Papering over Division? James VI and I's Misleading Materialisation of Union

Groundwater, Anna; Murray, Catriona

Papering over Division? James VI and I's Misleading Materialisation of Union

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Groundwater, Anna

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Murray, Catriona

Date published

November 18, 2025

Abstract

In 1603 the Scottish king, James VI, succeeded to Elizabeth I’s thrones of England, Ireland, and Wales, uniting them with the formerly independent Scotland in the Union of the Crowns. James VI and I, as he now was, embodied the dynastic union, for it was made in his person only, in his kingship of all the British Isles. A year later, this reconfiguration of separate kingdoms into a single composite monarchy was celebrated in the creation of a resplendent hat jewel, named in an inventory of 1606 as the “Mirror of Great Britain”.1 Dominating James’s large black plumed hat, the jewel was captured for posterity by John de Critz in 1604 in his portrait of the new “British” king (fig. 1).2 Much like the light reflected from its faceted diamonds and glittering gold setting, the jewel was to “mirror” the glorious realisation of James’s long dreamed-of imperium.