King James, for example, showing bitterness about start of battle (5)
I believe the answer is:
bible
'king james for example' is the definition.
(King James Bible is an example)
'bitterness about start of battle' is the wordplay.
'bitterness' becomes 'bile' (I've seen this in other clues).
'about' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'start of' indicates taking the first letters.
The first letter of 'battle' is 'b'.
'bile' placed around 'b' is 'BIBLE'.
'showing' is the link.
(Other definitions for bible that I've seen before include "Holy books" , "reliable work" , "Holy Writ" , "work that's accepted" , "Holy Scripture" .)