The Wisest Fool: The Lavish Life of James VI and I
Steven Veerapen (Birlinn, £25)
THE rather damning assessment of James VI (of Scotland) and I (of England) as ‘the wisest fool in Christendom’ is widely attributed to Sir Anthony Weldon (d. 1648), portrayed as an embittered former courtier. In fact, there is no solid proof that Weldon was the author of the viciously anti-Jacobean tract entitled The Court and Character of King James, first published in 1650. Nevertheless, as Steven Veerapen reminds us, this hostile commentary on James’s kingship gradually became entrenched in both public perception and historical scholarship.
He wore his heart on his sleeve, which undermined any sense of majesty
The image of James as a slobbering and slovenly individual, who was lazy and conceited, as well as too fond of alcohol and attractive young men, might be said to have reached its zenith in the biography published by D. H. Willson in 1956. Here, almost every
