Circumstances Leading to the
King James Version -1611

King-James 1 ascended to the throne of England, March 4, 1603. Shortly after James became King, he received what was called the "Millenary" petition, called "Millenary" because it supposedly contained the signatures of a thousand ministers in the land. This petition complained about four religious matters: (1) things connected with the Church service, (2) church ministers, (3) church living and maintenance, and (4) church discipline. Although the University of Oxford drafted a response to this petition, and Cambridge University sent them a letter, thanking them for their response, the new King decided that this was a matter worthy of his personal attention.

Therefore, on January 12, 1604, the Hampton-Cou.rt conference was held; To this conference the King had summoned churchmen representing the established Anglican or Church of England, as well as the Puritans and other non-conformists. On the second day of this conference, Dr. John Reynolds (Rainolds), President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, one of the petitioners for the conference, and a leader of the Puritans, made a request of the king that a new translation of the Bible be made. Dr. Reynolds gave several examples of poor or inaccurate renditions that prevailed in the Bishops' Bible, as well as in Cranmer's Great Bible.

The result was, that on July 22, 1604, the King wrote to the archbishop of Canterbury about making provision for the support of those men who would be engaged in the work of translation. The individual translators whose benefice or support was valued at under twenty pounds per year were to be favoured with more lucrative appointments as they became available. The King James Version (1611), was translated by an initially selected group of 54 scholars, but because of deaths, a total of 47 actually participated.