In the final, long, drawn out days of Elizabeth I's life, Sir John Carey, the deputy governor of the garrison town of Berwick, appealed urgently to Sir Robert Cecil, the queen's principal secretary. ‘What should I do here,’ he demanded, ‘not knowing how or for whom to keep this place, being only in the devil’s mouth, a place that will be first assailed, and I not being instructed what course to hold.’ These were perilous times. With no heir to the English throne formally nominated, he was terrified that he would be an early victim should the Scottish king James VI attempt to take England by force on the death of the aged and ailing queen. He was not alone in his unease, for King James himself was conscious that his forces should be in readiness should he need to defend his interest, while rumours were circulating throughout Europe. Sir John, not a native Northumbrian, was also articulating contemporary estimations about the character of north-east England, as remote from central government, ignorant, fiendish, volatile and extremely vulnerable.

In the event King James's entry into England was accomplished remarkably smoothly. It was Sir John Carey's younger brother, Sir Robert, who carried the news of Elizabeth's death (on 24 March 1603) from London to James VI – in a dramatic ride taking less than three days. He took the opportunity to proclaim the new king at Morpeth and Alnwick before calling in on his brother at Berwick who promptly gathered the garrison, mayor, aldermen and burgesses together to hear his ‘short and pithie Oration’ proclaiming the new king of England.

One of James's first acts was to secure Berwick through the agency of the bishop of Holyroodhouse, it being ‘the gate that opened into all his dominions’. James himself progressed into Berwick on 6 April. As he approached, he was met by such a ‘peale of ordinance’ that it set ‘the houses and towers staggering’ while the consequent smoke engulfed the entire town completely obliterating it from view. But, just ‘as all darknesse flyes before the face of the sunne, so did these clouds of smoake and gunpowder vanish at his gracious approach’. The inference may perhaps be drawn that, from a southern perspective, King James would bring enlightenment to a corner of England that was all too capable of plunging itself into darkness and chaos.