King James VI of Scotland became King James I of England on this day on July 26, 1603 and wanted to get a new, official version of the Bible for the Church of England to use. He didn’t like the commentary notes in the Geneva Bible that many Protestants used after returning to England during the reign of his cousin Queen “Bloody Mary”. He’d later commission a group of scholars and theologians to create the “Authorized Version” of the Bible which is better known as the King James Version.
