Reginald Pole (1556-1558) a near connection of Henry VIII. then succeeded. He was born in Worcestershire and was educated by the Carthusians at Shene and at Magdalen College, Oxford. He was early advanced to the Deanery of Exeter and other preferments. On leaving Oxford he visited the universities of France and Italy and returned to England in 1525. Henry attempted in vain to secure Pole’s support on the divorce question, and on the appearance of his book, “Pro Unitate Ecclesiastica,” he was sent for by the king, and when he refused to come, an act of attainder was passed against him. In 1537 Pole was induced to accept a cardinal’s hat. It is said that he was most unwilling to do so on the ground that he contemplated marrying the Princess Mary and seating himself on the English throne. He took an active part in promoting the Pilgrimage of Grace and the second rising in 1541. He remained in Italy until the death of Edward VI. On the accession of Mary he returned to England as papal legate after the question of his marriage with Mary had been again discussed and set aside through the influence of the Emperor Charles V. On Cranmer’s execution Pole was consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury. As legate he absolved the Parliament and made a solemn entry into London. For the next three years Pole was in sole management of the ecclesiastical affairs of England, and was consenting to the persecutions which disgraced the reign of Mary. He was at one time deprived of his legatine authority by Pope Paul IV. who had wished for the elevation of Gardiner to the primacy. The archbishop submitted to the pope and was again appointed legate shortly before his death which occurred about the same time as that of Mary. He was buried in the corona at Canterbury, where his tomb yet remains. He was the last Archbishop of Canterbury to be buried in his own cathedral, until the recent interment of Dr. Benson.
Matthew Parker (1559-1575) was born of an old Norfolk family and educated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. Wolsey invited him to become a fellow of Christ Church, his new foundation at Oxford, but this he declined. After various other offices he was appointed to the Deanery of Lincoln by Edward VI. On the accession of Mary he was deprived of all his offices as a married priest, and lived privately until the accession of Elizabeth, who made him archbishop. He was duly elected by the new Chapter of Canterbury, and held his post during a most difficult time with marvellous tact and judgment. Religious toleration for its own sake was an idea yet unknown, but Parker directed that great caution should be observed in administering the oath of supremacy to those of the clergy who still favoured the old religion. It is much to his credit that he managed to preserve such good relations with the queen in face of Elizabeth’s prejudice against the marriage of the clergy. He was an enlightened patron of learning, and did much to encourage all branches of art.
Edmund Grindall (1576-1583) was born at St. Bees and educated at Cambridge, where he became Master of Pembroke Hall. He was Chaplain to Edward VI. During the troubles of Mary’s reign he lived in Germany, and on Elizabeth’s accession became the first Protestant Bishop of London. Thence he was removed to York and in 1575 was appointed as archbishop. He was inclined to view the Puritans with more leniency than his predecessor and always refused to forbid the prophesyings, or meetings of the clergy for discussing the meaning of scripture, which Elizabeth disliked so much, and was in consequence deprived of his jurisdiction. He went blind before his death and was buried at Croydon.
John Whitgift (1583-1604) was born at Great Grimsby and educated at Cambridge, where John Bradford was his tutor: he became one of Elizabeth’s chaplains and Master of Pembroke Hall and of Trinity. He wrote an answer to Cartwright’s “Admonition” and was preferred to the Deanery of Lincoln and Bishopric of Worcester. After Grindall’s death he was translated to Canterbury. From this date his severity towards the Puritans increased. He insisted that every minister of the Church should subscribe to three points: the queen’s supremacy, the Common Prayer, and the Thirty-nine Articles, and enforced his principle with much vigour, contrary to the advice of the more enlightened Lord Burleigh. The severity of these measures called into existence the “Martin Marprelate” libels and produced much dissatisfaction and suffering among the more Puritanical clergy, which was by no means lessened by the accession of James, who, on his way to London rejected a petition signed by more than one thousand Puritan ministers. Whitgift was buried at Croydon where he founded a school and hospital.
Richard Bancroft (1604-1610) was born near Manchester and educated at Jesus College, Oxford. He became one of Elizabeth’s chaplains, and Bishop of London, whence he was translated to Canterbury. He was even more severe than his predecessor against the Puritans, and was a most stern champion of conformity. He advocated the king’s absolute power beyond the law and attempted to establish episcopacy in Scotland. He died at Lambeth and was buried in the parish church there.
George Abbot (1610-1633) was born at Guildford and educated at Balliol College. He assisted in establishing union between the Scotch and English Churches and was rewarded with the Bishopric of Lichfield and Coventry. Thence he was translated to London, and on the death of Bancroft was appointed to the primacy. In contrast to his predecessor he connived at some irregularities of discipline in the Puritanical clergy. At the same time he was a zealous Calvinist and hater of popery, and disapproved of those who preached up the arbitrary power of the king. These latter views rendered him unpopular with the courtiers and the party of Laud. The accidental death of a keeper at the hands of the archbishop was utilized against him by his enemies and he was with difficulty restored to his archiepiscopal functions. On refusing to licence a sermon by Dr. Sibthorpe, asserting the king’s right to tax his subjects without their consent, he was obliged to retire to his palace of Ford, near Canterbury. He assisted at the coronation of Charles I., but never managed to win the favour of that monarch. He died at Croydon, and was buried at Guildford, where his tomb and effigy still remain.
