Crisis of the Anglo-Scottish Union (1620–1625)

Name: Crisis of the Anglo-Scottish Union (1620–1625)
Start: 1620
End: 1625

Type Event Region Europe Time 1620–1625

After the 1603 union of the crowns of England and Scotland under James VI/I, the 1620s brought a serious crisis of the dual monarchy.

Timeline

1621Westminster · LondonIn 1621 the English Parliament fiercely opposed James I's marriage negotiations with Spain, accusing the pro-Spanish policy of threatening Protestantism and national security; James dissolved Parliament and imprisoned some members, exposing deep tensions between English constitutionalism and royal authority under the dual monarchy.
1620–1624Edinburgh · EdinburghIn the 1620s the Scottish Presbyterian kirk and nobility resisted James's attempts to impose episcopacy closer to the English church model and the Five Articles of Perth, showing that the union had not brought institutional integration but instead deepened differences in religious identity between the two realms.
1625Hertfordshire · HertfordshireJames I died in March 1625, and Charles I succeeded to the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland. The new king leaned more toward absolutism and pro-French diplomacy (after the failed marriage negotiations), lacking James's political flexibility, and the Anglo-Scottish union entered a more unstable phase.