1.
No ceremony, before or since, has dared match the Union of the Crowns for lavishness or spectacle. The creation of a single imperial throne uniting the entirety of the British Isles – England, Scotland, and Ireland – under a single Parliament and a single Sovereign. When James I, once James VI of Scotland, processed through Westminster Abbey to hymns of such an angelic air that one observer thought “the winds of heaven had flooded the Kingdom of Man.” Outside a fantastic revelry as a whole nation, built anew, was encouraged to enjoy the coronation not just of a King but of itself; for this was the day, March 24th 1603, that the United Kingdom of Great Britain was forged. James I’s dream had been achieved, not least through substantial arm-wringing by Elizabeth I in the last years of her reign, and now a more powerful nation had emerged. No longer could France or Spain enjoy the presence of an independent Scotland to England’s north, always such a distraction. A united Britain, more or less, meant a more powerful nation. Indeed, James would find early success. A Somerset House conference would achieve that elusive goal of peace with Spain, ending Spanish demands for Catholic restoration in England in return for an end to British attacks on Spanish interests in Europe and the Americas. James was delighted by the achievement; he had become obsessed by the Union, believing it his destiny to unite all of the Isles, and Spain was little more than a distraction. He hadn’t found total success with the Union; the creation of a single Royal Army had floundered, proving impossible even with the efforts of Elizabeth. Now the Queen was dead, and an undisciplined, loquacious, scholarly former boy-king of Scotland sat on a throne in the Abbey decorated with the most magnificent jewels torn from the crowns of England, Scotland, and Ireland. He is said to have poorly concealed his delight at the sight of the assembled masses. Grim-faced Irish and Scottish nobles, once members of their own assemblies, watched on having been strong-armed into the new united legislature. Few were happy to be there, and some didn’t intend to stay. “Beneath the pageantry, everyone is plotting,” wrote Lord Baxter. James could talk all he liked about the romantic unity of nations, and indeed was already thinking about perhaps uniting with the crown of Denmark, but the same old backstabbing and conniving of medieval politics would continue unabated. James could, perhaps, have had a happy reign. But one group of conspirators were prepared to strangle the young Union before it drew breath.
- Y. Johnson, The Throne of Britain, pp.7, 1934, University of London Press
The Union was not the happy marriage many trumpeted. Ireland was conspicuously absent from the very name of the new kingdom; Irish nationalists continue to remember that on the day of the union, English soldiers were still putting down Catholic rebellion by the sword and lance to enforce the terms of the “eternal settlement.” Many Irish nobles had pointedly refused to take up their seats in the new Parliament of Great Britain which would convene at Westminster, and James I had threatened to strip them of their titles, lands, and privileges and hand them to other Irishmen who might be more cooperative. The actions of James I, and Sir Simon Buckley who commanded English forces in Ireland, have been described by some as approaching genocide in an effort to cleanse the Emerald Isle of dissent to the new union. This did not, yet, mean the destruction of Catholicism in Ireland but its “management,” a term whose interpretation James I delegated to Buckley. Ireland had always been a thorn; now James insisted it be pacified.
- M. Oak, A Short History of Ireland, pp.118, 1965, University of Dublin Press
“O’, I do see triumphant sunlight emerge from clouds which had long been dark over these isles! Now let it be said that men of common blood can find union with each other, and it shall be the highest privilege ordained by God to rule this young and sacred realm. For the Union!”
- Address by James I to Westminster Abbey: March 24th, 1603
Composed by William Sherwin, a student of the great John Bull, Ode to the Crown had been written for presentation at the proclamation of the Union of the Crowns at Westminster Abbey. All available evidence, including the diary of an unnamed friar, suggests that Sherwin was deeply unhappy with the finished product. Tampering by royal aides had left his vision musically unrecognisable, dominated by the chamber organ instead of the keyboard which was seen as “degrading the Abbey to appear a dreadful common inn.” Nonetheless most of the words remained Sherwin’s own, filled with high praise for the Union and James I; not until 1897 was this latter section replaced by praise for the sitting monarch. It may well be considered the first British patriotic song, and so enamoured with the hymn-like anthem was James I that he insisted he be greeted with it at each State Opening of Parliament, to remind its occupants that they remained loyal to him. Following the Atrocity and the great outpouring of reverence for the monarchy which followed, it was sung at James’ funeral and effectively became the anthem of the monarchy. It was not until 1774 that, by an Act of Parliament, Ode to the Crown became the national anthem of the United Kingdom.
- R. Sherman, Songs and Hymns 1400-1700, pp.119, 1997, Canterbury Press