James VI and I

A portrait of Sir Walter Ralegh, a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I, c1588. (Photo by ACTIVE MUSEUM / Alamy Stock Photo)

Walter Ralegh: “The rankest traitor in all England?”

The pilgrim fathers

Your guide to the Pilgrim Fathers, plus 6 interesting facts

A portrait of Mary, Queen of Scots. (Photo by Leemage/Corbis via Getty Images)

12 facts about the Stuarts

Illustration of pirate John Ward

Pirate John Ward: the real Captain Jack Sparrow

After her recovery from smallpox, Queen Elizabeth I started using a ceruse foundation on her face, neck and chest. (Photo by: Universal History Archive/UIG via Getty Images)

5 weird habits of royals through history

This 16th-century woodcut depicts King James VI at the North Berwick witch trials, the case that first sparked his obsession with hunting. (Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

James VI and I: the king who hunted witches

Sir Walter Raleigh, 1552–1618 (Photo by Getty Images)

Walter Ralegh: enemy of the state

Podcast Website large Tracy Borman

Historical fact and fiction

An illustration of a group of supposed witches being beaten in front of King James VI and I, c1610. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Shakespeare’s Macbeth and King James’s witch hunts

In this painting from c1650, a witch wields a broomstick as demons and 'familiars' (helpers of witches) congregate before her. (Photo by Rischgitz/Getty Images)

History quiz – witchcraft and superstition

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A deadly royal favourite?

Queen Elizabeth I dancing with Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester. Artist unknown. (© Lebrecht Music and Arts Photo Library/Alamy)

Tudor tunes: music at the courts of Henry VIII, Elizabeth I and James VI and I

Picture of a lion and tiger fighting

Q&A Where was England's first zoo?

Picture depicting the Articles of Union being presented to Queen Anne

Q&A Why did Scotland join the 1707 Union with England?

An engraving of the frontispiece to the first edition of the King James Bible. Published in 1611, the Bible was soon to become required reading across the English-speaking world. (Culture Club/Getty Images)

The making of the King James Bible