Oath of Allegiance of James I of England

do truly and sincerely acknowledge, profess, testify, and declare in my conscience before God and the world, that our Sovereign Lord King James, is lawful and rightful King of this realm, and of all other in his Majesties Dominions and Countries; And that the Pope neither of himself, nor by any authorities of the Church or See of Rome, or by any means with any other hath any power or authority to depose the King, or to dispose any of his Majesty's kingdoms, or dominions, or to authorize any foreign prince to invade or annoy him, or his countries, or to discharge any of his Subjects of their allegiance and obedience to his Majesty,[2] or to authorize any foreign prince to invade him &c., or to give license to any to bear arms, raise tumults, &c. &c. Also I do swear that notwithstanding any sentence of excommunication or deprivation I will bear allegiance and true faith to his Majesty &c. &c. And I do further swear that I do from my heart abhor, detest, and abjure, as impious and heretical this damnable doctrine and position,--that princes which be excommunicated by the pope may be deposed or murdered by their subjects or by any other whatsoever.

I do swear according to the plain and common sense, and understanding of the same words &c. &c. &c"Both Pope Paul V and Cardinal Bellarmine wrote letters condemning the oath.

[3] Bellarmine wrote a letter (18 September 1607) to Blackwell, an acquaintance from Flanders many years previously, reproaching him for having taken the oath in apparent disregard of his duty to the pope.

Patterson, "James himself did not give up his vision of a peaceful and united Church at home and abroad which he had unfolded to Parliament at its opening session in 1604.

[11] It had repercussions for international diplomacy; and in particular the handling of the Premonition had a negative effect on diplomatic relations between Great Britain and Venice, which had been improving during the Interdict.

[12] James attacked Bellarmine early in 1608 in a treatise Triplici nodo, triplex cuneus, the title of which identified it in a learned fashion as an answer to the missives sent to Blackwell.

[14] The cardinal answered with a Responsio,[15] using the pseudonym Matthaeus Tortus (i.e. Matteo Torti or Torto, his chaplain); he portrayed James as smooth in past correspondence with the papacy, but delivering little in practical terms.

When the matter was brought up again in 1608, severe pressure was put by Dunbar and Robert Cecil, 1st Earl of Salisbury on Balmerino to induce him to take the whole blame on himself, and on the promise that his life and estates should be secured to him he consented to exculpate the king.

On the Catholic side were Cardinal Duperron, Leonard Lessius, Jacob Gretser, Thomas Fitzherbert, Martin Becan, Gaspar Scioppi, Adolph Schulckenius, Nicolas Coeffeteau, and Andreas Eudaemon Joannes.

[19] Opposed to them were: Lancelot Andrewes, William Barlow, Robert Burhill, Pierre du Moulin, the poet John Donne (in his Pseudo-Martyr of 1610)[3] and the Benedictine Thomas Preston, who wrote in defence of the oath.

James insisted that Andrewes included in Tortura Torti references to the idea that if a Pope meddled with the temporal allegiances of Catholics, this was with indication of an identification of the Antichrist of the Book of Revelation.

In reply to a posthumous treatise of Barclay, Bellarmine wrote a Tractatus de potestate summi pontificis in rebus temporalibus.

Another prominent rejection of Bellarmine's claim of papal superior authority was made by philosopher Thomas Hobbes in the third and fourth book of his Leviathan.

Francisco Suárez's answer to James was the Defensio fidei (1613), a major statement of the Catholic position, and also an important landmark in political thought.

George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore, a Catholic, found his attempt to settle in Virginia, where the oath had been introduced in 1609, was defeated by it.

[3][31] Charles I of England generally recognised that Catholics could not conscientiously take the Oath of Supremacy, and frequently exerted his prerogative to help them to avoid it.

On the other hand, his theory of the divine right of kings induced him to favour the Oath of Allegiance, and he was irritated with the Catholics who refused it or argued against it.