A Custome Lothsome to the Eye

The King James Bible, published in 1611, is one of the great literary works in the English language and its official title was "THE HOLY BIBLE, Conteyning the Old Teſtament, AND THE NEW: Newly Tranſlated out of the Originall tongues: & with the former Tranſlations diligently compared and reuiſed, by his Maiesties ſpeciall Cõmandement". It was hugely important in shaping the English-speaking world. The monarch who commissioned it, James VI and I, a gay man, did so to unify the Church of England against several factions that beset Christianity, even within the CoE itself. It also went a long way to distinguish the CoE from the Church of Rome. The book is famous for soaring poetry, elegant language and now everyday expressions (the apple of my eye, sign of the times, Land of Nod, lamb to the slaughter, a fly in the ointment, a multitude of sins, a man after his own heart, by the skin of your teeth, charity begins at home, eat, drink and be merry, fall from grace, fat of the land, see eye to eye, the heart’s desire, holier than thou and scapegoat). But there was much more to this King than just a bible.