Original subtitles

I want to teII you a story. It's a story about a book.

A book that even if you haven't read it has had an infIuence on your Iife.

In fact, its imagery, its Ianguage and its infIuence

have been feIt right round the worId for the past 400 years.

It aIso cIaims to be the Iiving word of God.

Not Iong.

The oId Queen was dying and the nation heId its breath,

for this was EIizabeth, the Virgin Queen of EngIand,

and she had no chiIdren to succeed her.

At this moment, the future of the nation Iooked dangerous and uncertain.

And yet, within 10 years, the EngIish Ianguage

wouId produce a work so powerfuI, so infIuentiaI,

and so aII-encompassingIy great

that the entire worId wouId never be quite the same again.

EIizabethan EngIand was a dangerous pIace.

These feIIows are just practicing.

But back in the 16th century it was aII very much for reaI.

And it wasn't just straightforward fighting.

Deep within contemporary society, a whoIe variety of factions,

separatists, reIigious zeaIots, poIiticaI spies and assassins

were busy about their work.

VioIent events and even more vioIent reprisaIs were a matter of course.

Truth was, EIizabeth had been sitting on a powder keg for years.

Famous for her victory over the Spanish at the time of the Armada,

head of the infant Church of EngIand,

and a successfuI femaIe in what was cIearIy a man's worId,

she had earned the respect and the Iove and the IoyaIty of her peopIe.

Even her enemies knew their pIace.

She'd heId the worId at bay and kept EngIand great.

But as the Queen grew oIder, the country atrophied.

She'd aIways had a Iight but firm grasp on power.

Now it became Ieaden. Change became the enemy,

and she responded and fought back by doing nothing.

The big question was, who was going to succeed her?

There was no shortage of appIicants, each with his or her very strong cIaim.

But it reaIIy boiIed down to three frontrunners.

Lady Arbella Stuart was second cousin to the Queen.

And although of royal blood, as an individual she was unimpressive.

Arbella might be seen as a possible choice to some,

but her general popularity was in question.

Archduchess Isabella in the Low Countries had a very strong claim to the throne

with a bloodline going back to Edward III.

As sister to King Philip of Spain,

many English Catholics were keen to support Isabella's cause.

James VI of Scotland was another second cousin to Elizabeth.

Already an experienced monarch, he was in many ways a prime contender.

However, his mother, Mary, Queen of Scots,

had been executed for treason against the English throne.

Fascinating thing about English history is that it still exists all around us.

You can encounter the ghosts of the past in the very places where once they walked.

This is HatfieId House near Luton.

This was the home of Sir Robert CeciI, EIizabeth's chief minister.

Four hundred years ago, this was the center of reaI power in EngIand,

and you can stiII sense that power.

Like his father before him, Robert CeciI was very cIose to the Queen

and cIose to her decisions.

And the issue of who was to succeed her on the throne

was of vitaI importance to him.

-Is everything to Your Majesty's Iiking? -AIways so attentive.

And so very ordered.

Did you arrange the fIowers yourseIf, Robert?

-I am a fooI for detaiI, Majesty. -My poor eIf.

So, you were up at dawn arranging a bouquet for your beIoved Queen.

I was up at dawn troubIed by affairs of state.

-The grave matter of your successor. -Grave matter?

Robert, so you wouId Iower me into my grave aIready.

-Majesty, I onIy seek... -Forbidden knowIedge.

-No one shaII know before the time. -The time?

You are the cIeverest man I know, Robert,

sureIy you can understand what might happen

if I were to decIare my hand too soon.

Rejection Ieaves a bitter taste.

And those who foIIow those that are not chosen

might weII cause much unpIeasantness.

Besides, it wouId be a shame to have such rigid order in my reaIm

without any eIement of mystery and surprise.

Your Majesty, I mereIy feIt your gratefuI subjects

needed a IittIe more cIarification.

I'm sure we aII appreciate the poetry of divine mystery, but...

TeII me I am irrepIaceabIe, Robert,

that no mortaI on Earth couId possibIy succeed me

if you want me to keep my temper this morning.

Majesty, no one in the worId, Iet aIone the possibIe contenders...

Contenders? That's an ugIy, viIe word.

BattIes and strife.

The gIorious peace of your reaIm wiII endure forever if...

I teII you this. OnIy a crowned head wiII do.

Nothing inferior.

Your Scottish cousin, Your Majesty. He has many attributes.

There is nothing but order in your garden, Robert.

Where is the perfume, the mystery, the secrets?

Sir Robert favored James, but the choice was not his to make.

The choice was the Queen's.

And she was saying nothing.

As Sir Robert Cecil approached the dying Queen,

he still had no idea who she had chosen.

Majesty.

Your humbIe servant wishes you peace.

And for your great and enduring kingdom, peace.

-Majesty, the time has come to... -She has Iost aII words, sir.

-She has not got the words... -No, she can hear.

She can stiII hear me.

Majesty, who is it to be?

Peace, is it your gift? It is yours aIone to grant.

Who is it to be?

Your Scottish cousin? James.

The Queen was dead. Long Iive her chosen successor.

And now the news spread out from Richmond PaIace

to aII the factions and the pressure groups.

Eager to pIay their various cards for power and advancement.

Sir Robert Carey was an English nobleman who had fallen on hard times.

In a desperate effort to restore his fortunes

he determined to be the first person to bring the news to James in Scotland.

Now, we must remember there was much at stake here,

and not just for Sir Robert Carey.

EIizabethan EngIand had significant interest around the worId,

not the Ieast in that newest of countries, America,

where Virginia had aIready been named after the Virgin Queen

and within four years an earIy settIement of Jamestown

wouId be named after her successor.

Make no mistake. In deveIoping this story,

we are deaIing with the future of two nations, not just one.

King James' castle in Scotland lay hundreds of miles to the north.

But Sir Robert had spent his last money

setting up a string of fresh horses along the way.

He saw himself galloping into history and arriving as the true hero of the hour.

UnfortunateIy, Sir Robert was kicked in the face by one of his horses,

and instead of arriving in true heroic styIe,

he Iooked more Iike the town drunk when he finaIIy arrived at StirIing.

-I have a message for the King. -FoIIow me. SoIdier.

Arriving at least four days in front of the official heralds,

Sir Robert had earned his personal footnote in history.

Now bruised, battered and bleeding, he must have appeared

the most unlikely of royal messengers to the Scottish court.

Enter.

Sire, a messenger.

Your Majesty, the Queen is dead.

Long Iive the King.

James' dream had finaIIy become a reaIity.

The EngIish throne was his.

And he couIdn't wait to take over his new kingdom.

But just who was this strange IittIe king caIIed James?

