Do you agree with the view that the main reason for hostility towards James I in England, in the years before 1618, was the immorality and corruption of the royal Court?
Before the years 1618, there were various factors which contributed towards the hostility of James I. These factors include his unpopular decisions, uneasy relations with parliament, matters of religion and finally the issue of his extravagant lifestyle in which he shared with his favourites in court at a time when England was already in a poor economic state. However, to a certain extent in many ways it is proven that that his declining popularity had a lot to do with the immorality and corruption of the Royal Court.
In sources 13, 14 and 15 speaking in broad terms, they all agree to an extent that the growing hostility towards James I was a result of his favouritism and distribution of patronage, which lead to corruption in the Royal courts.
In source 13, it reveals that James was “…unduly extravagant in distributing patronage…” and that it was the “greatest problem” when he tried to raise the money. This suggests the frustration towards James’s inability to finance his own incompetence to distribute patronage unwisely. Additionally, it also mentioned that due to the devaluation of existing nobility and gentry, monopolies raised prices, and “…impositions only served to confirm people’s fears that the king was intent on undermining the powers of parliament.” In addition to reemphasizing the frustration towards the unevenly distribution of patronage, this statement also exposes the fact that the people were worried that James had too much power and did not respect the powers of the parliament. Similarly, in source 14 Wentworth expresses discontent as he questions the incentive to grant James large sums of the people’s moneys when it “…runs out again into the hands of personal favourites”. Therefore, we can draw parallels to sources 13