2
November 1610 A.D. Richard Bancroft—74th of 105
Archbishops of Canterbury; Department-Head of State, Anti-Romanist, Anti-Presbyterian,
& Erastian Royalist
This article contains some factual errors and biases.
Ford,
Nick. “The Life and Times of Richard
Bancroft Archbishop of Canterbury.” Humanities: 360. 28 Apr 2011. http://www.humanities360.com/index.php/the-life-and-times-of-richard-bancroft-archbishop-of-canterbury-13640/. Accessed 2 Jun 2014.
Archbishop Bancroft is
generally regarded as the architect behind the Authorised King James Bible
which has served as the basis for Anglican worship for 400 years. He was also a
staunch defender of the Episcopal tradition in the Church of England. He was
responsible for keeping the Puritan movement in check.
Bancroft grew up in
difficult religious times. As an infant he lived in the last years of the reign
of the great Protestant reformer Henry VIII. In his formative years from the age
of 9 to 14 he would have experienced the Catholic resurgence under the reign of
Queen Mary. For most of his life he would have experienced the Protestant
consolidation during the reign of Queen Elizabeth who reigned from 1558 until
1603.
Richard
Bancroft
rose from humble origins to become a leading churchman. He was born in 1544 in
the village of Farnworth in Lancashire. He attended a local grammar school
founded by a local man, Bishop William Smyth, in 1507. From the grammar school
he went to Cambridge studying at Christ’s College and Jesus College. At the age
of 23 he gained a Bachelor of Arts and at the age of 25 he gained a Master of
Arts.
Sometime around 1570
Bancroft became the chaplain to the Bishop of Ely, Richard Cox. Cox was an old
man (aged 70) with a dogmatic and hot temper. He was a prominent churchman who
had worked with Henry VIII to develop the Protestant cause. Richard Cox often
encountered the Lutheran, or Puritan elements of the church who favoured simple
worship. He argued with them that a Protestant Episcopal church with a
hierarchy of priests and bishops was a better path. Cox’s approach was
compatible with that of Queen Elizabeth. In the first year of her reign Queen
Elizabeth passed the Act of Supremacy which endorsed the Episcopal Church of
England. While working for Cox Bancroft would have understood the official line
that without Bishops there could be no monarch. Although Protestant in theology
the Puritans were a potential threat to the crown.
After work at Ely,
Richard Bancroft steadily rose in the church hierarchy. He became a
preacher at Oxford University, gaining a Bachelor of Divinity in 1580 and a
Doctor of Divinity in 1585. He became the rector of St Andrew, Holborn in 1584
and became the treasurer of St Paul’s Cathedral in the following year. In 1586
he became a member of the influential ecclesiastical commission. In 1587 he
became a canon of Westminster Abbey. In 1590 Bancroft became a prebendary of St
Paul’s.
More significantly
Bancroft became the chaplain for the Queen’s favourite Christopher Hatton and
thereafter to the Archbishop of Canterbury John Whitgift. Bancroft supported
the strongly anti-Puritan line taken by Whitgift. In 1584 Whitgift removed over
200 Puritan leaning ministers from office. He used the ecclesiastical
commission to root out the delinquent priests. Surprisingly, especially
considering that England was at war with Catholic Spain from 1585 until 1603
Bancroft had a conciliatory line towards Catholics. He had no objection to
their theology provided that they were loyal to the English crown.
Bancroft was an ardent
supported of the power of Bishops. On 9 February 1589 he delivered a sermon at
St Paul’s cross that was so vigorous in its attack on the Puritans and the
divine right of Bishops that the Queen’s councillors through that the Queen’s
advisors thought that it was a threat to the supremacy of the crown.
When Bancroft became
the Bishop of London in 1597 he was effectively acting as Archbishop for the
elderly Archbishop Whitgift.
In 1603 and 1604
circumstances changed dramatically. Queen Elizabeth died in 1603. As one of his
first acts the new King James I arranged a conference to discuss the religious
views of the Puritans. The Hampton Court Conference took place in January 1604.
Bancroft was one of the leading churchmen who attended. At the conference King
James took a conciliatory line on many Puritan issues. His plan was to placate
the Puritans while maintaining the Episcopal structure of the Church of
England.
As a concession, King
James accepted the need for a new Bible. The Puritans were interested in a
Bible that was written in a popular, accessible language because they thought
that every man should have access to the Book. Their preference was to use the
Geneva Bible which had been so produced in 1560. King James, with the support
of Bancroft, objected to the Geneva Bible because it contained seditious notes
that emphasised the Lutheran line. King James proposed the preparation of the
new Authorised King James Bible that would be produced in everyday language
using original sources in Hebrew and Greek.
Shortly after the
conference, on 29 February 1604 the elderly Archbishop Whitgift died. Richard
Bancroft, the heir apparent was appointed as the new Archbishop of Canterbury
in November 1604. While in office Richard Bancroft was responsible for
spearheading the King James Bible project. The project took 7 years. The new
Bible was published in 1611.
During his time as
Archbishop of Canterbury Bancroft continued his attack on the Puritan movement.
He also worked to restore the income of individual priests and church estates
that had been curtailed by the reforms of Henry VIII. In 1608 he became the
Chancellor of Oxford University. While in this role, he championed the
consecration of certain Scottish Bishops which lay the foundations for the
Scottish Episcopal Church. He died at Lambeth Palace on 2 November 1610.
Bancroft has a double
legacy. His actions against the Puritans helped to establish the Episcopal
church of England and establish religious stability in England. His leadership
led to the publishing of the Authorised King James Bible which celebrates its
400th anniversary of publication in 2011.