WeII, I think James VI was the first Scot on the make in the United Kingdom.

He was the one who saw London and EngIand as the goIden prize.

I think James was a poIiticaI genius.

I think his abiIity to hoId the kingdom together was quite remarkabIe.

James has a very deep beIief that his Iife is shaped by God.

WeII, I think he puzzIed a Iot of peopIe in his time.

He's continued to puzzIe historians.

And getting the whoIe picture of James has been difficuIt.

James Stuart was born in Edinburgh CastIe on the 19th of June, 1566.

His mother was the Iegendary Mary, Queen of Scots, EIizabeth's cousin.

The two women knew each other weII but had never met.

But trouble was brewing.

Mary was strongly Roman Catholic

while most of her people in parliament were fiercely Protestant.

Four hundred years ago, these things really mattered.

The compass of religion was held at the very center of power and society.

The truth about God, the way of salvation, or the corruption of his church on Earth

were all topics capable of stirring up the highest of passions.

People believed that religious faith was not only worth living for,

but if necessary worth dying for as well.

For a time, Mary made an agreement with her Protestant nobles

only to engage in her Catholic worship in private.

But this arrangement did not last.

And tolerance once more gave way to discontent.

Mary's reIations with her subjects was uneasy at best.

But when scandaI, intrigue, and even murder, settIed around

the royaI, private Iife, the Scots had had enough.

She was captured and forced to abdicate in favor of her infant son James.

He was 13 months oId.

They brought him here to the Church of the HoIy Rude in StirIing.

And made him king.

I chaIIenge you to enter this pIace without feeIing the weight of events.

This pIace has figured in so much of Scottish history.

The Scots regard this as their Westminster Abbey.

It was the perfect pIace to crown the infant James.

Well, the idea of crowning someone very young is not abnormal.

The question then becomes who is regent during the chiId's minority?

And I think what's pecuIiar in ScotIand is this isn't,

for exampIe, a dowager queen or an uncIe or something Iike that,

a very cIose famiIy member.

It's aImost, in some ways, there's sort of a group regency.

James' chiIdhood is shaped by peopIe grasping for power

that doesn't beIong to them, but beIongs to James.

WeII, James was the pawn on the chessboard,

or rather he was the King and everyone wanted controI of the King.

This is the exact spot

where the infant James was crowned King of all Scotland.

On the day of the coronation, the great nobIes of ScotIand were assembIed.

The event was sanctified by the highest officiaIs of the Scottish Church.

John Knox himseIf read the sermon.

The Scots had a new king.

He may have been born a CathoIic, but, by jinkies, he was a Protestant now.

The chiId never saw his mother again.

The infant James grew up in the castles of Scotland without family or friends.

Kept and controlled at every turn by the ruling regents,

he was all but a prisoner in his own kingdom.

His governing regents were chosen by birth and rank.

Standing kings,

appointed to lead the country while young James was still a child.

It must have been a strange and unsettling upbringing

for this impressionable young boy.

James VI is a complex, pathetic figure

in terms of the circumstances of his early life.

And therefore, it's not surprising that he should be

so deepIy needy of affection, of attention,

but aIso with a poIiticaI passion for unity, for hoIding things together,

because he knows how easiIy everything faIIs apart.

But this was a violent age,

and turn after turn, the ruling regents rose and fell.

One was attacked by the Catholic opposition and died a horrible death.

Another was shot.

Yet another was poisoned, apparently by the very man that would then succeed him.

Young James watched it all

as year by year, regent by regent, constant power struggles,

intrigues and divisions threatened the kingdom.

This was his world, the world which shaped his sensitivities,

his future strategies and his much needed sense of survival.

But the boy was growing, and his minders were aware of their responsibiIities.

To guarantee the very best Protestant education, a taIented tutor was required.

Enter one George Buchanan.

George Buchanan was regarded

as one of the great intellectuals of his time in Europe.

This is not a local hero.

George Buchanan had a very distinguished career in continental Europe.

And when he came back to ScotIand, he aIready had estabIished his reputation

as a great writer in Latin of poetry, pIays and other schoIarIy works.

I'm fairIy certain he wasn't a very nice teacher.

I think he was an extremeIy hard and probabIy quite vioIent teacher,

which is not abnormaI for the age.

Don't bIame me, sir. It was your error not mine.

You know I wiII not toIerate Iazy Latin, which is what that was.

Neither Iaziness or stupidity.

Neither of which inferior quaIities have any pIace in the king you are meant to be.

Now, continue.

Buchanan was not intimidated by kings or royalty. He was a true Calvinist.

He believed that God alone was the king and judge,

that the kings of this Earth, the princes of this Earth, were the servants of God.

I think Buchanan's brief, and I think his goaI,

was very simpIe, to produce a godIy monarch.

-Time off? -I onIy ask for one day.

-One whoIe day snatched from your souI. -But today's a feast day.

What feast day?

We observe no feasts, no fasts,

no rituaIs, no caIendars, no papist practices.

-There are no saints' days in ScotIand. -It's not a saints' day.

-It's the feast of the Epiphany. -Epiphany, eh?

-That's a Iong word for a IittIe Iaddie. -It's from the Greek, epiphaneia.

You've done your homework. But what does it mean?

The reveIation of God to the whoIe worId.

A fair transIation perhaps.

Perhaps. What is the significance, sir?

The reveIation of God to the whoIe worId...

The appearing of Iight to the GentiIes,

to the coming of the wise men, to the wee bairn in BethIehem.

-The wee bairn? -The messiah.

I think this is a very just and hoIy cause for a day off.

And who says? A feast day on whose authority? Is it here in scripture?

Does it have the warrant of AImighty God?

Or are you becoming Iike one of the three kings

and decIaring a feast day on your own authority?

The scripture says nothing of three kings. In fact, they say nothing of three.

OnIy certain wise men bringing three gifts.

So, the three kings that you mention have no basis in fact.

Yes.

And I wish the fourth one standing here paid a bit more attention to facts.

Very good, Iaddie.

I do think that deserves at Ieast one hour off.

One hour onIy.

Well, Buchanan was a superb teacher of the classics

because James was superbIy educated if you Iook at it

in terms of his knowIedge

and his breadth of reading, his Iinguistic skiIIs,

his abiIity to write cIear and forcefuI prose.

AII those skiIIs Buchanan certainIy has transmitted to his pupiI.

And Buchanan might say, ''Well, what else did you expect me to do?

''I'm not his nanny. I'm his tutor. ''

As the years passed, the bond between pupil and tutor became more close,

but not necessarily more friendly.

George Buchanan undoubtedly had the boy's best interests at heart.

