#James Berwick

[felipe-v-fanblog]

Philip V Imposing the Golden Fleece on Marshal Berwick - Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres.

For more information regarding this painting:

[theastrophysicistnextdoor]

A Good Omens trip to London

The opportunity to see Michael Sheen live in Nye at the National Theatre made me plan a trip to London. And having seen the tourist attractions already many years ago, I decided I would dive into the Good Omens experience – go crazy, nobody knows you there! 😀 Easy planning thanks to @fuckyeahgoodomens and the filming locations masterpost ❤️

After four fantastic days I can only say: what a lovely fandom! It was great to meet a few of you :)

In St. James's Park, at the bench, I met a fan from Romania.

At the bandstand in Battersea Park I met a fan from Scotland and found the lovely fan art by @aydracz.

In Tavistock Square (Berkeley Square in the series) I met two fans from the Netherlands. (If you read this by any chance, I hope you enjoyed Nye!)

And then it seems all the fans in London that day gather at the theatre. 😀 – greetings to @kittensceilidh and @brandiwein1982

And well, how exciting to see Nye! It was entertaining, beautiful and touching. And Michael Sheen really is a wonderful and kind person – I very much hope I will meet him again. 🤗

Be kind to each other and take care!

And if you are interested or need a bit of inspiration for your trip, here are some more impressions. I will have to go to London again and continue the experience :)

Shakespeare’s Globe

Duke of York Monument

The Ritz

Berwick Street in Soho

[ktkellart]

Good Omens London Trip 🐍💞🪽

It's my Birthday today and I treated myself to a trip to London last weekend to see my favourite actor Michael Sheen in Nye at the National Theatre. I made the most of my weekend by combining it with a Good Omens filming location self-tour and I'd love to share it with you all. So, are you ready for the tour?

Here we go!

Starting off with Soho, and the inspiration for Whickber Street, where Aziraphale's bookshop, Give Me Coffee or Give Me Death, The Small Back Room, and the Dirty Donkey are located.

It’s Berwick Street and a record shop that is very similar in shape to A.Z Fell & Co. Bonus points for spotting Duck Lane!

Next is Berkeley Square, a short walk from Soho. The first two photos are of the real Berkeley Square gardens in Mayfair, and the last two photos were taken in the filming location of Tavistock Square across the other side of central London near Kings Cross. I’m sitting on their ‘body swap’ bench in the last photo!

As you can see, the benches are turned around facing inwards now but are the other way, facing outwards in Good Omens.

Oh, and I can confirm that there were no nightingales singing in either location 😭

Heading up the road a few minutes from Tavistock Square to The Enterprise pub where I met a fellow fan who kindly took photos of me posing (I bet the staff thought we were off our rockers!). This is where Crowley drowns his sorrows in Talisker Whisky whilst waiting for the world to end after thinking he'd lost Aziraphale. Omg that poor poor demon, he was really just gonna die along with the world.

Also, one of my favourite moments of season 1 is Crolwey's line: "I heard that. It was the wiggle-on..." then shrugs. 😆 So many emotions in such short a time.

Onto the Ritz. The first two photos are of the real Ritz (a stone's throw from Berkeley Square) and the last one is inside Masala Zone in Piccadilly Circus where the ‘Quite extraordinary amounts of alcohol’ and ‘To the World’ scenes were filmed.

I ate in here alone to get the photo and was so lucky with the table I was given! Perfect discreet snap whilst eating my curry! Haha!

Next up is Battersea Park and the Bandstand. It was a bit of a faff to get there, it's an 8-minute walk from the Battersea Power Station underground and we walked the full length of the park to find the Bandstand, but it was so worth it.

Also filmed here was Gabriel and Aziraphale’s run/jog. Poor Angel is soft scene.

The trees were a little leafier with it being mid-May and the park was very busy because the weather was glorious. They also have a beautiful lake here with herons!

The Heaven & Hell staircase escalators are right over the east side of London in Broadgate Tower, Bishopsgate. I got the overground to Liverpool Street station to get there. It is in a private business building so I politely/awkwardly asked the receptionist if I could take a photo and had to explain about the scene from Good Omens… eek! But he kindly let me snap a photo anyway! (Phew)

The Windmill Theatre was three minutes away from my hotel in Piccadilly Circus, so I wandered up the road to take a photo of where Aziraphale ‘performed on the West End stage’ as Fell the Marvelous. And wasn’t he just?

