The King James Version (KJV) of The Bible is a translation commissioned for The Church of England by King James I (1566-1621) of England, first published in 1611. Labeled The Authenticated Versin, it was never officially sanctined by The Church of England or the British crown. It's greatest influence was in America.

This was the culmination of a tradition of Biblical translations in Egnland, beginning with glosses from the Latin Bible in the 8th to 10th centuries. Later appeared translation of parts of The Bible, such as The West Midland Psalter (c. 1340-50), The Pauline Epistles, The Apocalypse, The Book of Acts, The Catholic Epistles, etc. Later, John Wyckliff (1328-1384), -- theologian and English initiator of Reform of The Roman Catholic Church -- translated From The Vulgate, The New Testament, and his friend, Nicholas of Hereford (x-y), translated the Old Testamant.

William Tyndale (1489-1536), priest and scholar, translated and printed the entire Bile in the first version in modern English.

During the English rule of (Roman Catholic) Mary I (1516-58), some Protestants fled her persecution to Geneva, Switzerland, to publish in 1560 The Geneva Bible. Translated from the original Greek and Hebrew, it depended substantially upon the translation printed by Tyndale.

The Geneva Bible offended members of The Church of England because of the connection with presbyterianism, which advocated Church rule by lay elders, rather than by priests. This resulted in The Great Bible, the first authorized version of The Bible, authorized by King Henry VIII (1509-17) for services of The Church of England. It was published by Bishop Miles Coverdale (1488-1569) in 1577 as a slightly modified version of the printing of William Tyndale.

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