James was the first joint King of England and Scotland. He also claimed to be King of France. James inherited the throne of England after the death of his cousin Queen Elizabeth I. He was never a very popular monarch and laid much of the groundwork that would eventually lead to the beheading of his heir Charles I during the English Civil War. Because of his political skills, his rule was relatively stable, however, and much of the cultural flourishing of Elizabethean England continued. King James is remembered for authorizing the King James Version, a highly popular English translation of the Bible from Greek and Hebrew sources.
![[Home]](wikipedia.png)