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Understanding King James VI & I Conference

@kingjamesconf.bsky.social

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Conference to mark the Quatercentenary of King James VI&I's death 9-11 July 2025, Glasgow (Scotland) https://understandingjames.wixsite.com/kingjamesconf

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Understanding King James VI & I Conference @kingjamesconf.bsky.social · Jul 11

Thank you to our speakers and attendees for making the conference so special! Wonderful to hear from so many scholars who work on or are intrigued by James VI & I… We hope you will keep the momentum going and we look forward to seeing what the future of Jacobean studies holds!

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Cameron Maclean @cmaclean.bsky.social · Jul 11

Thank you to everyone that came to my coin handling workshops at @kingjamesconf.bsky.social It was an absolute privilege to get to introduce (most of) you to James VI & I’s coins.

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Understanding King James VI & I Conference @kingjamesconf.bsky.social · Jul 11

The ‘Wall of Jameses’ votes have been counted and the winner is… Nicholas Hilliard’s Lyte Jewel (c.1610-11)!!! (Modelled here by our speaker @emilyhay.bsky.social)

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Understanding King James VI & I Conference @kingjamesconf.bsky.social · Jul 11

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Understanding King James VI & I Conference @kingjamesconf.bsky.social · Jul 11

Finally, we have the Biographers Roundtable.

Laura Stewart talks with Alex Courtney, Steven Reid, Clare Jackson and Steven Veerapen about what inspired them to write about King James, how they feel about the man himself, and how they see scholarship moving forward…

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Understanding King James VI & I Conference @kingjamesconf.bsky.social · Jul 11

Jennifer Ng argues that James’s Gentlemen of the Bedchamber were central to Jacobean diplomacy. Bedchamber spheres and spaces infiltrated the court with sites of reconciliation, and created paths to peaceful negotiations abroad…

Understanding King James VI & I Conference @kingjamesconf.bsky.social · Jul 11

Amilia Gillies explores how James handled and responded to various ‘scandals’ between 1614-21. His involvement in the Suffolk and Lake cases reveal James’s role as an administrator of justice in these overlooked years…

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Understanding King James VI & I Conference @kingjamesconf.bsky.social · Jul 11

DAY THREE, PANEL TWO - Court Dynamics

Georgianna Ziegler looks at one remarkable letter from Esther Inglis to the king in 1620, which points to the openness of the pre-accession royal city that she remembered…

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Understanding King James VI & I Conference @kingjamesconf.bsky.social · Jul 11

Ashlyn Cudney joins us online to discuss the issues and opportunities involved in teaching James VI/I as a queer king. She suggests that teaching James in the context of queer theory enables students to become active participants in the narrative-making process…

Understanding King James VI & I Conference @kingjamesconf.bsky.social · Jul 11

Megan Shaw joins us online from New Zealand to discuss the adoption of the Villiers kin into the royal family. Crucially, this was reinforced when Villiers - duke of Buckingham - married Katherine Manners and James became a ‘gossip’ or godfather to the couple and their children…

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Understanding King James VI & I Conference @kingjamesconf.bsky.social · Jul 11

Elizabeth Rébeillé-Borgella discusses James’ relationship with his first favourite, Esmé Stuart, duke of Lennox. She argues that their short relationship was so successful because it was based on ‘reciprocity, loyalty and love’…

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Understanding King James VI & I Conference @kingjamesconf.bsky.social · Jul 11

DAY THREE, PANEL ONE - Influential Relationships

Laura Leslie dissects James’s childhood relationship with his ‘Deddy’ and ‘Minny’, the earl and countess of Mar. His time with the Mars’ was a formative and underappreciated aspect of James’ reign…

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Understanding King James VI & I Conference @kingjamesconf.bsky.social · Jul 10

Next, Laura Bauld talks us through James in the Burrell Collection and curating LGBT+ histories.

Understanding King James VI & I Conference @kingjamesconf.bsky.social · Jul 10

Kate Anderson talks us through the accessibility measures of the NGS exhibition, including these two recreations of James's jewels for visually impaired visitors.

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Understanding King James VI & I Conference @kingjamesconf.bsky.social · Jul 10

Our panellists discuss attracting target audiences, new scholarship on James and provide a wonderful insight into the choices and challenges behind the scenes of the curatorial process. So great to hear about recreating James's world for audiences through material culture.

Understanding King James VI & I Conference @kingjamesconf.bsky.social · Jul 10

Witches?🧙 MQS? 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Our panelists discuss how we might recenter & reevaluate popular perceptions of James, objects and material culture, including the process of creating the current National Galleries Scotland exhibition and Glasgow Life's film on their 1618 James portrait.

Understanding King James VI & I Conference @kingjamesconf.bsky.social · Jul 10

DAY TWO - Heritage and Curation

Our first of two roundtables focuses on James's representation in the heritage sector, discussing our panelists' experience as curatorial professionals, popular presentations of James and how we might reshape these in the future.

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Understanding King James VI & I Conference @kingjamesconf.bsky.social · Jul 10

And now, time for questions after three stimulating talks!

Understanding King James VI & I Conference @kingjamesconf.bsky.social · Jul 10

Our final speaker on the panel, Vanessa Barcelos joins us online from Miami, providing a close reading of James' pamphlet, 'A Counterblaste to Tobacco', as active racial discourse against indigenous Americans.

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Understanding King James VI & I Conference @kingjamesconf.bsky.social · Jul 10

Next up, Alexander Courtney talks us through James' pamphlet 'The True Lawe of Free Monarchies' as an intervention into Scottish domestic politics and religion and a response to his various adversaries...

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Understanding King James VI & I Conference @kingjamesconf.bsky.social · Jul 10

DAY TWO, PANEL THREE - James' Writings

Luca Tenneriello shares his experiences translating James' famous treatise Basilikon Doron into Italian...

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Understanding King James VI & I Conference @kingjamesconf.bsky.social · Jul 10

DAY TWO - Coin Workshop

Cameron Maclean leads a wonderful session on James’s coinage in Scotland and England at the Hunterian - Kelvin Hall.

A fantastic workshop showing the range of ways that coins were used to represent the king 👑

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Understanding King James VI & I Conference @kingjamesconf.bsky.social · Jul 10

DAY TWO - Book Workshop

Our own Alexandra Plane leads a wonderful session on Jacobean books in University of Glasgow Library. A fantastic workshop showing James's learning influences, library and writings 📖👑

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Understanding King James VI & I Conference @kingjamesconf.bsky.social · Jul 10

Hanna Mazheika talks us through the relationship between James and the Reformed nobility of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. She questions how far James’s influence was about to reconcile religious factions in eastern Europe…

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Understanding King James VI & I Conference @kingjamesconf.bsky.social · Jul 10

DAY TWO, PANEL TWO - Foreign Policy and Diplomacy

Rima Greenhill explains the complex relationship between James and the Russians during his English reign…

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Understanding King James VI & I Conference @kingjamesconf.bsky.social · Jul 10

Ashley Brown suggests that the relationship between James and the Scottish universities was ‘an exercise in patience’…once again, there was a high degree of tension!