William Laud (1633-1645) was born at Reading, and educated at St. John’s College, Oxford. At the university he soon became conspicuous for his hatred of the Puritans and his devotion to High Church doctrines. He became President of St. John’s in spite of the opposition of Archbishop Abbot. He became successively one of the royal chaplains, Dean of Gloucester, Bishop of St. David’s, Bath and Wells, and London. He acted as Dean of Westminster at Charles I.’s coronation. He was made Dean of the Chapel Royal, Chancellor of Oxford, and a Privy Councillor of Scotland. On Abbot’s death he was elevated to the primacy, and is said to have refused the offer of a cardinal’s hat. As archbishop he was responsible for the general Church persecution which produced his own unpopularity and downfall, and was one of the main causes of the Civil War. Prosecutions for non-conformity were enforced with the utmost severity. The courts of Star Chamber and High Commission were brought to bear on the Puritans, and Laud became universally detested. The superiority of the king over the law was openly preached, and the Irish and Scotch Puritans were alienated by the severity of the measures taken against them. On the common idea of popular government, the Puritans were driven into coalition and identification with the national party, while the king, court, bishops, and judges represented the High Church movement and the doctrine of the king’s absolute authority. In 1639 the palace at Lambeth was attacked, but the archbishop was removed to Whitehall and escaped for the time. In 1640, however, he was impeached for high treason, and confined in the Tower. Various charges were brought against him and fines inflicted, and his property was seized and sold or destroyed for the use of the commonwealth. The charge of high treason could not be legally established, and a bill of attainder was passed against him in 1645. He was eventually beheaded on Tower Hill, at the age of seventy-one years; his remains were interred at Barking, but subsequently removed to the chapel of St. John’s College at Oxford. His conduct has been differently judged by his friends and enemies. He built the greater part of the inner quadrangle of St. John’s, and presented a large collection of important manuscripts to the university. In his time the archiepiscopal palace at Canterbury was ruined by the Puritans, and on the Restoration an Act was passed dispensing the archbishops from restoring it. From this time they have had no official residence in Canterbury.
William Juxon (1660-1663) was born at Chichester, and educated, like his predecessor, at St. John’s College, Oxford, where he attracted the attention of Laud. He became successively President of St. John’s, Dean of Worcester, Bishop of Hereford, and Bishop of London. He also became Lord Treasurer, a post which had been held by no churchman since the days of Henry VII., and was the last instance of any of the great offices of State being filled by an ecclesiastic. He attended Charles I. on the occasion of his execution. On the Restoration he became Archbishop of Canterbury, and died three years afterwards. He lies in the chapel of St. John’s College.
Gilbert Sheldon (1663-1677) was educated at Oxford, and became Fellow and Warden of All Souls’ College. He was a strong supporter of the king during the Civil War. He was deprived of his wardenship and imprisoned by the Parliamentarian commissioners when they visited Oxford. He retired to Derbyshire until the Restoration, when he was restored to his wardenship; he was made Dean of the Chapel Royal, and succeeded Juxon in the See of London. In 1661 he assisted at the discussion of the liturgy between the Presbyterian and Episcopal divines known as the Savoy Conference. In 1663 he succeeded Juxon in the primacy, and in 1667 was elected Chancellor of Oxford. He built the Sheldonian Theatre at Oxford, which building is an early work of Sir Christopher Wren’s. He offended the court party by his open disapproval of the king’s morals, and retired in 1669 to his palace at Croydon, where he spent most of the remainder of his life. He was buried at the parish church at Croydon, where his tomb and effigy still remain.
William Sancroft (1678-1691) was born at Fresingfield, in Suffolk, and educated at St. Edmundsbury and at Cambridge, where he became Fellow of Emmanuel College. He was deprived of his fellowship in 1649, and retired to the Continent, where he remained until the restoration of Charles II. He then returned to England, and subsequently became Master of Emmanuel College, and Dean of York, and of St. Paul’s, and Archdeacon of Canterbury, and was raised to the primacy by Charles II., whose death-bed he attended. In the reign of James he was at the head of the seven bishops who presented the famous petition against the Declaration of Indulgence, for which they were committed to the Tower, tried, and acquitted amidst immense popular excitement. After James’s flight, Sancroft acted as the head of the council of peers who took upon themselves the administration of the government of the country. His plan was to retain James nominally on the throne, while placing the reins of government in the hands of a regent. He refused to take the oath of allegiance to William and Mary, considering himself bound by his former oath to James II. He was accordingly suspended and deprived, and when ejected by law from Lambeth he retired to his small ancestral property at Fresingfield, where he died and was buried.