James I Union Agenda

James I loved gold and in 1604, he harnessed it to his agenda for uniting England and Scotland. He issued a new sovereign coin called The Unite which for the first time referred to Great Britain. / It was a hugely unpopular idea in both England and Scotland. It provoked instability and an identity crisis where there had been none.

To Shakespeare, this was meat and drink. He started work on King Lear, a tragedy which featured a divided Kingdom.