page_title: Jacobean debate on the Union
section_title: Supporters of the union
hierarchical_section_title: Jacobean debate on the Union / Supporters of the union
caption_attribution_description: English: Tentative designs for a flag for the combined kingdom of England and Scotland, with the signature of the Earl of Nottingham.
context_page_description: The Jacobean debate on the Union took place in the early years of the reign of James I of England, who came to the English throne in 1603 as James VI of Scotland, and was interested in uniting his kingdoms of England and Scotland. With one monarch on the two thrones there was de facto a "regnal union"; since James was very widely accepted in England the debate was not on that plane. A political union was more controversial: it is often referred to as a "statutory union", underlining the fact that the legal systems and institutions involved were different, and had had distinct historical paths. This wider union did not in fact come about in the 17th century; but at the time of the Union of England and Scotland in 1707 arguments from this earlier period were again put into circulation.
  While the "Union of the Crowns" represented by James on his accession in England was essentially undisputed, the further political union, thought of as "Union of the Kingdoms" or "statutory union", was resisted. Legislation was produced, north and south of the border, by costive parliamentary debate, in the period 1604 to 1607, but it was limited in scope, mainly removing hostile laws.
context_section_description: Supporters were those who wanted to see a union that went further than the union of the two crowns, or "regnal union", that had been realised in the person of King James. They consisted of various groups: the "court party" in politics, for whom Francis Bacon was the leading spokesman, with allied courtiers; publicists; jurists; and interpreters of prophetic and apocalyptic writings.
caption: Proposed designs for a union flag, with the lower central one approved by Charles Howard, 1st Earl of Nottingham. About 1604.
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