'James VII, King of the Aricles': Political Management and Parliamentary Failure

First paragraph: There are few more enigmatic monarchs in Scottish and English history than James VII and II, and the study of his life and reign is a peculiarly odd business. Chapter titles such as ‘rise and fall’ or ‘study in failure’ come easily to mind. How did he become so apparently, to use Ronald Hutton’s words, ‘ham-fisted, opinionated, inept and disastrous’, especially as a brilliant military career seemed in prospect in the 1660s and, in a Scottish context, he was welcomed with much warmth and enthusiasm during his periods in residence in Edinburgh from 1679 to 1682. Whig historiographical vilification has been James’s punishment