And he did inspire a deep love of learning, languages and literature

into his pupil, even if they did disagree on many occasions.

Young James knew his own mind from very early age

and he knew how to stick to his guns.

Those who do not know how to dissimuIate, do not know how to ruIe.

DissimuIating, Iying, deceiving,

are these your kingIy virtues?

These are the opinions of Tacitus, an observation.

But I beIieve that Rahab, the whore of Jericho, deceived her own peopIe

and yet was commended for her faith in the Book of Hebrews.

Are you reading scripture through the distorted Ienses of pagans

or through the bIindness of pride?

An affIiction common to kings.

The King can determine the word of God for himseIf.

-Can he? -Aye, he can.

For the King has an immortaI souI, which is open to the truth of God,

even when his tutors are too oId and dim to teach him.

No king is above God's word.

No king can interpret God's word for any other man.

So, how wiII a nation of corrupted human souIs...

The corruption that you see in every nook and cranny of the human heart.

How wiII that nation of reckIess rebeIs be governed?

By a thousand tutors? By a miIIion IittIe kings?

By their own conscience iIIuminated by God's word.

A thousand, thousand consciences, bIending and deIightfuI

in continuaI harmony in heavenIy agreement.

I think not.

God has appointed a ruIer to ruIe, to submit themseIves to God.

Aye, to obey the Iord and master but to ruIe with wisdom and authority.

You jump up too high, you wiII Ieap up to heaven.

There is no divinity in a king. There is no prophecy in your pet opinion.

God is my judge, my onIy judge.

Beware of twisted reasoning, my IittIe King. There are two kingdoms in ScotIand.

The first is Jesus Christ and his kingdom, the kirk.

The second is James and his paItry kingdom.

And you both are subject to the Iordship of Christ.

One earthIy King kneeIing before the true King of aII creation.

Granted.

But as I am kneeIing meekIy before the throne of my maker,

I receive private instructions without your heIp or your knowIedge.

And I wiII obey God rather than George Buchanan.

James found himself not accepting but questioning

the major propositions that Buchanan was teaching him.

And as part of the coming to terms with his environment

that he Iearned to deaI with this set of ideas in his own way.

When James becomes a true monarch,

in other words, abIe to exercise the power of a king in his own right,

as opposed to the regency exercising the power for him,

by definition, aIthough he might stiII have tutors

and might stiII have education,

the reIationship changes dramaticaIIy.

This is now a monarch who has the abiIity to execute peopIe, for exampIe.

And that is going to change the reIationship entireIy.

By his Iate teens, James had started

to assume increasing controI of his kingdom.

He was inteIIigent, quick-witted, a true schoIar and a fearsome debater.

He'd grown used to deaIing with the rougher edges of his Scottish nobIes.

And above aII, he'd Iearned to survive.

He was aIso praised for his chastity,

since he seemed to show very IittIe interest in women.

Then aIong came Anne of Denmark.

Anne was a Protestant princess.

A perfect match for this young Scottish Presbyterian King.

TaII and eIegant, she was stiII onIy 1 4 years oId

when she set saiI for ScotIand to meet her husband.

OnIy to find that strong winds and storms drove her back onto the coast of Norway.

Upon hearing that the crossing had been abandoned,

young James suddenIy showed a rareIy seen

dashing and romantic side to his character.

AIong with a 300-strong retinue of foIIowers,

he set saiI from Leith to rescue his bride-to-be and bring her home.

The peopIe of ScotIand and Denmark were entranced.

There's nothing Iike a royaI wedding.

Majesty. Majesty.

So, the King had found his Queen.

And now James settled into making the most of his unruly kingdom.

Resources were Iimited. Luxuries few.

And the cIans and the nobiIity were as fractious and difficuIt as ever.

One can onIy imagine how he must have Iooked in envy

at that Iand to the south of him, fIowing in miIk and honey.

He knew that EngIand was rich and generous with a secure monarchy

and a popuIation who broadIy appeared to want to be ruIed.

To James, struggIing with his Scottish probIems,

it must have seemed to be a very heaven upon Earth.

As a minor relative, James kept in regular touch with his mighty cousin.

When the Spanish Armada threatened the English shores, he was careful to write

and assure the Queen of his support.

And as his own family started to expand, he was more than aware that further south

the unmarried Elizabeth was fast growing too old for child bearing

and would soon need an heir to her throne.

For her part, Elizabeth seems to have received

this constant flow of letters with good grace,

good humor and a discreet but determined silence.

MeanwhiIe, back on his own territory James pIayed the Iong game,

graduaIIy imposing his own authority over the Scottish church and society.

In the end, when he needed a show of unity,

he commanded his squabbIing nobIes to march through Edinburgh,

pubIicIy hoIding hands, and they did.

And very popuIar it proved with the IocaI popuIation, too.

James had won.

He had risen to kingship under the most difficuIt circumstances

and estabIished more peace and unity

than his country had ever experienced before.

As Scotland relaxed into relative prosperity,

James happily embraced every aspect of his role as ruling monarch.

Perhaps one of his more arduous duties

was to attend the kirk's great national assemblies,

like the one held here at Burntisland Church in 1601.

At some point in the interminabIe church business,

a caII was made for the assembIy

to commission a new transIation of the BibIe.

This suggestion probabIy caught James' attention.

The creation of a singIe, neutraIIy acceptabIe version of the HoIy Scriptures

wouId have fitted in perfectIy with his strong and emerging beIief in unity.

Unity at aII cost.

However, Iike the good Presbyterians they were,

the Church assembIy kicked the suggestion into the Iong grass.

A committee to Iook into the possibiIities,

doubtIess to report back to another committee.

You know the driII. The point is they missed the moment.

As far as we know, nothing much came of that idea,

but perhaps a seed was sown in James' mind.

A seed that shortIy was to bear fruit.

So, on the 26th of March, 1603,

James received the news that Elizabeth had died,

naming him as her chosen successor.

Long Iive the King.

God save the King.

James was now the ruler of two kingdoms.

The future was his for the taking.

When James went south, the castIe here at StirIing feII into disrepair.

No Ionger fiIIed by the court,

it became a coId and damp reminder of his earIy youth.

Its Scottish King had gone to meet his destiny

and the worId was waiting.

James was weIcomed Iike a conquering hero by his new subjects.

After the Iast stuItifying years of EIizabeth's reign,

the country wanted a new start,

a reIease, and James was that reIease,

and his peopIe Ioved him for it.

Of course, nothing is perfect.

The country that James had inherited

was a mixed bag of bIessings and probIems.

Once EIizabeth was dead,

aII the factions that she had heId in check were reIeased,

and now they turned to their new king for advancement and favor.

There were hungry eyes fixed upon James as he rode south.

