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LAUD, WILLIAM (1573-1645)

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Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 278 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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LAUD, See also:WILLIAM (1573-1645) , See also:English. See also:archbishop, only son of William Laud, a See also:clothier, was See also:born at See also:Reading on the 7th of See also:October 1573. He was educated at Reading See also:free school, matriculated at St See also:John's See also:college, See also:Oxford, in 1588, gained a scholarship in 1590, a fellowship in 1593, and graduated B.A. in 1594, proceeding to D.D. in 1608. In 1601 he took prders, in 1603 becoming See also:chaplain to See also:Charles See also:Blount, See also:earl of See also:Devonshire. Laud See also:early took up a position of antagonism to the Calvinistic party in the See also:church, and in 1604 was reproved by the authorities for maintaining in his thesis for the degree of B.D. " that there could be no true church without bishops," and again in 1606 for advocating " popish " opinions in a See also:sermon at St See also:Mary's. If high-church doctrines, however, met with opposition at Oxford, they were relished elsewhere, and Laud obtained rapid See also:advancement. In 1607 he was made See also:vicar of See also:Stanford in See also:Northamptonshire, and in 1608 he became chaplain to See also:Bishop See also:Neile, who in 16ro presented him to the living of Cuxton, when he resigned his fellowship. In 1611, in spite of the See also:influence of Archbishop See also:Abbot and See also:Lord See also:Chancellor See also:Ellesmere, Laud was made See also:president of St John's, and in 1614 obtained in addition the prebend of Buckden, in 1615 the archdeaconry of See also:Hunting-See also:don, and in 1616 the deanery of See also:Gloucester. Here he repaired the fabric and changed the position of the communion table, a See also:matter which aroused See also:great religious controversy, from the centre of the See also:choir to the See also:east end, by a characteristic tactless exercise of See also:power offending the bishop, who henceforth refused to enter the See also:cathedral. In 1617 he went with the See also:king to See also:Scotland, and aroused hostility by wearing the See also:surplice. In 1621 he became bishop of St See also:David's, when he resigned the presidentship of St John's. In See also:April 1622 Laud, by the king's orders, took See also:part in a controversy with See also:Percy, a Jesuit, known as See also:Fisher, the aim of which was to prevent the See also:conversion of the countess of Bucking-See also:ham, the favourite's See also:mother, to Romanism, and his opinions expressed on that occasion show considerable breadth and comprehension.

While refusing to acknowledge the See also:

Roman Church as the true church, he allowed it to be a true church and a See also:branch of the See also:Catholic See also:body, at the same See also:time emphasizing the perils of knowingly associating with See also:error; and with regard to the English Church he denied that the See also:acceptance of all its articles was necessary. The See also:foundation of belief was the See also:Bible, not any one branch of the Catholic church arrogating to itself See also:infallibility, and when dispute. on matters of faith arose, " a lawful and free See also:council, determining according to Scripture, is the best See also:judge on See also:earth." A See also:close and somewhat See also:strange intimacy, considering the difference in the characters and ideals of the two men, between Laud and See also:Buckingham now began, and proved the See also:chief See also:instrument of Laud's advancement. The opportunity came with the old king's See also:death in 1625, for See also:James, with all his pedantry, was too See also:wise and cautious to embark in Laud's rash undertakings, and had already shown a prudent moderation, after setting up bishops in Scotland, in going no further in opposition to the religious feelings of the See also:people. On the ac-cession of Charles, Laud's ambitious activities were allowed free See also:scope. A See also:list of the See also:clergy was immediately prepared by him for the king, in which each name was labelled with an 0 or a P, distinguishing the Orthodox to be promoted from the Puritans to be suppressed. Laud defended See also:Richard Montague, who had aroused the wrath of the See also:parliament by his pamphlet against Calvinism. His influence soon extended into the domain of the See also:state. He supported the king's See also:prerogative throughout the conflict with the parliament, preached in favour of it before Charles's second parliament in 1626, and assisted in Bucking-ham's See also:defence. In 1626 he was nominated bishop of See also:Bath and See also:Wells, and in See also:July 1628 bishop of See also:London. On the 12th of April 1629 he was made chancellor of Oxford University. In the patronage of learning and in the exercise of authority over the morals and See also:education of youth Laud was in his proper See also:sphere, many valuable reforms at Oxford being due to his activity, including the codification of the statutes, the See also:statute by which public See also:examinations were rendered obligatory for university degrees, and the See also:ordinance for the See also:election of proctors, the revival of the college See also:system, of moral and religious discipline and See also:order, and of See also:academic See also:dress. He founded or endowed various professorships, including those of See also:Hebrew and Arabic, and the See also:office of public orator, encouraged English and See also:foreign scholars, such as See also:Voss, See also:Selden and See also:Jeremy See also:Taylor, founded the university See also:printing See also:press, procuring in 1633 the royal patent for Oxford, and obtained for the Bodleian library over 1300 See also:MSS., adding a new wing to the See also:building to contain his gifts.