The scenes weren't filmed here but it was fun to find it anyway.

St James’s Park is up next! I sat on their bench and got my friend to take photos of me posing and had fun editing the first photo. Haha! We enjoyed walking through the park, watching the ducks on the lake and had a nosey at Buckingham Palace while we were there.

The Duke of York Statue steps are at the other end of St James's Park and were fun to walk up. I smiled to myself as I thought of the scene where Crowley says ‘Well let's have lunch? Hmm,’ and Aziraphale turns around, as it was the first time I realised that these two were more than just friends.

Heaven’s top floor, the Sky Garden in Fenchurch Street near Monument is a very tall building with a botanical garden on the top floor. You can visit the sky garden for free, but you do need to book in advance so it’s best to plan ahead for this one. The views of London are breathtaking from the 35th floor and the tropical plants are fun.

My last stop for this visit was Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. I booked a tour on the morning I was due to go home. The first tour is 10 am and lasts an hour, so I dashed off as soon as the tour guide was uttering his last words about the gift shop, across London back to Kings Cross to pick up my suitcase from luggage storage and get the 11:48 am train home!

One I missed and could have easily gone to is St Margaret Street where Newton and Shadwell meet, and Shadwell fleeces Newton for a cup of tea with nine sugars and pockets the change. A bit gutted I missed it to be honest – I love Jack Whitehall (I’m back in London with the family in June so I’ll swing by and update then!)

There are also some other locations a little further afield that I might try to visit on a later date, such as Shadwell's and Madam Tracy's flat down Hornsey Road in Islington, Crowley's Flat exterior in Eastfields Avenue, Best Cafe on Garratt Lane where Crowley meets Shadwell, Crystal Palace Dinosaur Park where the ineffable husbands watch Warlock defacing a dinosaur sign and Antonella's Cafe and Bistro where Crowley and Aziraphale are thinking of ideas to track down the antichrist whist Aziraphale eats cake.

Okay, I’m gonna finish up with the man himself. The very kind, very charming, and VERY patient Michael Sheen The reason for my London visit in the first place. Nye was spectacular OBviOUsLy, but he was super generous with his time at stage door for us all. I got a hug and asked him to pass it on to Aziraphale (that angel really needs a hug) and it made him laugh, which made my night!

Check out my reblog for extra locations when I visited London again a month later, and for a hilarious bonus photo of.... Gabriel??!

Here’s the wonderful map I used -

from this website:

[scotianostra]

On December 25th in the year 1319 a two year truce between Scotland and England began.

This little known peace treaty is often overlooked, probably due to the Bruce’s government issuing the Declaration of Arbroath the following year.

After Bannockburn King Edward II of England never forgot his humiliation, and he threatened war against Scotland. The Bruce got there first, raiding south as far as York in a bid to capture prisoners to be held for ransom. Edward also had his troubles at home with a trebellion.

The King was also talking to some of the great Northern lords and it looked as if they would do a separate deal with the Bruce to stop him destroying their land. Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, was one of the rebel barons but paid for it with his life after the Battle of Boroughbridge was won by forces loyal to Edward.

Encouraged by ending the civil war in England, Edward came north with a great army, but Bruce deployed the same tactics he had used prior to Bannockburn, destroying anything that could be of use to the English, who were forced to retreat when famine and disease broke out.

In September 1319 The Bruce won a decisive battle at Myton in Yorkshire

Earlier that year Edward II had moved an army North and laid siege to Berwick in an attempt to recapture it from the Scots. In response the army of several thousand Scots, commanded by the Earl of Moray and the Good Sir James Douglas, bypassed the Northern town and marched through the north of England torching all in their path. Their secret objective lay in Edward’s court at York; where they hoped to abduct Edward II’s wife, the 21 year old Queen, Isabella. On September 20th 1319 they neared York and The Battle of Myton ensued.

The outcome of this unequal contest was never in doubt. Formed up according to their custom in a single division, the Scots uttered together a tremendous shout to terrify the English, the Highland charge began racing towards the men from York, who straightaway began to take to their heels at the sound.

The York contingent was an odd mixture of men thrown together to meet the emergency, including priests and monks losses were reported of 3,000, among them Nicholas Flemyng the city mayor.

