Today is the anniversary of the first edition of the King James Bible.
Think about it, people: a definitive translation of the Bible (which shows a strange obsession with witches and the occult, really) to a generation in religious evolution and hungry for knowledge. There's an interesting book published about this very thing: God's Secretaries: The Making of the King James Bible. Check it out from your local library (mine is Fairfax County Public Library) and tell me what you think!
And because James I wouldn't have gotten to the throne and had the influence and opportunity to create an authorized and readily available English language Bible for the people had the Tudors not done what they did, I offer a poem by England's first Queen Elizabeth (1533-1603), who helped spur on many of the best minds of England during her reign:
Written in her French Psalter
No crooked leg, no bleared eye,
No part deformed out of kind,
Nor yet so ugly half can be
As is the inward suspicious mind.
by Queen Elizabeth I
Visit Poetry Archive for more of her poetry.
Let's stay on the Tudor topic for our final trivia question: Who is the regent who is reputed to have written "Greensleeves" for his mistress -- later his second wife, mother to the aforementioned Elizabeth and a casualty of the Tower? All those who send in a correct answer will receive a prize. (Bonus points for those who don't have to look it up!)
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