Pater patriae: James I and the imprint of prerogative

Near the end of December 1621 as King James was considering the possible marriage of his son Charles to the Spanish princess, Maria, the House of Commons grew increasingly concerned over the prospect of such a union with Catholic Spain and inaugurated a debate in Parliament on the issue of the marriage. Finch's second protestation concerns the state and nature of common law and the fact that it had never been submitted to codification. While Finch certainly saw this as common law's great virtue, James spoke frequently of his desire to see common law submitted to codification in the form of writing/printing and in English. Finch's third complaint is that James acted as king with the assumption that his subjects should accept a vastly expanded royal prerogative simply as a 'mystery of faith'. James clearly conceived of print as a mechanism capable of presenting the true image of the king and his honorable intentions.