For Edward II, already at odds with many English nobles, it was another disaster. Meanwhile the victorious Scottish army retreated back across the border into Scotland carrying their ill-gotten gains and prisoners.

Afterwards Edward was forced to raise the siege of Berwick and ultimately agreed to a two year truce.

[foone]

the problem with being a (computer) detective is that it can easily put you in a conspiracy mood.

SEE in the Wheel of Fortune (2010, Wii) datafiles, there's an unused set of puzzles (possibly from a cut minigame), which lists two persons:

PERSON|CAPTAIN JAMES T KIRK PERSON|RAY BERWICK

Kirk is obvious but who is Ray Berwick? a quick google will tell you that he was an animal trainer. He worked on 20 movies & TV shows from 1963 to 1988. His first credit on IMDB? he was the bird trainer for Hitchcock's The Birds. He died in 1990 at the age of 75.

What the fuck was he doing in an unused set of puzzles in a Wii game? He's not exactly a household name. I was half expecting to google him and find out Ray Berwick was one of the developers.

Was one of the developers just watching Gremlins and saw his name under "animal coordinator"? Were they related to Ray Berwick? WHY IS HE IN WHEEL OF FORTUNE? (except he's not in it. He's on the disk, but not included in the playable game itself, because they apparently cut the minigame his name appeared in)

[marmotish]

Remember, remember.

@hp-12monthsofmagic

Traditionally, the magical community doesn’t observe Bonfire Night.

In the late 16th century, King James VI instigated the North Berwick witch trials - the first major persecution of witchcraft in Scotland. On the night of Halloween 1590, King James VI and his bride, Anne of Denmark, were caught up in a storm on the voyage back to Scotland. This misfortune was blamed on witchcraft, which was the start of trials which would last two years.

So it was no surprise that when in 1605 the Gunpowder Plot failed to take out the King, it wasn’t particularly a cause of celebration for magic-users. Their memories and thoughts remained with those persecuted during the trials, tortured til they either confessed or died.

Halloween on the other hand, with roots in Samhain/Samhuinn, is considered the Witches New Year. It’s observed from October 31st to November 1st, and it’s Hogwarts’ biggest event.

People are encouraged to wear their “witchiest” clothes, complete with witches hat.

Bonfires are lit

Turnip lanterns are carved to ward off evil spirits

There’s games involving treacle scones and apples. Braver students can try some of Hagrid’s treacle scones.

Prof Trelawney volunteers to do readings for students, which are very popular amongst couples. Break-ups peak around this time of year.

Among the merriment and festivities, it’s also a time for remembrance of those lost. The time of year where the veil between the world of the living and the world of the dead is at its thinnest.

[maximumphilosopheranchor]

There have been attempts, at the time and more recently, to argue that the outcome [of the Armada campaign] was just due to luck, or weather, or more in the nature of a draw, since Spain rebuilt a substantial navy in the early 1590s. Those arguments are unconvincing. The campaign of summer 1588 was an outstanding English victory. It was hard fought, and by the end, the English were almost out of ammunition. However, Drake’s fireships were a brilliant tactical device and Gravelines must count as one of the greatest English naval actions. It is clear from the profusion of pamphlets across Europe that everyone accepted Spain had been resoundingly defeated. Philip II never again considered an invasion of England by combined sea and land forces: the best his rebuilt navy could do was to raid Cornwall. The outcome of 1588 was a European turning point. England’s successful resistance showed that Spain was not invincible, encouraging Protestants in the Netherlands and France to continue their struggle. The Dutch threw off Spanish rule and Henri of Navarre became king of France, bringing religious peace and economic recovery. The young James VI of Scotland, bound to England by the treaty of Berwick in 1586 but alienated by the execution of his mother Mary Queen of Scots in 1587, shrewdly seized the Armada moment to emphasize his claim as Elizabeth’s heir. He wrote at the height of the crisis of summer 1588, assuring her of his support “as your natural son and compatriot of your country”.

Pauline Croft

[fideidefenswhore]

Anne conceived again early in 1534. Henry excitedly ordered a new cradle from Master Cornelius Hayes, his jeweller and silversmith, but by July the Queen miscarried. This meant the only legitimate male heir in line of succession to the English throne that summer was James V, for in March 1534 Charles Brandon lost his only son, Henry, Earl of Lincoln, who died nine months after his mother's funeral. In 1532 James had issued an ultimatum that if his uncle did not stop befriending the Earl of Angus, he would be prepared to go to war with England. Margaret had offered to mediate between her son and brother. She was certainly influential in bringing about the Treaty of Berwick, which was signed on 12 May 1534. Both sovereigns promised to observe peace between England and Scotland for as long as they lived. James also formally recognized Henry's marriage to Anne Boleyn.

