James I, who as the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, was the great-great grandson of Henry VII, was also the grandson of James V, king of Scotland. As James VI of Scotland, he had been a king from very early childhood, and he considered himself chosen by God to decide the course that religion should take both in Scotland and England. Consequently it was not long before the tension between the established Church of England and the Puritans of Presbyterian persuasion became as great as between the Catholics and Protestants of an earlier time. James also reversed the foreign policy of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I in an unsuccessful attempt to make a marriage alliance between his son Charles and a Roman Catholic Spanish princess.
Personally, James was a staunch highchurchman, and he encouraged talented preachers such as Lancelot Andrewes. He was also interested in theology and wrote a book on witchcraft. But he was incapable of understanding any expression of Christianity outside of his own narrow experience. Against popular opinion, he refused to send aid to the Protestants in Germany during the Thirty Years War even though his daughter was married to one of their leaders.
Throughout his reign he engaged in a bitter feud with the Puritan-dominated Parliaments, refusing to acknowledge their right to make legislation of which he himself did not approve. In short, the reign of James I created of England a divided religious camp, with the growing Puritan population and their leaders becoming ever more discontented. Upon his death in 1625 he was succeeded by his son Charles.