Jacobean debate on the Union

The Jacobean debate on the Union took place in the early years of the reign of James I of England, who came to the English throne in 1603 as James VI of Scotland, and was interested in uniting his kingdoms of England (including Wales) and Scotland. With one monarch on the two thrones there was de facto a "regnal union"; since James was very widely accepted in England the debate was not on that plane. A political union was more controversial: it is often referred to as a "statutory union", underlining the fact that the legal systems and institutions involved were different, and had had distinct historical paths. This wider union did not in fact come about in the 17th century (apart from the arrangements of the 1650s under the Commonwealth); but at the time of the Union of England and Scotland in 1707 arguments from this earlier period were again put into circulation.

While the "Union of the Crowns" represented by James on his accession in England was essentially undisputed, the further political union, thought of as "Union of the Kingdoms" or "statutory union", was resisted. Legislation was produced, north and south of the border, by costive parliamentary debate, in the period 1604 to 1607, but it was limited in scope, mainly removing hostile laws. While at the same time jurists and religious figures supported a deeper union, the envisaged process stalled, and incompatibilities of the English and Scottish societies became more apparent.

The union of England and Scotland was anticipated by the Treaty of Greenwich of 1543, under which Mary, Queen of Scots was to marry the future Edward VI of England. This dynastic union did not take place, despite The Rough Wooing; but it produced a pro-union literature, notably in works written by the Scots John Elder and James Henrisoun, and the Englishmen William Patten and Protector Somerset. The idea was revived in the early years of the reign of Elizabeth I of England, with the project of her marriage to James Hamilton, 3rd Earl of Arran, heir presumptive to the Scottish crown.

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