Launcelot Andrewes was the favourite court preacher of King James I. He epitomizes the learned churchman of his age. He was not only a theologian and a brilliant speaker, but a linguist, translator of the Scriptures, statesman and man of letters as well. Andrewes came to the royal court first as chaplain to Queen Elizabeth. He was present at the Hampton Court Conference as one of the Episcopalian prelates, and later became one of the translators of the King James Version of the Bible. Early in his career Andrewes was vicar of St. Giles, Cripplegate, in London, but eventually he became Bishop of Chichester, Bishop of Ely, Bishop of Winchester, and then a privy councillor and dean of the king’s chapel. Among his best known writings are a series of seventeen sermons on the Nativity preached before James I from 1605 to 1624. He played a primary role in formulating the intellectual and historical position of the Church of England.