescence is permanently broken, setting the stage for the catastrophic civil conflicts of the next generation.

How It Unfolds

Elizabeth ascends a divided realm Elizabeth takes the throne amid widespread public relief, immediately facing the precarious task of stabilizing a nation torn between Catholic and Protestant factions. She establishes her supremacy over the church while avoiding unnecessary theological provocation, securing her early popularity through cautious moderation and economic restraint.

The Scottish trouble and Mary’s fall Rebellion in Scotland between the Protestant Congregation and the Catholic regency draws English intervention, leading to the return of Mary, Queen of Scots. After the murder of her husband, Darnley, and her ill-fated alliance with Bothwell, Mary flees to England, where her presence becomes a persistent threat to Elizabeth’s crown.

Plots, treason, and Fotheringay Entangled in domestic Catholic conspiracies such as the Babington plot, Mary is subjected to a unprecedented trial by English commissioners. Elizabeth hesitates, but ultimately permits Mary’s execution, removing a dangerous focus for Catholic rebellion at the cost of shocking European royalty.

The Spanish Armada dispersed Philip II launches his great fleet to invade England, but Lord Howard of Effingham and Sir Francis Drake utilize tactical flexibility and fireships at Calais to scatter the Spanish vessels. The victory secures Elizabeth’s reign, elevates English maritime confidence, and cements the nation's position as a major European power.

The Irish subjugation and royal parsimony English administration in Ireland continues to treat the native population as aliens, sparking costly insurgencies that require firm military suppression. To avoid dependence on an unruly Parliament, Elizabeth relies on strict household frugality and the controversial grant of economic monopolies.

James I and the Gunpowder Treason James VI of Scotland succeeds Elizabeth, unifying the crowns, but immediately encounters deep religious fanaticism. A group of Catholic conspirators led by Catesby attempts to destroy the state by placing gunpowder beneath Parliament, a plot foiled only hours before its execution.

The rising power of the Commons James’s insistence on his divine prerogative, combined with his lavish spending on court favorites, creates constant friction with Parliament. When the Commons asserts its right to advise the crown on state affairs and religious grievances, James angrily rejects their claims, initiating a structural constitutional rift.

Foreign misadventures and Buckingham’s rise The King’s favorite, the Duke of Buckingham, dominates royal policy, engineering a disastrous breach with Spain and involving England in costly European conflicts. Parliament embraces the war but refuses to supply adequate funds, leaving the monarchy financially crippled as James’s reign draws to a close.

The People

• Queen Elizabeth I: The formidable ruler of England whose temper and intelligence dominate the age. She wants absolute domestic obedience, religious stability, and international security without incurring ruinous national debt. What stands in her way is her precarious legitimacy, the constant threat of Catholic assassination, and an ungenerous Parliament. She ends her reign triumphant over foreign enemies and beloved by her subjects, though her rigid economic expedients leave deep institutional problems for her successor.
• Mary, Queen of Scots: The charismatic, tragic rival to the English throne who seeks to preserve her sovereign rights and her Catholic faith. What stands in her way is her own extraordinary lack of political judgment, the fierce hostility of John Knox and the Scottish reformers, and Elizabeth’s vigilant ministers. She ends her life executed at Fotheringay Castle, maintaining her dignity and faith to the block.
• James I: The scholarly, well-intentioned monarch who wants to govern his new English kingdom as an absolute, peaceful patriarch. What stands in his way is his own awkward vanity, his financial improvidence, his obsession with royal favorites, and a House of Commons growing conscious of its legal power. He ends his life isolated by his policy failures, forced into an unwanted war, and leaving a dangerous constitutional crisis behind.
• Sir William Cecil (Lord Burghley): Elizabeth’s indefatigable secretary of state and primary advisor. He wants the preservation of the Protestant succession, fiscal solvency, and the absolute security of the English realm. What stands in his way is the jealousy of rival courtiers and the unpredictable caprices of his royal mistress. He ends his life as the most trusted minister in English history, having systematically dismantled every major threat to Elizabeth's crown.
• George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham: The brilliant, arrogant favorite who dominates the court of James I. He wants total influence over state policy, diplomatic grandeur, and personal enrichment. What stands in his way is his own profound political incompetence and the hatred of the English public. He ends up wielding unchecked power over the crown, driving England into foolish foreign wars while destroying the court's reputation.
• John Knox: The fiery Scottish reformer who wants the complete eradication of Catholic idolatry and the establishment of a rigid presbyterian church system. What stands in his way is the royal authority of Mary and the moderate instincts of the Scottish nobility. He ends up successfully establishing the power of the Scottish kirk, having defied monarchs and reshaped his country's culture through sheer force of will.