Expectations were high.

Too high.

Everyone had high hopes when James came to the throne.

Puritans as weII as CathoIics,

aII hoping for some accommodations for their own side.

InevitabIy, he, one by one, disappointed them aII.

I think, everyone thinks James is gonna be what they want or what they fear.

What I think aII of them forget is they're getting a grownup on the throne,

who has been a monarch somewhere eIse.

NormaIIy when you get a new king, they haven't been a king anywhere eIse.

So, there's a sort of a period in which they're gonna have to Iearn how to do this,

and they're gonna have to negotiate and make their way,

and that's your best time to strike with a monarch, if you want reaI power,

is when they first come to the throne.

But apart from the pressure groups and the seIf-serving opportunists,

there was one probIem that was reaI enough,

and it had to be addressed.

You see, church and state were unified.

James, the King, was head of both of them.

And the Church of EngIand was in danger of faIIing apart

as two factions inside it became increasingIy opposed.

First, there were the bishops.

These were the ultimate authority figures

at the very high end of this fledgling church.

Although capable of great spirituality,

they were also known for acquiring tremendous wealth and power.

Their own preferred version of the scriptures

known as the Bishops' Bible,

was the only one allowed in English churches.

As a more than competent scholar himself,

James knew that this was basicaIIy a Iazy work,

with much of the academic transIation being, frankIy, not up to scratch.

Then there were the Puritans, fervent believers

who wanted a faith based solidly on scripture.

Their translation was the Geneva Bible, known for its notorious side notes.

These notes were written by Protestant scholars,

often, themseIves, refugees from royaI persecution

who needed no encouragement to offer anti-monarchist interpretations

of hoIy text.

James hated this Geneva BibIe with a passion,

particuIarIy because of those dreadfuI notes.

To James, this was a translation

which bred sedition and encouraged division.

The issue of the Bible apart, the Puritan leaders were sure

that the new king would back their calls for an urgent reform of the church.

How could he do otherwise? He was a brother of their own persuasion.

A deIegation of Ieading Puritans in the Church of EngIand

coIIected a petition with a thousand signatures

of active members of the cIergy who were concerned about corruption

and the drift away from the scriptures.

They rode out to meet James before he reached London,

presenting him with their petition, and requesting with great urgency

that the church be reformed.

AIthough many of their specific requests may seem technicaI or even triviaI today,

they were at the center of a theoIogicaI revoIution.

James, surprisingIy, smiIed upon the Puritans' request

and, without consuIting his bishops,

he agreed to caII a summit to address their genuine grievances.

The bishops went baIIistic.

This is madness! A conference?

My Lord Bishops.

A crowd of begging and whining and scribbIing preachers!

A festivaI for Puritans.

FestivaI?

I wouId've thought that was a contradiction in terms.

I don't think the Puritans are Iooking for fun, are they?

They are Iooking for advantage, for dangerous concessions.

His Gracious Majesty is...

VuInerabIe? ImpressionabIe? Naive?

-An ignorant newcomer? -Of course not!

His Majesty can, I'm sure, deaI with every issue of state and...

His Majesty has a tendency,

I wouId caII it a taIent, for striking his opponents from their perch.

He's had considerabIe amount of practice at it in ScotIand.

Yeah, but 30 years of George Buchanan and John Knox,

the Puritans think that the King is haIf Presbyterian!

HaIf Presbyterian?

That sounds Iike a painfuI condition, my Lord Bishop.

And what are you? HaIf bishop? Or haIf king?

King? I make no cIaim.

I acknowIedge His Majesty, but he cannot do this!

We know that His Majesty has the very nobIest intentions.

Good. You had me worried.

But he can't just give in to the first craven IittIe Puritan request.

A conference! About the church!

The prayer book, vestments,

their sniveIing IittIe gripes about everything under the sun.

-He can't just... -Can't?

I beIieve he's your sovereign.

He is our King. Our gracious Iord and our wise sovereign.

But even His Majesty cannot act in matters on the church

without the assent of his bishops.

Can't act without?

I assume my hearing is at fauIt. Can't act without your permission?

AII men are subject to God and to the church.

And who's head of the church?

Who's your head?

Who's the supreme head of the Church of EngIand?

I think His Majesty is entitIed to a IittIe conference, don't you?

-We'II get the first hearing. -Can it be done?

I'II get that one concession, at Ieast. We'II speak first or I'II be damned!

The venue was to be the RoyaI PaIace at Hampton Court.

The King himseIf was to preside.

And no matter what their fears or hopes were of the outcome,

there was one question on everyone's Iips.

How wouId the King cope?

WouId he be a pushover?

WouId he be susceptibIe to fIattery or to buIIying?

He had never been tested in quite this way before.

And whatever the outcome of the match, CeciI had the ringside seat.

James was more than aware of the divisions in his church,

and that this conference presented him with a golden opportunity to secure unity.

But how would he be able to achieve it?

For James, imposing himself was the only way to get unity.

His agenda is very clear.

The first thing he wanted to do was make them respect his authority

as the head of the Church in EngIand, without question.

Ultimately he wants to move both parties out of their entrenched positions

to accept a compromise that he brokers and will seal with his authority.

What?

You shaII not sit before your King!

You may be seated.

Two sides, two agendas, and one new king to give them aII they wanted.

Majesty, frankIy, we cannot see any need for change

because the Church of EngIand has been in a settIed state for 40 years.

Forty years?

A man can have the pox for 40 years.

Does that mean there is never going to be any cure for his sickness?

We do not regard the Church of Christ as sick, Majesty.

Maybe not the Church of Christ,

but are there not practices in the Church of EngIand

which wouId make these Iearned and hoIy men want to retch and vomit?

My Lords, I come from a pIace of coarse wind and harsh cIimate.

My Ianguage may be far too infIuenced by the roughness of the Scots' tongue.

Or is it my daiIy diet of studying the pIain speaking of hoIy scripture?

I reaIIy cannot teII.

We onIy beg you not to give in to the rash and presumptuous demands

which wiII rock your kingdom.

So soIicitous for my weIfare.

AIready you put your hand out to steady the ship of state.

Perhaps, Iike Uzzah,

the man who put his hand out to steady the ark of God

and was struck dead.

Bancroft, Andrewes and the rest of the bishops

got far more than they'd bargained for from the King.

Not in concessions, but in a severe verbaI thrashing.

James was an inteIIectuaI and a considerabIe theoIogian.

He thrived on argument and debate, no matter how rough.

Buchanan and those troubIesome Scottish nobIes had taught him weII,

and apart from that,

what he said was true.

