24
November 1693 A.D. William
Sancroft Dies—79th of 105 Archbishops of Canterbury; Opposed to James II & William of
Orange; Did Brig Time
Editors.
“William Sancroft.” Encyclopedia Britannica. N.d. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/521833/William-Sancroft. Accessed 4 Jun 2014.
William Sancroft, (born
Jan. 30, 1617, Fressingfield, Suffolk, Eng.—died Nov. 24,
1693), archbishop of Canterbury, leader of a group of seven bishops who
were imprisoned for opposing policies of the Roman Catholic king James II.
In 1651 Sancroft
was dismissed as a fellow at the University of Cambridge for refusing to take
the Oath of Engagement, a declaration to uphold the government of the
Commonwealth. After the Restoration of King Charles II (1660), he was made a royal chaplain,
and from 1664 to 1677 he served as dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. In
1678 he became archbishop of Canterbury.
Sancroft, however,
felt he could not remain silent in the face of what he considered attempts by
King James II (reigned 1685–88) to undermine the Anglican church. With
six other bishops he petitioned James for permission not to order his clergy to
commend James’s second Declaration
of Indulgence (April 1688), which suspended religious and civil
restrictions against Roman Catholics and Protestant dissenters. Because the
restrictions had been imposed by parliamentary statute, Sancroft alleged that
the declaration was unconstitutional. James responded by imprisoning the
bishops in the Tower of London and bringing them to trial on charges
of seditious libel. Their acquittal (June 30) was greeted with widespread
popular rejoicing. After James was overthrown by William of
Orange in November–December 1688, Sancroft—despite his opposition to
James—rejected William’s claim to the throne. Along with a number of other
Anglican clergymen (the so-called “Nonjurors”),
he refused to take the oaths of allegiance to William that Parliament had
approved. Consequently, he was deprived of his bishopric in 1690.
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