Into the Wilderness: William Sancroft and the Laudian Church of England, 1633-93
Lead Research Organisation:
University of St Andrews
Department Name: History
Abstract
England's short seventeenth century (c.1630-c.1690) was given shape by the conflict between two different visions of the Church of England. Archbishop William Laud and his supporters decried what they saw as the deformation of the Church of England by those sixteenth-century reformers who had been too eager to reject all aspects of the medieval Catholic past. Puritans and their nonconformist descendants vehemently opposed the Laudian programme as representing nothing less than a staging-post back to Rome. The Laudians experienced two great periods of hubris in the 1630s and 1680s, followed by two fierce assaults by Nemesis: the civil wars of the 1640s and the revolution of 1688. The outcome of both of the climacterics was severe trauma and change for the established church and the nation at large. It will be the purpose of the proposed study to connect these profoundly important upheavals in English life by using the career of William Sancroft as an analytical tool.
Sancroft went up to Cambridge as a student in 1633, the year that William Laud became archbishop of Canterbury, and died in 1693 whilst editing Laud's diary for publication. This exercise had become a form of consolation after being deprived of the archbishopric in the wake of a revolution that was for him very far from 'glorious'. During the intervening sixty years he had endured ejection and exile before rising rapidly through the clerical hierarchy of the restored Church of England. He was master of a Cambridge college (Emmanuel), and dean of two cathedrals (York and St Paul's) before unexpectedly rising to be metropolitan between 1678 and 1690. Besides this worldly success, Sancroft was also a dedicated scholar, amassing a private library of more than 6000 volumes which is still extant in Cambridge.
For all these claims to historical attention, there has been no full-length published biography of Sancroft since 1821. Historians have plundered the vast archive of his correspondence that survives in the Bodleian Library, but been deterred from a study of the man by its bulk and complexity. The proposed study cannot hope to be a comprehensive account of Sancroft's life. Instead it will focus on his role in the politics of religion between the 1630s and 1690s. Its shape will be determined by the three key phases of Sancroft's career: his contribution to efforts to rebuild the Church of England in the 1660s and 1670s; his dominant position as archbishop of Canterbury in the 1680s; and his frustrated final years as the irascible senior cleric within a non-juring church that proved a persistent thorn in the flesh of those who had accommodated themselves to the new regime after 1688.
Crucially, though, the thread that connects these phases of his life can be found in his life before the Restoration. The dominant intellectual milieu of the 1630s within which he grew up was Laud's vision of an orderly, powerful, and beautiful Church of England that would unite the king's subjects in dutiful obedience to God and his supreme governor on earth. The misfortunes of birth ensured that Sancroft took holy orders just before the start of the English civil wars in 1642. As a result, the world in which he had grown to maturity was abruptly turned upside down, forcing him to react to disestablishment and dejection. As metropolitan in the 1680s Sancroft would attempt to consolidate the re-establishment of the Church of England through a second Laudian programme of internal reform and vigorous persecution of dissent. The extent of both his success and failure would play a vital role in the revolutionary crisis of 1688/9 that saw his vision of the church swept away. In 1692 he reflected bitterly on the fact that he had been driven 'into the wilderness' for the second time in forty years.
Sancroft went up to Cambridge as a student in 1633, the year that William Laud became archbishop of Canterbury, and died in 1693 whilst editing Laud's diary for publication. This exercise had become a form of consolation after being deprived of the archbishopric in the wake of a revolution that was for him very far from 'glorious'. During the intervening sixty years he had endured ejection and exile before rising rapidly through the clerical hierarchy of the restored Church of England. He was master of a Cambridge college (Emmanuel), and dean of two cathedrals (York and St Paul's) before unexpectedly rising to be metropolitan between 1678 and 1690. Besides this worldly success, Sancroft was also a dedicated scholar, amassing a private library of more than 6000 volumes which is still extant in Cambridge.
For all these claims to historical attention, there has been no full-length published biography of Sancroft since 1821. Historians have plundered the vast archive of his correspondence that survives in the Bodleian Library, but been deterred from a study of the man by its bulk and complexity. The proposed study cannot hope to be a comprehensive account of Sancroft's life. Instead it will focus on his role in the politics of religion between the 1630s and 1690s. Its shape will be determined by the three key phases of Sancroft's career: his contribution to efforts to rebuild the Church of England in the 1660s and 1670s; his dominant position as archbishop of Canterbury in the 1680s; and his frustrated final years as the irascible senior cleric within a non-juring church that proved a persistent thorn in the flesh of those who had accommodated themselves to the new regime after 1688.
Crucially, though, the thread that connects these phases of his life can be found in his life before the Restoration. The dominant intellectual milieu of the 1630s within which he grew up was Laud's vision of an orderly, powerful, and beautiful Church of England that would unite the king's subjects in dutiful obedience to God and his supreme governor on earth. The misfortunes of birth ensured that Sancroft took holy orders just before the start of the English civil wars in 1642. As a result, the world in which he had grown to maturity was abruptly turned upside down, forcing him to react to disestablishment and dejection. As metropolitan in the 1680s Sancroft would attempt to consolidate the re-establishment of the Church of England through a second Laudian programme of internal reform and vigorous persecution of dissent. The extent of both his success and failure would play a vital role in the revolutionary crisis of 1688/9 that saw his vision of the church swept away. In 1692 he reflected bitterly on the fact that he had been driven 'into the wilderness' for the second time in forty years.