In short, gentIemen,

I do not know of any organization

or institution of over 40 years' existence,

that does not have, deep within it, some seeds of sin,

corruption or ineptitude.

Severe seIf-examination and reform wiII indeed be necessary.

To suggest otherwise is to fIy in the face of simpIe fact,

basic honesty,

and your King's judgment.

End of round one, a technicaI knockout for James.

And now it was the turn of the Puritans to put their case.

They were certain that they would get a much better reception

from their new Presbyterian King.

You have a Iist of grievances, Master ReynoIds?

A few points, Majesty.

A few?

By God and aII the saints in heaven,

not that I countenance praying to the saints in heaven

in any circumstances,

but perhaps we couId do with their heIp in reading this endIess Iist.

Majesty, I have underIined the most serious articIes of compIaint.

And worn out your pen with its scratching, Master Chadderton.

Scratching and etching and scraping away in your Puritan coIIege.

What is this?

You have an objection to the wedding service?

''With my body, I thee worship,'' has a IittIe too much force, Your Majesty,

for onIy God is worthy of our worship.

Not your wife?

I have no wife, Your Majesty.

No wife?

WeII, Master ReynoIds,

many a man has spoken of Robin Hood without shooting his own bow.

I wouId say, if you couId get yourseIf a good wife,

I think you wouId consider aII the worship you couId give her wouId be weII on target.

Your Majesty, I...

It's a matter of definitions, Majesty, the word ''worship''...

''Worship.''

I hear of ''worship aII gentIemen'' in EngIand.

I hear of ''worship aII companies of taiIors and wooI merchants.''

Worship is everywhere in the reaIm.

Are you going to excIude your wives,

who are made in the image of God as you are?

WeII, if not that particuIar passage, Your Majesty,

wouId you graciousIy consider some others?

I wiII graciousIy consider some of them, but not aII of them,

for I wiII be in danger of running out of graciousness aItogether.

My stock is very Iow this morning.

This is an everIasting sermon.

A Iitany of duIIness and stupidity bIown out of your buttocks.

-Majesty... -Perhaps we shouId stick the Iist

back where it came from.

Your Majesty, may we humbIy summarize?

We do not accept the fuII governance of the bishops.

You see, Majesty, your very authority is undermined.

OnIy by your rash interruptions.

Go on.

What if the bishops ruIed jointIy

with a counciI,

-a presbytery of their feIIows? -Presbytery?

-Presbytery? -No...

If you're aiming at a Scot's presbytery, sir,

that wiII agree with this monarch as weII as God agrees with the deviI.

It was, of course, a strategy of genius.

In a country where poIarizing factions were a reaI danger of puIIing things apart,

James was imposing himseIf as the middIe way.

He was determined to force everyone back to the center ground,

where he wouId stand as God's appointed king,

the one and onIy ruIer.

No.

Anything eIse?

-Rings in marriage are a... -No!

-Signing the cross... -No!

-Bowing... -No!

No, no.

Do you have any other worthy requests?

And I mean truIy worthy of my attention.

James needed unity,

unity at aII costs.

And to achieve this, he had to give the Puritans something to go home with.

But what?

Then it happened.

In God's name, is there nothing?

-We had thought... -It's Iong been a cause of concern.

...that there shouId be one transIation of the BibIe

to be authenticated and read in the churches.

There is a BibIe.

Hated by aII the peopIe and the work of dunces.

The Bishops' BibIe...

UnacceptabIe to these worthy schoIars.

Go on.

One version

to be read throughout the Iand,

unifying our worship.

-The Geneva BibIe is most... -Infuriating!

Prejudiced, and fuII of nasty IittIe Puritan notes.

Not fit for purpose.

So,

you are suggesting

a compIeteIy new transIation of God's hoIy word,

agreeabIe to everyone.

Yes.

-With aII things considered, I suppose... -GentIemen,

you have spoken exceIIent good sense for the first time.

We wiII have a new transIation.

And you,

humbIe servants of AImighty God,

wiII aII work together.

How precious is unity in the bIessed reaIm of EngIand!

With this one master stroke, James had done it.

The two opposing sides now had to work together

on a singIe, joint and unifying project,

a project based on schoIarship, cIarity, and the aII-powerfuI word of God.

He'd aIso estabIished his credentiaIs as King.

From now on, this IittIe Scottish cousin from the north

was to be a reaI force to be reckoned with.

It was a risky strategy to bind such separate factions together in one unifying project.

But James was prepared to take that risk.

And so, the great work got underway.

The King was determined that this would be the finest translation ever completed.

But there were one or two growing concerns,

and suspicion soon began to rise.

As the bishops watched the opposition arriving with their books,

commentaries and opinions,

they feared that these Puritan scholars might be able to slip some heretical bias

in on the blind side and pollute the work.

Bancroft, in particular, was deeply worried.

They cannot be trusted.

You are a very suspicious man.

And weII quaIified to be an archbishop in due course.

I have no earthIy ambitions. I onIy seek the security of your kingdom.

AIthough you're asking me to trust such a bIatant Iie.

-Your Majesty. -No ambition?

What a sweet souI you are.

Do not Iecture me about trust, my Lord Bishop.

Have you not read John's GospeI, Chapter 2?

He trusted himseIf to no man

because he knew what was in the heart of man.

Even our bIessed Lord had serious probIems with trust.

Majesty, the Puritans wiII sIip in their doctrinaI errors on every page,

in every coIumn. These peopIe...

If every man's whims are to be foIIowed, the whoIe worId wiII be piIed high

-with new transIations. -That is why you must trust no one man,

no one theoIogy, no one party. Not even the most pious of your bishops.

Trust no one, not even your own scheming heart.

Trust onIy the spirit that refines, that purifies with fire.

I couId set up committees testing every man's work,

with checks and baIances at every stage.

Checks and counter-checks and tripIe checks.

There wiII be no marginaI notes, no vicious IittIe backbiting commentaries,

and no pompous episcopaI nonsense or papist puke, either.

It shaII be pIain, pure and simpIe,

but sureIy it can be based on the Bishops' BibIe, which is stiII a fine work...

The Bishops' BibIe?

Where ''cast thy bread upon the waters'' becomes ''Iay your bread on wet faces''?

Dear God in Heaven, it must be better than that.

Or I wiII be Iaying a Ioaf of bread on your wet face.

I am trusting you with this.

ReaIIy.

But just in case, I wiII supervise, personaIIy, every man's work.

EspeciaIIy yours.

The King is determined to create a system

that wiII incIude Puritan participation

but wiII fiIter out

any undue Puritan agenda.

RuIes of checking were set up.

Apart from a separate Iist of stringent ruIes drawn up by the King,

four extra tests for the finaI text wouId be appIied,

raising the IeveI of academic exceIIence to an unprecedented new IeveI.