In Its Own Voice

"The courage of the man was equal to his insolence."

Hume offers this crisp evaluation during an encounter between the reformer John Knox and the Scottish court, capturing the dangerous friction between religious zeal and civil authority.

"Being treated like wild beasts, they became such; and joining the ardor of revenge to their yet untamed barbarity, they grew every day more intractable and more dangerous."

Here, Hume reflects on the shortsighted cruelty of English policy in Ireland, illustrating how oppressive governance destroys the very civilization it claims to advance.

"He was wont to be very earnest, as Lord Bacon tells us, with the country gentlemen to go from London to their country seats."

This wry observation highlights James I’s futile, archaic efforts to stop the growth of London and keep the English gentry confined to their traditional rural estates.

What It's Really About

Beneath its chronicle of battles, royal successions, and diplomatic intrigages, this volume is an extended philosophical inquiry into the mechanics of political power and the origins of modern governance. Hume's central concern is the conflict between authority and liberty. He argues that political systems are not born out of abstract theories of human rights or divine design, but evolve slowly out of necessity, custom, and economic reality.

The book demonstrates how the Tudor monarchy exercised a level of absolute power that later generations would consider tyrannical, yet did so with public support because the nation craved order above all else. When James I attempted to formalize this authority into a rigid doctrine of divine right, he inadvertently provoked the newly wealthy Commons into defining and defending their own legal privileges. Hume exposes the irony of history: civil liberties often advance not through noble idealists, but through the clashes of selfish factions, religious fanatics, and financially desperate monarchs.

Religion, in Hume’s view, is the single most volatile force in statecraft. Whether examining the zeal of the Scottish Covenanters, the intrigues of the Jesuits, or the radicalism of the Puritans, Hume treats religious passion as an engine of instability that regularly blinds men to their own true political interests. His underlying argument urges moderation, skeptical pragmatism, and a clear-eyed understanding of human interest as the only reliable foundations for civil peace.

Why Read It Today

This volume remains a masterpiece of narrative history, offering readers a striking blend of philosophical depth and literary grace. Hume writes with a cool, dispassionate clarity that is entirely free from modern academic jargon or Victorian sentimentality. His ability to weigh human motives, disentangle complex statecraft, and deliver sharp, memorable character portraits makes the reading experience immensely satisfying. Anyone fascinated by the Tudor and Stuart eras will find here a monumental intellect grappling directly with the raw materials of political history.

The primary challenge for a modern reader lies in Hume’s eighteenth-century prose style and his historiographical assumptions. His sentences are balanced, formal, and sometimes heavy with latinate vocabulary, demanding an attentive, measured reading pace. Furthermore, Hume’s dispassionate, often dismissive attitude toward religious enthusiasm—which he frequently categorizes as mere bigotry or superstition—can feel jarring when applied to figures who viewed their struggles in absolute spiritual terms. His harsh descriptions of the early Irish population also reflect the explicit prejudices of his own era, requiring the reader to distinguish between Hume's brilliant political insights and his period-bound assumptions.

What stays with the reader, however, is Hume's profound understanding of human nature. He does not reduce historical figures to simple heroes or villains. Elizabeth is brilliant and brave, yet capable of caprice and petty jealousy; James is learned and peace-loving, yet vain and politically blind. By showing how noble intentions can lead to disastrous consequences, and how violent factions can inadvertently lay the groundwork for constitutional liberty, Hume provides a timeless lesson in the complexity of human society.

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