James VI and I united the crowns of England and Scotland. His political philosophy of a moderated absolutism was highly influential, and his writings shed light on the political climate of Shakespeare's England and the intellectual background to the British civil wars of the mid-seventeenth century.
James VI and I united the crowns of England and Scotland. His books are fundamental sources of the principles which underlay the union. Among the most important and influential British writings of their period, the king's works shed light on the political climate of Shakespeare's England and the intellectual background to the civil wars which afflicted Britain in the mid-seventeenth century.