In the end, it's wonderfully ironic that this unnecessary paranoia about Puritan bias

should be one of the main reasons for such a wonderful translation,

because it was purified and tested time and time again,

far beyond the normal expectations of this or any other age.

One of the transIating groups

met here, in the precincts of Westminster Abbey,

in a room caIIed the JerusaIem Chamber.

And here it is.

It's stiII used for smaII groups of peopIe to meet

and taIk about church business today.

Around this firepIace, 400 years ago, there was a group of schoIars seated

under the Ieadership of LanceIot Andrewes.

Now, these were some of the top schoIars of their day,

meeting together not to create spin or bias, but to get as cIose as is humanIy possibIe

to the originaI texts and their true meaning.

It was a mammoth undertaking.

All the more surprising then, that so little evidence of it has survived.

But in recent years, major discoveries have been made.

Actual examples of work in progress, the very ink and paper

produced by those translators 400 years ago.

One of these rare gems was found here, in Lambeth Palace,

home to the Archbishops of Canterbury for centuries.

This Iibrary was buiIt by Archbishop Bancroft,

and this is probabIy his very own book.

No one knows if there are any more of these in existence. This is an originaI draft.

Corinthians 1 :13.

''Now abideth faith, hope, charity,

''these three,

''but the greatest of these is charity.''

I mean, gIorious Ianguage.

MeanwhiIe, what about James?

How is he doing in his earIy years of running the country?

To be honest with you, he was doing rather weII.

James' reign was growing increasingIy estabIished

and ever more popuIar.

The country was thriving under his poIicies.

SureIy, no one couId argue with that.

WeII, there was one faction.

The English Catholics were losing patience.

The promises James had made to them before he ascended to the throne

had produced precisely nothing.

And now the Roman Catholic discontent was growing ever darker

and more dangerous.

By the summer of 1604,

there are those who are sufficientIy discontented

to think of radicaI soIutions.

In a sense, the moment for peacefuI toIeration has been ignored.

A group of dissident Catholic noblemen had approached an English mercenary

called Guy Fawkes,

desperate to use his particular talents for their cause.

There are 3,000 men in EngIand, ready to take up arms.

Good CathoIic soIdiers

or hopeIess fooIs?

Let me make it cIear. Let me teII you...

My cousin, Francis Tresham. He's sound.

But are you sound, Sir Robert?

You forget your pIace, Fawkes.

I know my pIace.

It's up to here in mud.

It's up to here in dust and grime.

But where is your pIace? In your Iibrary?

I know my pIace on the stage of this worId.

Grand sentiments.

The King of Spain was deepIy impressed.

But unfortunateIy,

His Spanish Majesty was otherwise occupied,

making peace with our own King James.

I'm a miIitary man, sir, a Iowborn mercenary.

I'm not here for airs and graces.

What can you do? Can you heIp us bring about this gIorious change?

I understand very IittIe about human nature

and a great deaI about gunpowder. TeII me what you want.

I want to destroy them aII. Lords, bishops, Privy CounciI, commons, the King.

-I don't beIieve you. -BeIieve me. BeIieve me, sir.

Even if I go to heII with the whoIe Iot of them.

WeII, then that wouId be careIess.

I can arrange things so that you stay on Earth, with pIenty of time to repent.

But it wiII take at Ieast 30 barreIs of powder

and a great deaI of money.

Their pIan was audacious in the extreme.

What they wanted was to wipe the sIate cIean and start again.

But this time, to Ieave onIy CathoIics in controI.

And to achieve this, they started to pIan their very own 9l1 1 .

This is an extraordinariIy weII thought out and briIIiant pIot,

and it's masterminded by someone who knows about gunpowder

and can do the caIcuIations of what's needed, and get the stuff.

First of aII, the attempt to dig a tunneI

into the PaIace of Westminster to bIow the State Opening

when everybody would be there, King, Lords and commons.

Put your backs into it.

It was a madcap scheme from the start, but this group of fervent believers

saw it as their only chance,

their Iast, desperate roII of the dice to win the prize

of a truIy CathoIic EngIand once again,

and a fuII adoption back into the Church of Rome.

-How far? -Not far enough.

-This is madness. It couId take years. -We don't have years. We have six weeks.

-We need a Iot more men. -There's no one eIse.

-Six more men. -Or three reaI men.

We're digging with aII our might. We've put our Iife and souI into this.

It's bodies we need, not souIs.

Better shoveIs. We need picks and sIedgehammers.

You can have aII the equipment you want.

But no more men.

Robert, everyone is exhausted. They're in despair.

How many more men do you want to invoIve?

Let's send out the town crier, ringing his beII,

''RoII up! Come and dig! Come and dig.''

Christ have mercy.

There's no way forward.

And no way back.

-They changed the date. -What?

The State Opening of ParIiament has been deIayed by four months.

It's now set for November 5.

Praise be to God.

Let no one doubt the true caIIing of our cause now.

Then the tunneI is abandoned because instead they can Iease a ceIIar.

So, they have this much better opportunity of Ieasing a ceIIar

in the decrepit oId PaIace of Westminster,

which actuaIIy, if you stuff it with gunpowder,

wiII bIow up the House of Lords Chamber on top.

This is the pIace, if you want it.

Good access to the river, you say.

-You know it has. -WeII?

-It's a bit on the damp side. -Fawkes.

And rent's a bit high.

WiII it do?

-Yes. -WeII?

Pay the man.

We know from modern computer modelings of the amount of gunpowder that they had,

and what it wouId've been Iike if it had gone off successfuIIy.

It wouIdn't just have bIown up the PaIace of Westminster,

it wouId've bIown down a good haIf of Westminster Abbey.

It wouId've created an enormous firebaII that spread out into the city of London,

and the Ioss of Iife and the Ioss of property wouId've been horrendous.

As the new date for the planned attack drew near,

some of the plotters began to have their doubts.

Francis Tresham, in particular, was increasingly concerned

as his wife's brother was due to be at the State Opening of Parliament,

and along with everyone else, would undoubtedly be killed by the blast.

The exact details are still hazy even now,

but it's a simple matter of historical record that an anonymous note

found its way to Lord Monteagle, Francis Tresham's brother-in-law,

warning him in the starkest terms

not to attend the State Opening of Parliament.

What this letter basically says is, something's up.

Now, it's not cIear, something focusing on the State Opening of ParIiament,

something that very probabIy invoIves kiIIing the King,

so they don't know what they're dealing with.

And you are sure this is from your brother-in-Iaw?

It's in his hand. UnmistakabIy.

Do you think it's serious?

Now, they don't get an idea that it's gunpowder.

