History: 400 Years of the King James Bible

1611 saw the completion of the King James Bible, one of the greatest literary translations ever, as both Daniel Hannan and Brits at Their Best point out.  You certainly don't have to be a Christian to appreciate the beauty of the language, and if it rather reminds you of Shakespeare, it should -- the Bard, arguably the most talented practitioner of late Elizabethan and Jacobean English, died in 1616, five little years after the completion of the King James Bible (now online).