page_title: Jacobean debate on the Union
section_title: Imperial title
hierarchical_section_title: Jacobean debate on the Union / Imperial title
caption_attribution_description: English: Engraving of the Laurel of James I of England.
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: Sir William Maurice proposed in the Commons in 1604, and again in 1606, that James should adopt the title "Emperor of Great Britain", an unpopular idea.
  James was hailed by some as successor to Constantine, Roman Emperor identified as "British". The imperial idea had been exploited by Elizabeth I, and was available to James, as in the apocalyptic concept of Last Roman Emperor; but John Foxe equated the Christian Emperor with Constantine the Great. James's own project has been called an "imperial vision of godly monarchy".
caption: Laurel coin showing James I with laurel wreath, a Roman pattern of imperial crown
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "442", "Image ImageLength": "800", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Microsoft Windows Photo Gallery 6.0.6001.18000", "Image DateTime": "2013:02:15 07:05:16", "Image Artist": "National Portrait Gallery London", "Image ExifOffset": "2324", "Image Padding": "[]", "Thumbnail ImageWidth": "110", "Thumbnail ImageLength": "200", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "96", "Thumbnail YResolution": "96", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "4602", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "2605", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "278", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "179", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "E4736CA42423404FB6809D12C9A39653", "EXIF Padding": "[]"}