by Nathanael Bendix
The United Kingdom underwent a great transition in 1603 when their mighty Queen Elizabeth I passed away. As Elizabeth had no children, the closest living relative was her cousin, the King of Scotland, James I. This transition of power and the aftermath of it is covered in Susan Doran’s book From Tudor to Stuart. Doran begins with the death of Elizabeth and the ascension of King James and ends in 1612 with the death of James’s heir, Henry and James’s closest advisor, Robert Cecil in 1612. Despite only chronicling nine years, the book is very detailed and takes it’s time explaining the history to the reader. One can interpret the purpose of Doran’s From Tudor to Stuart as an examination of the shift that England undertook when James I took the throne and an examination of the monarch himself.
Doran structures the book into three parts. Part One tells the tale of James I’s succession to the throne and “explains when, how, and why he became the unchallenged ruler of what was to become the new entity of Great Britain.” (3). Part Two explores the intricacies of James’s government. “I address this question in Parts 2 and 3, enquiring how far the establishment of a new Stuart dynasty resulted in fresh personnel at the center of power, alterations in monarchical institutions, shifts in political culture, and a different direction in governmental policies.” (3.). Doran writes “Part 3 of this book provides a study of James’s policies during the first decade of his reign, assessing their novelty, popularity (or otherwise). And impact.” (5). Doran wants to present a different side of James than what is normally accepted by the public. “Wrongly depicted as careless about his majesty, James too projected an image of legitimacy and power: court ceremonial, visual displays, ad in his case his writings.” (5). Doran also wishes to show that the Jacobean era was just as interesting as the Elizabethan Era that preceded it. Doran doesn’t write a standard biography of James I, but rather an examination of the Jacobean Era through the eyes of its namesake monarch.
The book begins with the death of Elizabeth I, the last of the Tudor line. Because she has no living successor, she is succeeded by James I of Scotland. The first part of Doran’s book,” Succession and Ascension “establishes the pace of the book. Susan Doran, the author, is well versed in this period of history as she is a professor of Early Modern English History at the University of Oxford. The book does mention James’s early life but that is more of context to a bigger picture rather than a full-scale biography. This helps the book from not getting bogged down and allowing the pacing to flow better. I thought that the book was well-written. Was it long? Of course. But my complaint was not that the book was overly long. I did like the detailed look into this period of history.
The next part of the book is “People and Institutions” and, you guessed it, it is mainly about the important people and institutions in the Jacobean era. We see important figures such as James’s wife Anne or Anna of Denmark, James’s eldest son and heir Henry. I believed that the main idea of the book was that James was a more complex character than original thought of. How is this seen in Part 2? Well, I thought it was interesting how Doran explained James’s relationship with his wife Anna. Royal monarchs are often associated with their spouses, but James is a rare exception, so it was intriguing to get a more complex description of James’s relationship with his wife.
Something that I picked up on was the way that the chapters were organized in the Part 2 and Part 3. The chapters were always ____ and ____. For example, Chapter Seven is “Queen Consort and Royal Children” (, Chapter Nine is “Privy Councilor and Councilors”. Part 3 continues this trend. I thought that this was a straight to the point to quicjly sum up what the chapter is about. A clear example would be that the chapter title “Queen Consort and Royal Children” is about the Queen Consort and her children. Part One does not share this same organization all the way through, but I thought it was an interesting way to name a majority of the chapters and explain the basic running theme of each chapter in 3-5 words.
Doran also touches upon matters across the pond such as the creation of Jamestown in Part 3 of the book” Religion and Politics”. Part three goes into more of the international scene of the day, along with other important events such as the King James Bible. Doran writes” Although James I’s accession launched and moulded many of the initiatives described here, as his attempts to unify his territories continued a process of state formation and integration that had long predated his inheritance of the English crown and was occurring in other European states.” (429). This supports the main idea that King James I was more complex than originally implied to be.
My only critique might be nit-picky, but I didn’t like the title. While I understand From Tudor to Stuart is an interesting title and an accurate one when concerning England’s change under the switching of royal houses, from the Tudors to the Stuarts, I felt that this book was more of a biography of James rather than an exploration of England’s change. Maybe I have read too much social history to enjoy a biography. Doran’s From Tudor to Stuart is a noteworthy contribution to the field of Early Modern England history because of its analysis of the Jacobean era. Also, this book is not chronological but rather one of those books that goes by theme rather than by timeline. I personally prefer chronological books, but I can see that it would have made more effective writing if Doran followed the timeline that she did rather than a strictly chronological one.
Something that I noticed throughout the book was the consistent comparison of Elizabeth I to James I. A part of the book that focuses on it particularly is Doran’s conclusion to From Tudor to Stuart. . In the conclusion, Doran spends a lot of time comparing James and Elizabeth and how historians focused on their differences “Most notably, Elizabeth was frugal, James profligate: Elizabeth’s speeches were terse, James’ orations longwinded. In their devotional live, Elizabeth favored private prayer, and James public sermons.”(465). But Doran makes sure to include how similar the two monarchs were to the other and how James kept many relics of Elizabethan culture alive, something not often discussed by historians. “Visitors to James’s court would have found many similarities in its culture to the previous reign.” (472). The comparisons are not just limited to the conclusion but the entire book as Doran frequently makes comparisons of James to the late Queen Elizabeth. James I is not normally thought of as a monarch in the same vein as Elizabeth I so that’s what makes Doran’s approach to this book so interesting.
In conclusion, Susan Doran’s from Tudor to Stuart: the regime changes from Elizabeth I to James I is a compelling read about a time in England’s history that is properly explored and broken down in a compelling and understandable manner. The book does feel like a biography of King James but even if that is the point of the book, it’s still a good read and anyone who reads it is sure to learn something from Susan Doran.