The Sun Rising

A panoramic history of the arrival of the Stuarts, and how the reign of King James I saw England reach new corners of the globe

'A majestic, brilliant account of the birth of an empire. Spectacularly good' PETER FRANKOPAN

'With its gripping storytelling combined with historical rigour, The Sun Rising is just the right kind of zesty treatment a neglected period needs. Fresh and fabulous' LUCY WORSLEY

In 1603 England was on the edge of crisis. Queen Elizabeth I had died, bringing the Tudor line to an end.

Enter King James, who reached London after an unprecedented procession from Scotland. James established a new dynasty on the English throne and the first ‘united’ kingdom of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales was born. The Stuarts had arrived.

But first, this new ‘Great Britain’ had to play catch up. England was behind, but James’s global ambitions began to shift the tide. As ships departed London for America, Russia, Persia, India and Japan, as the fledgling East India Company began to intertwine ever closer with the crown and as the English began to travel beyond the bounds of their island in greater numbers than ever before, the seeds of the future British Empire were sown.

Long overshadowed by the glory of Elizabeth I and the fatal nadir of Charles I, the reign of the first King of Great Britain is at last told in a new light. Taking in everything from the historic voyage of the Mayflower to the alliance between James and the Persian shah over a joint love of silk, The Sun Rising revolutionises our understanding of the early seventeenth century and the figures that forged a global Britain.

Well-informed, fluid and fascinating -- Gerard DeGroot The Times
Anna Whitelock proves a sure-footed and eloquent guide to James’s reign . . . What is striking when one reads this primer is that, exactly four centuries after James’s death, Britain finds itself once again playing catch-up, uncertain of its place in the world, and lacking the kind of identity that was forged in the seventeenth century -- Paul Lay Oldie
A majestic, brilliant account of the birth of an empire. Spectacularly good -- PETER FRANKOPAN, author of The Silk Roads
With its gripping storytelling combined with historical rigour, The Sun Rising is just the right kind of zesty treatment a neglected period needs. Fresh and fabulous -- LUCY WORSLEY
Richly evocative and brilliantly provocative, The Sun Rising transports its readers far from Whitehall in pursuit of James I’s vision for a united, global Britain. From the plantations of Ireland and trading posts in Indonesia to the courts of Russia and Japan, Anna Whitelock’s compelling narrative looks afresh at James I, and at the idea of Britain that emerged during his reign – and which still resonates today -- ALICE HUNT, author of Republic: Britain's Revolutionary Decade, 1649-1660
Stereotypes are out; new ways of defining James and his world are in . . . Whitelock’s exploration of how political, cultural and commercial interests interlocked in James’s policymaking, so expanding conceptions of state power, is game-changing -- JOHN GUY Literary Review
Covers what was a “golden age” of exploration, navigation, trade and propaganda, beginning with James’ accession to the English throne in 1603 … What emerges is a much-needed panoramic view of Jacobean Britain as it was projected across the globe . . . Whitelock provides a restorative to tiresome preconceptions about an often-maligned monarch . . . A variety of Stuart personalities appear in Whitelock’s account, including the outward-looking merchant Thomas Smythe, the American princess Matoaka (Pocahontas), the inventor John Harington, and the adventurer John Saris . . . They deserve, as Whitelock makes clear, to be as well-known as the courtiers, artists and adventurers of the Elizabethan and Henrician eras . . . Whitelock’s James is the king as he was in his day: confident, canny and colourful -- Steven Veerapen History Today
A picturesque portrait of the nascent Great Britain in an extraordinary age of unification, expansion and commercial experimentation. With sympathy and vigour, Anna Whitelock showcases many facets of this emerging world at home and overseas, ruled over by a fascinating monarch too often neglected and misunderstood by posterity -- MALCOLM GASKILL, author of The Ruin of All Witches
A very lucid, exciting and well-researched narrative of a part of British history which has been relatively neglected and yet is of vital and enduring importance for the development of Britain -- RONALD HUTTON, author of The Witch
With shrewd reasoning and in lucid prose, Professor Anna Whitelock refuses the vision of James VI and I as an insular caretaker king, uncomfortably sandwiched between the glittering Elizabeth and the ill-fated Charles. Here, instead, is a focal reign in which the British reached tendrils out into the corners of the globe and entwined themselves with the history of the world. A scintillating and vital read -- SUZANNAH LIPSCOMB, author of Six Queens: The Wives of Henry VIII
Fascinating, razor-sharp and shot through with uncanny resonances for the interesting times in which we live, The Sun Rising is the brilliantly realised story of James I and the men who, under his rule, sailed the world in search of power and profit. With wit and acute insight, in a page-turning read, Anna Whitelock shows us the seventeenth-century making of ‘Global Britain’ -- HELEN CASTOR, author of She-Wolves
Big, bold, bracing history that expertly captures the energy, ambition and ruthlessness by which a fledgling Britain took wing and then proceeded to feather its nest. Anna Whitelock gives us wide vistas, sharp insights and immersive prose; I can almost taste the salt and smell the sulphur -- JESSIE CHILDS, author of The Siege of Loyalty House
Intended as a 'provocation' to rethink established narratives, The Sun Rising takes readers from Jamestown to Archangel and from Mughal India to Pulo Run in modern-day Indonesia. Assembling a large cast of explorers, envoys and entrepreneurs, Whitelock's new book vividly underscores the vitality and global ambitions of early seventeenth-century Englishmen and their first Stuart king -- CLARE JACKSON, author of Devil-Land

Anna Whitelock is Professor of the History of Modern Monarchy and Executive Dean of the School of Communication and Creativity at City St George’s, University of London. She is an international media commentator on monarchy, public history, and the Tudors and Stuarts. Her previous books include Mary Tudor: England’s First Queen and Elizabeth’s Bedfellows: An Intimate History of the Queen’s Court. She lives in Cambridge.

@AnnaWhitelock

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