Introduction: approaching the monarch; from Scotland to England: the accession of a writer-king; Part I. James, Jonson and the Jacobean Court: 1. 'Best of kings' and 'best of poets'?: James, Jonson and constructing the role of court poet; 2. The 'abortive and extemporal din': James, Jonson and the discussion of state affairs; Part II. James, Donne and the Politics of Religion in Jacobean England: 3. 'A conversation with your subjects': power, language and kingship in Donne's early Jacobean works; 4. 'We are in Deed and in name too, Men of Orders': Donne and the politics of preaching for the King; Part III. James, Shakespeare and the Jacobean Theatre: 5. 'Let him but be testimonied in his own bringings-forth': Shakespeare, James and constructing the King; Coda: appropriating the royal word in the 1620s and beyond; Select bibliography; Index.