They assume that it's probabIy some form of assassination.

Thinking that someone was going to shoot the King,

Cecil and his men began an urgent search of the old corridors and cellars

below the Houses of Parliament.

They had no idea what was about to happen.

And the sheer scaIe of the pIot, that it's not just kiIIing the King,

but kiIIing the House of Commons, the House of Lords, a great fire.

This is a scaIe of atrocity that they simpIy had not thought of.

It was midnight on the 27th of October, 1604,

when Cecil and his men finally made their discovery.

Against all the odds, disaster had been averted.

But only by the narrowest of margins.

Robert Cecil was the hero of the hour.

But did he know about the pIot earIier?

Did he just bide his time for maximum poIiticaI spin and effect?

No, the shock of the Privy CounciI and of CeciI...

CeciI is very frightened that he's faiIed and he'II get the sack

because it's the PrincipaI Secretary of State's job to secure

things Iike the State Opening of ParIiament.

As Guido Fawkes was being prepared for a particuIarIy unpIeasant death,

the rest of the straggIers were being rounded up.

Perhaps the most unfortunate of these was Henry Garnet, the Jesuit Ieader.

Henry Garnet is the priest at the head of the Jesuit mission in EngIand.

He's a rather ineffective man

in a very dangerous job.

And Iike most CathoIics, he's very disappointed

that more has not been done for the CathoIic community after 1604.

Garnet had heard of the deadIy pIans

when giving the pIotters their Iast confession.

He'd tried to dissuade them, but he did not go to the authorities

because he feIt that he was bound by a higher authority

to respect the siIence of the confessionaI.

In the eyes of the peopIe,

in the eyes of the Iaw,

this made him guiIty of treason.

Garnet seems to have been one of the Ieast astute

of the Jesuit observers.

But, of course, poor man.

He's got to carry the can.

He's been the head of the order,

out of which so much of this pIotting has come.

With the execution of Henry Garnet,

the officiaI reprisaIs came to an end.

IronicaIIy enough, this pIot, which had been designed to kiII the King,

to destroy the entire estabIishment,

to sow disunity, and to fiII those surviving supporters with despair,

had produced exactIy the opposite effect.

James was never more popuIar.

The EngIish peopIe raIIied to their Scottish King.

And Robert CeciI decIared that forever

the date of November 5 shouId be ceIebrated.

And it stiII is.

Remember, remember the 5th of November, gunpowder treason and pIot.

I see no reason why gunpowder treason shouId ever be forgot.

WeII done, Sir Robert CeciI. Four hundred years on,

and we stiII find no reason why gunpowder treason shouId ever be forgot.

We used to do this when I was a boy. I'm going to join them.

It is important to realize that this yearly celebration of Guy Fawkes' demise

is no longer an anti-Catholic event.

Emphasis is on fireworks and fun, not rancor or revenge.

Nevertheless, to the casual observer it may seem somewhat strange

that every November 5, otherwise normal families

gather together in their back gardens

and burn a lifelike human effigy in front of their children.

And they seem to thoroughly enjoy doing it, as well.

Meanwhile, what about the translators?

Split as they were into separate factions, how was their great work progressing?

Despite the threats of the pIots outside,

the groups of schoIars went about their work.

As the months passed, and then the years,

something wonderfuI happened.

As they shared their knowIedge, their resources and their schoIarship,

the suspicion and the distrust which had existed

between the two opposing factions began to evaporate.

Top transIators who had aIways opposed each other

found themseIves being bonded by the work that they were producing.

It seemed as if James' idea of unity,

of a common middIe ground was being reaIized.

Given that they're all men of deep religious conviction,

you wouId assume, I think, that they were extremeIy aware

of their responsibiIity.

And not mereIy to the AImighty,

but to the King as the Lord's anointed. It is the King James version.

One of the great things about the King James version of the BibIe

is that it's the production of a committee.

And therefore, it pooIs these great resources

from earIy Jacobean EngIand.

You have a genius of EngIish prose Iike LanceIot Andrewes,

you have a thoughtfuI reform theoIogian Iike Laurence Chadderton,

aII working in the same team

to address the Greek and the Hebrew text that underIine the BibIe,

to transIate it into prose that is both more exaIted

than the EngIish transIations that'd gone before,

but aIso more accurate in terms of the text upon which it's based.

One marveIs at how a project by committee

can sing with the same voice,

with the same sense of diction, cIarity and eIoquence.

A great deaI of schoIarship, of course, had gone into it.

The greatest Iinguists, the greatest transIators of the time,

in remarkabIe teamwork,

sat together and worked with faith and earnestness

to produce this magisteriaI text and poIish it as best as possibIe.

The hard work of the scholars was finally paying off.

But what must it have been like to have actually been there?

Well, if you want to taste the atmosphere,

you could do worse than come here to Merton College, Oxford.

The Merton Iibrary in its present form owes its inspiration to the warden,

Sir Henry SaviIe.

Now, Henry SaviIe was probabIy the most gIamorous of the transIators.

He'd been a courtier, a dipIomat.

He was a bit of a buccaneer,

had a great reputation as a Iadies' man,

and he had the most astonishing faciIity with Ianguages.

And the contribution of his Second Oxford Company of transIators

cannot be overestimated.

Here are three books, part of Sir Henry's Iibrary,

part of his transIating kit, if you Iike.

This one here is a Hebrew Iexicon.

This one here is ''Grammati Ca Chaldae Et Syra, ''

a Syrian and ChaIdean Iexicon or grammar, if you Iike.

This is another one. And here, in the margins,

you see that very neat handwriting,

Sir Henry's personaI notes.

And if you think these are fascinating,

you shouId see what they found in a Iibrary just around the corner.

This is the BodIeian Library in the heart of Oxford.

King James himseIf used to Iike to study here.

ApparentIy, he once said that were he not King,

he wouId choose to spend his entire Iife here,

chained up with these books Iike a feIIow prisoner.

Can't bIame him.

The Bodleian Library is an incredible treasure trove of books, knowledge

and unique historical documents.

One of the greatest of these has only recently come to light.

An extraordinary Bishops' Bible

that lay undiscovered and unrecognized

right here in this library for centuries.

And it leads to the very heart of our purpose.

What we have here is the very birthing process of the King James BibIe.

Here you can see new ideas,

the Iatest schoIarIy discoveries,

fresh insight aII emerging

and they're scrawIed into the margins of the printed page.

ActuaIIy, it's not scrawIed, it's carefuIIy incised,

but sometimes with paIpabIe excitement and energy.

You can see the text

deriving from the sentiments of previous thought.

It's an extraordinary discovery.

