New book James I’s Tumultuous First Year as King: Plague, Conspiracy and Catholicism looks at the year 1603

Author and historian Ben Norman’s latest book, James I’s Tumultuous First Year as King: Plague, Conspiracy and Catholicism, looks at the year 1603, one of the most significant in our history.

The year 1603 was a time of last goodbyes and new beginnings, of waning customs and fresh political and constitutional visions.

It saw an aged queen die and a king from the far north rise as sovereign over a foreign nation. It also witnessed an unprecedented outbreak of bubonic plague, which began in London and spread through the provinces, killing up to 30,000 people.

Also that year, Catholicism would lead to an attempt to dethrone King James I in the very first months of his reign, culminating in a trial staged at Winchester Castle in November.

Ben Norman, who grew up in South Cambridgeshire in a 700-year-old farmhouse that was supposedly visited by Oliver Cromwell in the 17th century, previously wrote a book titled A History of Death in 17th Century England and admits that that century in particular holds a great deal of fascination for him.

“Naturally from that [A History of Death in 17th Century England], I wanted to look into writing other stuff as well,” explains Ben, who now lives in York (he studied for a master’s degree in early modern history at the University of York, achieving a distinction, and decided to stay).

“I’d always had this idea about writing a book about ‘the year in the life’ in history, so from that it was about looking for a year that was interesting, where lots happened, and that would appeal to the reader.

“My area is 17th-century England and 1603 just kind of jumped out at me as quite a packed year. Elizabeth I dies and a king from Scotland comes down and mixes up the political and to a certain extent the social landscape.

“And also there’s a big outbreak of plague that year as well, and some Catholic conspiracies, intrigue thrown into the mix. There was a lot going on that year so it just seemed the perfect year to do.”

When he was researching the book, did Ben learn some surprising facts that he hadn’t known previously? “Yes, I mean part of the purpose of the book was not only to look at a year in the life of high politics – royal and political history – but also to look at the lives of more ‘ordinary people’, he replies.

“I knew quite a lot about the plague and the politics surrounding the Stuarts’ succession, but it was the morsels of information about everyday people and their lives that I didn’t know as much about, in terms of how everyday folk were involved in the Stuarts’ succession – in strange ways.

“There were people that would openly stand in marketplaces and denounce the king; they would say controversial things about him and then they would get in trouble for that – and then when James was coming down from Scotland, you had these ordinary people lining the route all the way down cheering him on.

“And just simple stuff like paying church bell-ringers to ring him in as he’s coming down… so it was kind of the ordinary, everyday stuff that I found quite surprising.”

Ben undertook “probably about six months” of research beforehand – using online sources and books (he visited libraries and a lot of second-hand bookshops) – and the book covers the year 1603 month by month.

“I basically had this massive timeline, from January to December,” he explains, “and it was just a case of reading around and filling in the blanks from January 1 up to December 31, and that was quite long-winded.

“It was quite a big undertaking, because not only was I researching the high politics and the royal stuff, but also trying to find the sources where ordinary, everyday people appear – and they’re trickier to find.”

Ben, who also has another book out at the moment titled Pomp and Piety: Everyday Life of the Aristocracy in Stuart England, believes that in terms of Britain’s long and distinguished history, 1603 is “probably not the most pivotal year, but it’s certainly, I would say, in the 17th century one of the most pivotal years”.

“You’ve come to the end of the Tudor period, which is obviously a very famous period, but 1603 marks the coming together of Scotland and England and the Union that we would recognise today.

“So in that respect, in terms of the history of our United Kingdom, it’s a pretty important year.”

James I’s Tumultuous First Year as King: Plague, Conspiracy and Catholicism, published by Pen and Sword Books, is available now.

Visit pen-and-sword.co.uk.