The Sisters of Henry VIII, Maria Perry

[greeneyed-thestral]

PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN LONDON OR HAVE BEEN THERE!

Hi! I'll soon be in London for a few days, for the very first time. My idea is not to really plan anything, I just wanna walk around and see what this city is like. I pinned down some places I wanna visit (inspired mostly by The Beatles, Sherlock, Good Omens, Doctor Who and other british series).

Could you tell me if I'm missing something or if there are things I should avoid? Really, any do's and don'ts, I would really appreciate it. + Big Ben + Broadgate Tower + Buckingham Palace + Carlton House Terrace + Harrods + King's Cross + London Eye + Leinster Gardens + Piccadilly Circus + Reform Club + Savini at Criterion + Scotland Yard + Southbank Skate Space + Speedy's Sandwich Bar & Cafe + St Bartholomew's Hospital + St James the Less Church + St Paul's Cathedral + The Ritz Restaurant + Tower of London + Westminster + British Museum + Lincoln's Inn Library + Madame Tussauds + National Gallery + Natural History Museum + Battersea Park + Crystal Palace Park + Finsbury Park + Hyde Park + St. James's Park + Tavistock Square Gardens + West End + Royal National Theatre + Shakespeare's Globe + The Old Vic + Young Vic + Camden Town + Chinatown + Covent Garden + More London + Shad Thames + Soho + 44 Eaton Square + Berkeley Square + Russell Square + Trafalgar Square + Tower Bridge + Waterloo Bridge + Westminster Bridge + 3 Savile Row + 10 Downing St + 187N Gower St + 221B Baker St + Abingdon St + Berwick St + Whitfield St + Abbey Rd. + Cardwell Rd + Crayford Rd + Heddon St + Hornsey Rd + Eastfields Ave Also, some questions: - What's the weather like now? What should I wear? - Which are the districts I should avoid? - Should I be worried about public transport? - Where and when should I have afternoon tea? - Can I access the British Museum just to have tea/eat? - Any other suggestions on where to eat? Thank you so so much to whoever answers, either under this post or in private! 🙏

[pwlanier]

Salvador Dalí, Lobster Telephone, 1938

This iconic sculpture is one of the most instantly recognisable masterpieces of Surrealism, the art movement that emerged in Paris in the 1920s, which explored the world of dreams and the subconscious mind. It consists of an ordinary, working telephone, upon which rests a plaster lobster, specially made to fit directly over the receiver.

The Surrealists loved the idea of unrelated objects coming together to create a new kind of reality, which subverted the rational and tapped into the subconscious. The bizarre combination of a phone and a lobster is at once absurd, repellent, fascinating and menacing, yet it is nevertheless a fully functioning phone.

Lobster Telephone was made in 1938 for Edward James (1907-1984), Dalí’s main patron in the 1930s. Eleven of the plaster lobster receivers were made to fit to telephones at James’s house in Wimpole Street, central London and at his country house, Monkton, in West Sussex. Four of the lobsters were painted red, and seven were painted white. The Lobster Telephones are now almost all in museum collections around the world: the Tate in London has a red version on a black telephone.

This white version remained with the Edward James Foundation, in West Sussex. It was recently sold at auction and would have left Britain, but in view of its artistic and historical importance, it was subject to an export license deferral. Issued on behalf of the Secretary of State, this allows UK museums the chance to match the auction price. Thanks to the Henry and Sula Walton Fund, which was established to help the National Galleries acquire major works of modern art, and a grant from Art Fund, the work was saved and goes on show at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh for the first time today.

Edward James was born in 1907 at his family’s summer house, Greywalls, in Gullane, near North Berwick in East Lothian. His family was immensely wealthy, owning a vast estate at West Dean, near Chichester in West Sussex. Edward came into his inheritance in his twenties and used much of it to support the arts: he is best known as the patron of Salvador Dalí and René Magritte in the 1930s. He met Dalí in 1934 and the two became close friends. Dalí visited James in London on several occasions and James bought many of the artist’s greatest work, straight off the easel, hanging them at his houses in London and West Sussex.

