Life of Gay King James l of England and his Male Courtiers

James’ sexuality has been the subject of much debate in his own lifetime and since and it was a work colleague that actually asked me the question “how gay was James?” because it isn’t that straightforward. Of course the term “gay” would not have been used in the context of homosexuality in Early Modern Britain. In fact same sex-love was described as sodomy. Sodomy was seen as an act of heresy and as a crime so to have described James in these terms would have been very dangerous and difficult to prove. However James was not the first King to have been suspected of such a crime: Edward II was known for his “friendship” with Piers Gaveston and the rumours of Edward’s murder by red hot pokers only emphasised the suspicions that sodomy was practiced by the King. The only thing about James’ sex life that we can say for certain is that he had matrimonial relations with his aforementioned wife as they produced seven children; four of which died in infancy. The rest is speculation. James had several close relations