King James & the History of Homosexuality [Hardcover]

Michael B. Young (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 1999

Allegations of King James's homosexuality made in his lifetime and in the generation afterwards shook the political world of early Stuart England. In this engaging history of the monarch and his times, Michael B. Young relates these allegations to the current debate among historians on the origin of modern conceptions of "homosexuality."

Situating the claims of homosexuality within the interplay between sexuality and gender in early seventeenth century England and ideas of governance and peace and war, Young argues that the origins of the modern conception of "homosexuality" lie earlier than has been supposed and that by the beginning of the seventeenth century they were already apparent. The principal evidence he adduces for this is the muted tone he sees in these claims made against James and in the absence in them of ideas concerning "sodomy" as an absolute Other, which have been argued as characterizing early modern England.

Combining research on the history of homosexuality with political history, Young's treatment of homophobia, effeminacy, manliness, and sexual politics in Jacobean England not only explores the repercussions of James's homosexuality on his son Charles's reign, but shows how prior historians have mishandled the subject of James' homosexuality and underestimated its political consequences.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Young's book is a timely reminder of the complex interplay of sex and politics in Jacobean England."

-American Historical Review,

About the Author

Michael B. Young is Professor of History at Illinois Wesleyan University.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: NYU Press (September 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814796931
• ISBN-13: 978-0814796931
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,858,777 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating book - entertaining AND educational, August 29, 2002

By 

Elisabeth Riba (Melrose, MA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: King James & the History of Homosexuality (Hardcover)

This is a really great book, entertaining and readable, yet also informative and educational.
It discusses both the personal history of King James (of the King James Bible fame) and public perception of homosexuality during 16th and 17th Century England.

For readers not already well acquainted with King James, such as myself, the opening chapter establishes his history. And it does a good job -- not only did it enable me to follow the rest of the book, but subsequent histories I've read of King James didn't add anything surprising, meaning it was sufficiently thorough.

The next chapters examine the evidence that James had sex with his male favorites, what the court and subjects thought about it, along with the various terms, codes and historical analogies that James' contemporaries could discourse about sex between males.
Subsequent chapters discuss the relationship between homosexuality, effeminacy and pacifism vs. heterosexuality, masculinity and war, how James's homosexuality affected the reign of his son, Charles, and what contemporary and later writers said about James's sexuality, concluding with comments on the general history of homosexuality.

Fascinating book. It has an element of the tabloid (with juicy excerpts from James' love letters) while also very thought-provoking. I have purely a layman's interest in the subject, and I had no trouble following the author's language or arguments. For more serious historians and researchers, everything is very thoroughly footnoted and annotated.

I *HIGHLY* recommend it.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars King but no Saint, January 15, 2003

By 

J. Ng (Scarborough, Ontario) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: King James & the History of Homosexuality (Hardcover)

Author M. Young pulls together the evidence concerning James I's alleged sodomy and leaves it to the reader to decide.

one letter, by King James himself to Robert Carr in 1615, complains about a number of issues, including: "I leave out of this reckoning your long creeping back and withdrawing yourself from lying in my chamber, notwithstanding my many hundred times earnestly soliciting you to the contrary." (Young, p. 43)

Villiers, on anticipating his return to England from his Spanish posting, told King James: "I cannot now think of giving thanks for friend, wife, or child; my thoughts are only bent on having my dear Dad and Master's legs soon in my arms." (Young, p. 47)

while King James did write about sodomy as a "horrible" crime in his Basilikon Doron, "Sex with subordinates was a prereogative of patriarchy, and James was the chief patriach of the whole realm." (Young, p. 48) "James could have been perfectly earnest in condemning sodomy while simultaneously engaging in what we today would call homosexual behaviour" (Young, p. 49)--because the "legal definition [of sodomy] was extremely narrow. It specified only one sex act between men, anal intercourse, and excluded all other genital sex acts." Furthermore, as James is said to be "a notorious hypocrite where swearing and drinking were concerned; he could simply have been the same where sodomy was concerned." (Young, p. 50)

Did James play the hypocrite, preaching one thing fr one side of his face while whispering something else to his favourites? Perhaps no one will ever know on this side of heaven. It won't hurt to read Young's arguments and decide for yourself.

0 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Great fiction., October 14, 2009

By 

Old n' Foolish "brassart" (EastBay CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: King James & the History of Homosexuality (Hardcover)

Lot's of misinformation and a complete lack of understanding regarding the customs of the times. Poor scholarship.