From the mid-1930s, James had both residences redesigned and given Surrealist makeovers. Dalí designed furnishings including the celebrated Mae West Lips sofas, which were shaped in the form of the Hollywood actress’s lips, tall lampstands in the form of stacked champagne glasses, and the famous Lobster Telephones.

The idea for the Lobster Telephone dates back to a drawing Dalí made in 1935. The plaster lobsters were commissioned by James from the London design firm Green & Abbott (which also fabricated the Mae West sofas) in the summer of 1938. Dalí and James visited Sigmund Freud in Hampstead in July and this may have given them the idea of actually making the objects. Cast in plaster, hollowed out underneath, and with a hole in the tail to take the telephone flex, they fit perfectly over the standard receivers of the period. The Surrealists’ love of the irrational was instantly and brilliantly embodied in a household object in daily use.

The Lobster Telephone is the most iconic of all Surrealist ‘Object Sculptures’: these became a craze in the 1930s, with Man Ray, Miró, Magritte, Giacometti and Roland Penrose among the many who made them. Instead of making a traditional sculpture by modelling with clay or carving in marble, the Surrealist artists took pre-existing objects, put them together, or changed them slightly, and then exhibited them. It was like 3D collage. From a practical point of view, it allowed artists with no training in sculpture to produce sculptural objects. From an artistic point of view, it enabled artists to produce bizarre objects which instantly challenged conventional notions of reality and normality.

The National Galleries of Scotland has one of the world’s greatest collections of Surrealist art, including major paintings by René Magritte, Joan Miró, Salvador Dalí, Paul Delvaux, Toyen, Yves Tanguy, Max Ernst, Leonora Carrington and others, and sculptures by Alberto Giacometti. However, until now there has been no major Object Sculpture in the collection: they were quickly assembled for exhibition at the time, and were often simply discarded - so they are rare.

Although Edward James amassed an unrivalled collection of Surrealist art, much of it was sold off in the 1970s and 1980s. The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art’s summer exhibition of 2016, Surreal Encounters, was partly based on Edward James’s collection.

Courtesy Alain Truong

[cookinguptales]

I will say that when you are somewhat feral and spent too many of your developmental years studying the history of witchcraft in college, it does make Sleep No More a wholly different experience.

not only does it make you a fucking nuisance to whichever poor soul is playing Fulton, you also have moments like Hecate talking about "James" and "Anne" and being like "do you remember?" and you nod because you're not supposed to talk but internally you are like "yes ma'am, you're talking about the North Berwick witch trials, which were in turn inspired by the witch trials in Denmark and Trier before that, the witch trials that led to King James VI's lifelong obsession with witchcraft and maleficium. I am familiar, please proceed."

and then you go home and write weird porn about it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[venicepearl]

Tantallon Castle is a ruined mid-14th-century fortress, located 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) east of North Berwick, in East Lothian, Scotland. It sits atop a promontory opposite the Bass Rock, looking out onto the Firth of Forth. The last medieval curtain wall castle to be constructed in Scotland, Tantallon comprises a single wall blocking off the headland, with the other three sides naturally protected by sea cliffs.

Tantallon was built in the mid 14th century by William Douglas, 1st Earl of Douglas. It was passed to his illegitimate son, George Douglas, later created Earl of Angus, and despite several sieges, it remained the property of his descendants for much of its history. It was besieged by King James IV in 1491, and again by his successor James V in 1527, when extensive damage was done. Tantallon saw action in the First Bishops' War in 1639, and again during Oliver Cromwell's invasion of Scotland in 1651, when it was once more severely damaged. It was sold by the Marquis of Douglas in 1699 to Hew Dalrymple, Lord North Berwick and the ruin is today in the care of Historic Environment Scotland.

[dwellordream]

WITCHCRAFT: EIGHT MYTHS AND MISCONCEPTIONS

1. Witches were burned at the stake Not in English-speaking countries. Witchcraft was a felony in both England and its American colonies, and therefore witches were hanged, not burned. However, witches’ bodies were burned in Scotland, though they were strangled to death first.

2. Nine million witches died in the years of the witch persecutions About 30,000–60,000 people were executed in the whole of the main era of witchcraft persecutions, from the 1427–36 witch-hunts in Savoy (in the western Alps) to the execution of Anna Goldi in the Swiss canton of Glarus in 1782. These figures include estimates for cases where no records exist.

