King James I

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King James I

• His reign, his times, superstitions in England

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1566-1625Was King James VI of ScotlandBecame
King of Scotland when he was 13 months old,
succeeding his mother, Mary, Queen of Scots
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• Became King of England and Ireland as King James
  I from the union of the English and Scottish
  crowns in 1603
• Succeeded Elizabeth I, the last Tudor monarch of
  England and Ireland
• England and Scotland had separate parliaments,
  judiciary, and laws both were ruled by King
  James I

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Golden Age

• King James I continued the Golden Age of
  Elizabethan literature and drama
• Writers such as William Shakespeare and Sir
  Francis Bacon contributed to a flourishing
  literary culture
• James was a patron of Shakespeares acting
  company
• James himself was a talented scholar and the
  author of works
• He sponsored the translation of the Bible that
  was named after him the Authorized King James
  Version

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Witchcraft

• His interest in the study of witchcraft began
  when he visited Denmark, a country that actively
  participated in witch hunts
• Attended the North Berwick witch trials,
  Scotlands first major prosecution of witches
• Implicated 70 people of witchcraft
• Agnes Simpson accused of using witchcraft to
  send storms against the Kings ships on his
  return from Denmark
• Was strangled and burned at the stake

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• King James I became obsessed with the threat of
  witches
• In 1597, he wrote the Daemonologie
• Approves and supports the practice of witch
  hunting
• "The fearful abounding, at this time in this
  country, of these detestable slaves of the Devil,
  the Witches or enchanters, hath moved me (beloved
  reader) to dispatch in post, this following
  treatise of mine, to resolve the doubting both
  that such assaults of Satan are most certainly
  practiced, and that the instrument thereof merits
  most severely to be punished.
• Provided inspiration and background material for
  Shakespeares The Tragedy of Macbeth

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Superstition and The Scottish Play

• Often considered bad luck to mention Macbeth by
  name while inside a theater (unless performing)
• Shakespeare is said to have used the spells of
  real witches in his text, angering the witches
  and causing them to curse the play.
• To say the name of the play inside a theater is
  believed to doom the production to failure, and
  perhaps cause physical injury or death to cast
  members
• Rituals to dispel the curse
• Spin around three times as fast as possible on
  the spot, accompanied by spitting over their
  shoulder, and uttering an obscenity
• Leave the room, knock three times, be invited in,
  and then quote a line from Hamlet