A gripping new account of one of the most important and exciting periods of
British and Irish history: the reign of the first two Stuart kings, from 1567 to
the outbreak of civil war in 1642 - and why ultimately all three of their
kingdoms were to rise in rebellion against Stuart rule.
Both James VI and I and his son Charles I were reforming monarchs, who
endeavoured to bolster the authority of the crown and bring the churches in
their separate kingdoms into closer harmony with one another. Many of James's
initiatives proved controversial - his promotion of the plantation of Ulster,
his reintroduction of