3. Once accused, a witch had no chance of proving her innocence Only 25 percent of those tried across the period in England were found guilty and executed.

4. Millions of innocent people were rounded up on suspicion of witchcraft The total number of people tried for witchcraft in England throughout the period of persecution was no more than 2,000. Most judges and many jurymen were highly sceptical about the existence of magical powers, seeing the whole thing as a huge con trick by fraudsters. Many others knew that old women could be persecuted by their neighbours for no reason other than that they weren’t very attractive.

5. The Spanish Inquisition and the Catholic Church instigated the witch trials All four of the major western Christian denominations (the Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Calvinist and Anglican churches) persecuted witches to some degree. Eastern Christian, or Orthodox, churches carried out almost no witch-hunting. In England, Scotland, Scandinavia and Geneva, witch trials were carried out by Protestant states. The Spanish Inquisition executed only two witches in total. 6. King James I was terrified of witches and was responsible for their hunting and execution More accused witches were executed in the last decade of Elizabeth I’s reign (1558–1603) than under her successor, James I (1603–25).The first Witchcraft Act was passed under Henry VIII, in 1542, and made all pact witchcraft (in which a deal is made with the Devil) or summoning of spirits a capital crime. The 1604 Witchcraft Act under James could be described as a reversion to that status quo rather than an innovation. In Scotland, where he had ruled as James VI since 1587, James had personally intervened in the 1590 trial of the North Berwick witches, who were accused of attempting to kill him. He wrote the treatise Daemonologie, published in 1597. However, when King of England, James spent some time exposing fraudulent cases of demonic possession, rather than finding and prosecuting witches. 7. Witch-hunting was really women-hunting, since most witches were women In England the majority of those accused were women. In other countries, including some of the Scandinavian countries, men were in a slight majority. Even in England, the idea of a male witch was perfectly feasible. Across Europe, in the years of witch persecution around 6,000 men – 10 to 15 per cent of the total – were executed for witchcraft. In England, most of the accusers and those making written complaints against witches were women. 8. Witches were really goddess-worshipping herbalist midwives Nobody was goddess-worshipping during the period of the witch-hunts, or if they were, they have left no trace in the historical records. Despite the beliefs of lawyers, historians and politicians (such as Karl Ernst Jarcke, Franz-Josef Mone, Jules Michelet, Margaret Murray and Heinrich Himmler among others), there was no ‘real’ pagan witchcraft. There was some residual paganism in a very few trials. The idea that those accused of witchcraft were midwives or herbalists, and especially that they were midwives possessed of feminine expertise that threatened male authority, is a myth. Midwives were rarely accused. Instead, they were more likely to work side by side with the accusers to help them to identify witch marks. These were marks on the body believed to indicate that an individual was a witch (not to be confused with the marks scratched or carved on buildings to ward off witches).

- Diane Purkiss, Professor of English Literature at Keble College, University of Oxford

[scotianostra]

On July 29th 1567 King James VI was crowned King of Scots at Stirling.

Mary Queen of Scot’s son was crowned only a few days after she herself was forced to abdicate, which I covered this on July 24th, more on her and James’s faither later.

James was born into a political cauldron on June 19th 1566, in Edinburgh Castle and, as a firstborn son, he automatically became Duke of Rothesay, Prince, and Grand Lieutenant of Scotland. He was baptised in a Catholic ceremony and received the name of Charles James. Elizabeth I, as godmother in absentia, sent a significant amount of gold to Edinburgh as a gift for the newborn’s baptism. It was not unusual for monarchs to use another given name for their term on the throne.

When he was only eight months old, Lord Darnley, his father, was assassinated at Kirk o‘ Field on February 10, 1567. After the death of her husband, Mary married for a third time with James Hepburn, Earl of Bothwell, who was suspected of being the architect of Lord Darnley’s assassination.

His uncle, James Stuart, Earl of Moray, ruled in his place and became first of 4 regents, two were assassinated, a third died after a short illness, some historians point to poisoning, others say natural causes, the fourth and last of his Regents lost his head after being found guilty of playing a part in Darnley’s murder, it wasn’t a job with prospects and you wouldn’t be relying on collecting a pension from it.

From that moment onwards, the power, at least in theory, was held by the king himself rather than by a regent.

