James VI and I,(1566-1625) King of Scotland (1567-1625) and England (1603-25), was a staunch defender of Christmas.
Raised in Scotland where the Calvinist church had forbidden Christmas celebrations, it was feared that he would be an opponent of the feast when he travelled south to assume the throne of England in 1603. Instead, James proved to be a stout advocate of Christmas customs, commissioning lavish holiday entertainments for his court from Richard Middleton and Ben Jonson (including Christmas His Masque).
He ordered the English nobility to leave London in December for their country estates so that they could keep Christmas and its traditional hospitality to their tenants as in days of old. In the Puritan opposition to Christmas and to religious ceremonial in general, King James peceived a kind of sedition and opposition to royal authority. He defended “the freedom to be merry”, commanding dour Scotland in the Five Articles of Perth to keep Christmas in the English manner and issuing the Book of Sports which prescribed the activities that could lawfully be enjoyed after church on Sundays.
It’s good to be the King!