Planned Impact
Recent years have seen a considerable increase in public awareness of the role of religious belief in political affairs and international conflict. As a teacher I can see that undergraduates today are clearly receptive to arguments about the politics of religion in a way that they were not just ten years ago, and it seems reasonable to regard them as representative of a broader educated society. It was striking recently to see several national newspapers describing the Pope's recent controversial decision to accommodate Anglicans unhappy with recent changes in the Church of England as the most significant shift in denominational relations since the mid-sixteenth century. Clearly they expected their readers to have some sense of the nature of those events.
The career of William Sancroft can thus be projected to a non-academic audience. He experienced religious persecution during the 1640s and 1650s, and would go on to be a leading intolerant churchman in the 1670s and 1680s. He represents the path not travelled by the Church of England after 1688, one resistant to growing arguments about the inherent merits of religious toleration. He is a reminder that in the age of Locke most people actually disapproved of a tolerationist agenda on the grounds that it would give credence to heresy; lead to schism within the church; and destabilise society at large by undermining the unifying authority of a single, national established church. Sancroft's vision of England enjoyed immense political and popular support; its failure was due to the intervention of a Dutch Calvinist ruler desperate to mobilise resources for European war and impatient of internal English divisions.
Sancroft's 'impact' will therefore revolve around several core propositions. First, the reminder of just how recently large-scale religious persecution was endemic in English society. Secondly, that the character of the Church of England has always been shaped by political events: criticisms of meddling archbishops have a long vintage. And, thirdly, that religious ideas have a powerful motivating force in national life.
I would look to create 'impact' in several specific ways. In published form, these ideas would, I think, prove attractive to several magazines with large non-academic audiences, notably History Today and the BBC History Magazine. The success of Diarmaid MacCulloch's 'Thomas Cranmer' has clearly established that religious history can be popular, as has his more recent well-received TV series on the history of Christianity. I would look to offer lectures to specific non-academic audiences with a proven track-record of interest in seventeenth-century history, particularly the Friends of Lambeth Palace Library, the Friends of the Bodleian (where most of Sancroft's surviving papers are conserved), and the Royal Stuart Society. Finally, I would also look to participate in the University of St Andrews broader efforts to effect outreach to the community within Scotland. The School of History has submitted a bid to the European Union to fund a Marie Curie Researchers' Night event in late September 2010. The theme will be 'Scotland and the Wider World', and I would contribute by considering the relations between the established churches of England and Scotland in the Restoration period. This was the final era in Scotland of an established Episcopal church, and Scottish bishops often looked to Sancroft for advice and support. Lastly, I would seek to contribute to the 'Glowing Thursdays' initiative within Scottish schools. This national intranet for schools allows for the dissemination of academic and cultural research into schools, tailored to meet the needs of the national curriculum. I would look to explore the Revolution of 1688 through Sancroft's career, pointing to the political and religious dilemmas that William of Orange's invasion raised for the Stu
The career of William Sancroft can thus be projected to a non-academic audience. He experienced religious persecution during the 1640s and 1650s, and would go on to be a leading intolerant churchman in the 1670s and 1680s. He represents the path not travelled by the Church of England after 1688, one resistant to growing arguments about the inherent merits of religious toleration. He is a reminder that in the age of Locke most people actually disapproved of a tolerationist agenda on the grounds that it would give credence to heresy; lead to schism within the church; and destabilise society at large by undermining the unifying authority of a single, national established church. Sancroft's vision of England enjoyed immense political and popular support; its failure was due to the intervention of a Dutch Calvinist ruler desperate to mobilise resources for European war and impatient of internal English divisions.
Sancroft's 'impact' will therefore revolve around several core propositions. First, the reminder of just how recently large-scale religious persecution was endemic in English society. Secondly, that the character of the Church of England has always been shaped by political events: criticisms of meddling archbishops have a long vintage. And, thirdly, that religious ideas have a powerful motivating force in national life.
I would look to create 'impact' in several specific ways. In published form, these ideas would, I think, prove attractive to several magazines with large non-academic audiences, notably History Today and the BBC History Magazine. The success of Diarmaid MacCulloch's 'Thomas Cranmer' has clearly established that religious history can be popular, as has his more recent well-received TV series on the history of Christianity. I would look to offer lectures to specific non-academic audiences with a proven track-record of interest in seventeenth-century history, particularly the Friends of Lambeth Palace Library, the Friends of the Bodleian (where most of Sancroft's surviving papers are conserved), and the Royal Stuart Society. Finally, I would also look to participate in the University of St Andrews broader efforts to effect outreach to the community within Scotland. The School of History has submitted a bid to the European Union to fund a Marie Curie Researchers' Night event in late September 2010. The theme will be 'Scotland and the Wider World', and I would contribute by considering the relations between the established churches of England and Scotland in the Restoration period. This was the final era in Scotland of an established Episcopal church, and Scottish bishops often looked to Sancroft for advice and support. Lastly, I would seek to contribute to the 'Glowing Thursdays' initiative within Scottish schools. This national intranet for schools allows for the dissemination of academic and cultural research into schools, tailored to meet the needs of the national curriculum. I would look to explore the Revolution of 1688 through Sancroft's career, pointing to the political and religious dilemmas that William of Orange's invasion raised for the Stu
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| Grant Peter Tapsell (Principal Investigator) |