Nonetheless, James VI of Scotland did not reign directly: he relied on the advice of his closest courtiers, such as his cousin Esmé Steward, Duke of Lennox, and James Stuart, who received the title of Earl of Arran for his testimony against Morton. Since Lennox was Catholic, and Arran favoured episcopalism, the Scottish Presbyterian lords did not like the government. During the Ruthven Raid of 1582, some Presbyterian nobles, led by William Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie, captured James and held him captive for almost a year in Ruthven Castle (now known as Huntingtower Castle), in Perthshire. Arran was also held captive while Lennox was forced into exile in France. In 1583, the king and Arran managed to escape: Gowrie was executed whilst the rebels were forced to flee to England. The Scottish Parliament, which was loyal to the king, passed the Black Acts, which placed the Church of Scotland under the king’s control.

The acts were extremely popular but the clergy was opposed to them and denounced the king. In fact, the church was trying to keep James’ influence under control before he became powerful and bold enough to attack Presbyterianism, in the end no attack was made.

In 1586, thanks to the Treaty of Berwick, James VI and Elizabeth I became allies. James decided to continue to support the virgin queen of England, since, as a descendant of Margaret Tudor, he was a potential successor to her crown. Elizabeth’s father, Henry VIII, feared that the English crown would fall under the sovereignty of the Stuarts. To prevent this, he excluded Margaret and her descendants from the line of succession in his will. Nonetheless, since they were Elizabeth’s closest relatives, both Mary and James were both serious contenders for the Crown of England.

There is so much more about James to read, I have covered parts here and their in the past, in particular his persecution of women as witches. He did go on to be James I of England and during his troubled reign Guy Fawkes attempted to blow him, and his Parliament up.

James did gain some favour in both Scotland and England by marrying a protestant Princess, Anne of Denmark, they had 7 children, 4 of whom died in infancy, their son Charles became King and was of course executed.

James died in 1625 aged 58 and is buried at Westminster Abbey.

[hexpositive]

Stardust Sessions with Lozzie Stardust - The North Berwick Witch Trials (BONUS)

This month on our hiatus presentation of "Stardust Sessions," we’re continuing with our dive into the life and deeds of King James VI/I with a discussion of the North Berwick Witch Trials. We did our best to keep it light and not get too far into the more gruesome elements, but it was a very grim series of events that still echo in the history of Scotland to this day.

Learn how claiming that a ship was pre-loaded with demons can be an excuse for being shit at your job, how chatting with strangers during an extended layover can give a person all kinds of bad ideas, and how the events in North Berwick have been used as inspiration for popular works of stage and screen.

Check my Wordpress for podcast show notes and information on upcoming events.

Follow the show on Twitter @hex_podcast for the latest updates! You can also find me as @BreeNicGarran on Twitter, TikTok, Instagram, and Wordpress. Follow Lozzie Stardust on TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter @bihexual and come chat with us in the Nerd & Tie Discord!

Visit the Willow Wings Witch Shop to purchase my books and homemade accoutrements for your craft!

Proud member of the Nerd and Tie Podcast Network.

MUSIC CREDITS

“Netherworld Shanty” & “Miri’s Magic Dance” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

[blackboar]

What do you think of Edward IV of England's war with Scotland before his death? Some people think that it costs a lot of money and has little effect and is very unnecessary ...

I agree it was unnecessary because there was nothing vital or even very important at stake for England or the House of York's security. However, at a time of rising French power, reducing its main ally in the British Isles makes sense, just like retaking Berwick was good to assert Edward IV's might at home. It did cost a lot of money but did reap some benefits and could have reaped much more had their plan to overthrow James III worked. Recall it was the first victorious English war in a long time, considering Henry VI's defeat against France followed by Edward IV's defeat against the Hanse.

But the war strengthened Richard of Gloucester more than it strengthened England. It further transformed Henry Percy into one of his vassals; it brought Richard immense prestige and fame; it secured his grip on the North. Maybe it gave him, or his entourage, ideas? He saw Albany attempting to take the throne with 0 reason and failing only because he didn't have enough support from the Scottish peerage. Meanwhile, Edward IV failed to make the king of Scotland his son-in-law.

Eventually, this became one of the occult but maybe decisive steps in Richard III's usurpation and not the wanted revolution in Anglo-Scottish relationships.