among the most important and influential British writings of their period.
KING JAMES BEGINS TO REIGN IN SCOTLAND.
King James began to rule his native Scotland when he was 19 years old. A few years later, he took Anne of Denmark to be his queen. King James loved his wife and wrote beautiful poetry for her. Together they had nine children. Once, when the King and Queen were out hunting, Queen Anne accidentally killed the King's favorite hunting dog, Jewell. The Queen felt badly about this and the King bought her a gift to ease her mind of this incident.
King James believed in the Divine Right of Kings and the monarch's duty to reign according to God's law and the public good. In order to pass on his kingly instruction to his eldest son, Prince Henry, King James wrote Basilicon Doron which means, "the Kingly Gift". Basilicon Doron was not meant for general publication, but for the instruction of the young prince in the likely event that his father would not survive to instruct him--King James was sickly and survived a number of assasination attempts. The King bound his printer Robert Waldegrave to secrecy and ordered an edition of only seven copies. Somehow, however, intelligence of the book and its contents got abroad.
Subsequently, there was so much demand for Basilicon Doron that forged, corrupted copies were being distributed. With these pressures, the King then had it published for the general public and it became a bestseller. It was published in English, Welsh, Latin, French, Swedish and German for a period of over 50 years.
Basilicon Doron is a short treatise, only 153 pages long. It consists of three short volumes, the first of which is "A King's Christian Duetie Towards God." James D'israeli said, "James had formed the most elevated conception of the virtues and duties of a monarch."
In Basilicon Doron, King James' understanding of Christian discipleship, style and prose are at their best. He skillfully ...