The translation of the King James Bible

had taken over 50 scholars seven years to produce.

At least two of the translators had died during the process,

others had driven themselves to the point of ruin.

With great care, much prayer

and the very highest degree of academic excellence,

these divided men had learned at last to work together.

But although unified in their mission,

they were still very much individuals at heart.

And, in fact, it was exactly this wide variety of character,

scholarship and opinion

which ultimately gave such an unusual strength to their finished work.

The winner was transIation.

The finaI drafts were taking the Jacobean Iove for rich textures

and fineIy decorative detaiI

and bIending them with the cooI, caIm cIarity

so beIoved of the Puritans.

And the resuIt is a masterpiece of form and Ianguage,

and for those invoIved, the very gateway to heaven itseIf.

Oh, and there was one Iast thing,

it had to sound right.

So, we know that the text was designed to be spoken out Ioud.

Now, everyone who sings in the bath

know they sound that much better in the bath.

Why? Because of echo.

If you want dignity and gravitas, you need echo.

And where is echo to be found?

In every church in the Iand.

Let's give it a try.

''In the beginning was the Word,

''and the Word was with God,

''and the Word was God.

''In him was Iife,

''and the Iife was the Iight of men.''

When the transIation was compIeted,

MiIes Smith, the bishop of GIoucester, prepared a preface for the finished work.

It is a magnificent piece of prose,

it captures both the spirit and the intent

of those worthy craftsmen who Iabored so hard

to make this, the King James version of the BibIe.

As the date of publication drew near,

James took an increasing interest in the final presentation of his book.

Your Majesty.

It was Barkers, the printers, who had the heavy responsibility

to produce the work.

I see that you are deIivering my chiId.

Yes, Your Majesty.

You do Iook rather Iike a midwife.

Carry on.

James had not yet seen his translation or that famous preface in print,

and when he did, by all accounts, he was profoundly moved by it.

''TransIation it is that opens the window to Iet in the Iight,

''it removes the cover of the weII that we may come to the water.''

The weII.

The water.

The water of Iife.

The Ieaves for the heaIing of a nation.

A miracIe. A miracIe.

And here is the finished work.

This particuIar copy is one of 1 2 presented to the Privy CounciI

by Barkers, the printers.

It seems to have survived its first 400 years remarkabIy weII.

Of aII of James' hopes and dreams for peace and unity,

it's probabIy onIy this, the King James BibIe,

that survived and succeeded.

AImost from the moment his great BibIe project was compIeted,

James' star began to wane.

His utopian ideaIs began to faIter and faiI.

His internationaI peace missions ran aground.

There was increasing report of scandaI

both at court and in his private Iife.

And his standing amongst the common peopIe

went into irreversibIe decIine.

Oh, and his book didn't seII.

Changes in reIigion are aIways sIow

because instinctiveIy, as one gets oIder, everything in Iife changes.

And the one thing that you don't think shouId change

shouId be how you worship God

because God is the same yesterday, today and forever, right?

Now, the fact that after 161 1,

many churches stiII used the Bishops' BibIe

and many continued using the Genevan BibIe,

probabIy, I think, had more to do with finance

and having to purchase a new book than the popuIarity of the new transIation.

But we can sureIy Iook back and say, yes,

here is a magnificent, astonishing piece of EngIish prose, a superb achievement

up there with the greatest writers of the EngIish Ianguage ever.

And it's traveIed aII over the worId, it's had a huge worIdwide impact.

That's a revoIutionary document,

and it has shaped Western cuIture.

Fifty years after its first publication,

the King James Bible finally began to take over the world,

and its words and language soon echoed in millions of hearts

as they still do today.

''And God said, 'Let there be light. '''

''In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth...''

''Ye are the saIt of the earth, but if the saIt...''

''Honor thy father and thy mother...''

''He was oppressed, and he was affIicted, yet he opened not his mouth...''

''...that he gave his onIy begotten Son,

''that whosoever beIieveth in him shouId not...''

''And the angeI said unto them, 'Fear not,

'''for I bring you good tidings of great joy...'''

''And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddIing cIothes...''

''Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angeIs,

''and have not charity...''

''...henceforth aII generations shaII caII me bIessed.''

''...I John saw...''

''...he that beIieveth in me, though he were dead, yet shaII he Iive.''

''BIessed are the pure in heart, for they shaII see God.''

''BIessed are the peacemakers, for they shaII be caIIed the chiIdren of God.

''BIessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake,

''for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.''

But James didn't live to see the worldwide success of his new translation.

When he died in 1625 he was buried here,

in Westminster Abbey,

and a grateful nation mourned his passing.

This place is stacked to the rafters with memorials

to the great and the good of ages past.

If anyone has ever done anything for kingdom or culture,

they are remembered here.

So, where is the monument to King James and his magnificent achievement?

This is the Lady ChapeI

buiIt by James for the aunty who'd Ieft him a country.

It's a magnificent monument to a great queen,

and there are a coupIe of monuments there to two of his younger chiIdren who died.

But where's James?

James buiIt an even bigger chapeI for his mother, Mary, Queen of Scots.

Bit cheeky, reaIIy, since she tried to overthrow his aunt.

They had to sew her head back on in order for her to be buried in a cathedraI.

But where's her son?

I found it at Iast,

right next to this magnificent tomb of Henry VII.

Where is it? It's just down here.

This simpIe bIack stone

is the monument to James I.

Or is it?

Tucked away in a far corner of the Abbey

is one of the strangest museums I've ever come across.

Could James be here?

So, here we are.

These are the originaI funeraI effigies, the stand-ins if you Iike,

for the heads and bodies of the dead kings and queens of EngIand.

That's EIizabeth.

Now, that is his wife,

and there is his aunt, Mary Tudor,

and there is his grandfather, Henry VII, Henry Tudor.

But stiII no James.

The room I'm heading for now used to be a monks' dormitory.

It was modernized and turned into a Iibrary in 1591 .

I'm toId that what I'm Iooking for has been Iaid out here.

And if I'm not mistaken, this is it.

This is aII that's Ieft of the fineIy dressed,

perfectIy featured rendition of King James VI and I,

created so that his IoyaI subjects couId pay their Iast respects

whiIe his reaI body was prepared for the royaI buriaI.

And Iook at him now.

His toes are missing, haIf a foot,

the badIy articuIated Iegs,

no arms, no hands, no head.

It's not much of a monument for a king that gave us aII so much.

But of course, there is a monument,

one that has grown and Iasted

and traveIed the whoIe worId bearing his name,

the King James BibIe, that's his memoriaI,

his Iasting monument to generations foIIowing.

And most of you at home wiII have a copy of it

under your own roof right now.

Now, that is quite a thought.