History question. Cromwell and King James?

Question

I was reading our family letters last night and it said we had relatives who served in King James court. Haha and I don't mean the basketball player King James court. I am not sure if this is James I or II, but it says our family was hurt by Cromwell "pauperizing" the court, and from the text it sounds like James came before Cromwell, so this must be James I right? Here is the exact wording:

"Great old days for our ancestors - until Cromwell came - James dethroned and reformation movement pauperized court of King James"....

I thought Cromwell kind of dethroned Charles II and not James?

The sad thing is, I am majoring in history. I just haven't studied this era that much.

Answer 1

It's James I they're talking about. James I was dethroned during the civil war and Cromwell was named "Lord Protector" . . . or something like that. Anyway, he was basically a religiously intolerant tyrant who is hated by the British to this day. Right up there with Napoleon and Hitler. After Cromwell's death, James II was asked to take his father's throne.

I therefore conclude that your family must have served James I. It's possible that they were re-instated by James II, but it doesn't sound like it from the text of the letter.

Answer 2

Cromwell did overthrow Charles I rather than James I. However, it wasn't long after Charles succeeded James I that Cromwell and Parliament used the power of the purse to make life pretty rough for the Court, heavily cutting the money expended on court life. Still, the writer seems to believe that this happened to James I, which means they are likely going off family legends without much real information on the topic.

Answer 3

James I was the first of the House of Stuart kings, brought down from Scotland (IIRC he was James VI of Scotland when he ascended the English throne) following the death of Elizabeth I, ending the line of the House of Tudor. The Tudors were Henry VIII and his kids, none of whom reproduced.

James son was Charles I, deposed by Cromwell in the English Civil war. Charles II ascended the English/Scottish/Irish throne on the restoration of the monarchy. Because James I/VI united the three kingdoms, Charles was able to rely on support from Scotland and Ireland during the Civil War, while the Parliamentarians' power was concentrated almost entirely in southern England.

Answer 4

with all due respect, what you wrote as your question does not make any sense.

James I was the father of Charles I
Charles I was dethroned and executed by Cromwell and his oligarchy.
Cromwell, and briefly for a time, his son ruled England.
Then a deal was made by some, and Charles II, the son of Charles I who fled to Europe, came back to England to rule and start up the useless monarchy once again.

either you typed your question incorrectly or your ancestors were quite ignorant in regards to history.

Answer 5

Oliver Cromwell was, at base, a greedy man and a racist man, though you can't really call English hating Irish racist now. He is the man responsible for "To Hell or Connaught" which pushed the Irish westward and forced the English language and Protestantism on the Irish. He also had his soldiers impregnate their wives to prevent Irish children (which was a common practice by the English), and took their young children and sold them as indentured servants in the new world. Cromwell lived in the early to mid 1600s around the reign of James I.