His See also:

rule at Oxford was marked by a great increase in the number of students. In his own college he erected the new buildings, and was its second founder. Of his chancellorship he himself wrote a See also:history, and the Laudian tradition See also:long remained the great See also:standard of order and See also:good See also:government in the university. Elsewhere he showed his liberality and his zeal for reform. He was an active visitor of See also:Eton and See also:Winchester, and endowed the See also:grammar school at Reading, where he was himself educated. In London he procured funds for the restoration of the dilapidated cathedral of St See also:Paul's. He was far less great as a ruler in the state, showing as a judge a tyrannical spirit both in the See also:star chamber and high-See also:commission See also:court, threatening See also:Felton, the See also:assassin of Bucking-ham, with the See also:rack, and showing See also:special activity in procuring a cruel See also:sentence in the former court against See also:Alexander See also:Leighton in See also:June 163o and against See also:Henry Sherfield in 1634. His power was greatly increased after his return from Scotland, whither he had accompanied the king, by his promotion to the archbishopricof See also:Canterbury in See also:August 1633. "As for the state indeed," be wrote to See also:Wentworth on this occasion, " I am for Thorough." In 1636 the privy council decided in his favour his claim of See also:jurisdiction as visitor over both See also:universities. Soon afterwards he was placed on the commission of the See also:treasury and on the See also:committee of the privy council for foreign affairs. He was all-powerful both in church and state. He proceeded to impose by authority the religious ceremonies and usages to which he attached so much importance.

His vicar-See also:

general, See also:Sir Nathaniel Brent, went through the dioceses of his See also:province, noting every See also:dilapidation and every irregularity. The See also:pulpit was no longer to be the chief feature in the church, but the communion table. The Puritan lecturers were suppressed. He showed great hostility to the Puritan See also:sabbath and supported the reissue of the See also:Book of See also:Sports, especially odious to that party, and severely reprimanded Chief See also:Justice See also:Richardson for his interference with the See also:Somerset wakes. He insisted on the use of the See also:prayer-book among the English soldiers in the service of See also:Holland, and forced strict conformity on the church of the See also:merchant adventurers at See also:Delft, endeavouring even to reach the colonists in New See also:England. He tried to compel the Dutch and See also:French refugees in England to unite with the Church of England, advising See also:double See also:taxation and other forms of persecution. In 1634 the justices of the See also:peace were ordered to enter houses to See also:search for persons holding conventicles and bring them before the commissioners. He took See also:pleasure in displaying his power over the great, and in punishing them in the spiritual courts for moral offences. In 1637 he took part in the sentence of the star chamber on See also:Prynne, See also:Bastwick and See also:Burton, and in the same See also:year in the See also:prosecution of Bishop See also:Williams. He urged See also:Strafford in See also:Ireland to carry out the same reforms and severities. He was now to extend his ecclesiastical system to Scotland, where during his visits the See also:appearance of the churches had greatly displeased him. The new prayer-book and canons were See also:drawn up by the Scottish bishops with his assistance and enforced in the See also:country, and, though not officially connected with the See also:work, he was rightly regarded as its real author.

The attack not only on the See also:

national See also:religion, but on the national See also:independence of Scotland, proved to be the point at which the system, already strained, See also:broke and collapsed. Laud continued to support Strafford's and the king's arbitrary See also:measures to the last, and spoke in favour of the vigorous continuation of the See also:war on Strafford's See also:side in the memorable See also:meeting of the committee of eight on the 5th of May 1640, and for the employment of any means for carrying it on. " Tried all ways," so ran the notes of his speech, " and refused all ways. By the See also:law of See also:God and See also:man you should have subsistence and lawful to take it." Though at first opposed to the sitting of See also:convocation, after the See also:dissolution of parliament, as an See also:independent body, on See also:account of the opposition it would arouse, he yet caused to be passed in it the new canons which both enforced his ecclesiastical system and assisted the king's divine right, resistance to his power entailing " damnation." Laud's infatuated policy could go no further, and the etcetera See also:oath, according to which whole classes of men were to be forced to swear perpetual See also:allegiance to the " government of this church by archbishops, bishops, deans and archdeacons, &c.," was long remembered and derided. His power now quickly abandoned him. He was attacked and reviled as the chief author of the troubles on all sides. In October he was ordered by Charles to suspend the etcetera oath. The same See also:month, when the high commission court was sacked by the See also:mob, he was unable to persuade the star chamber to punish the offenders. On the 18th of See also:December he was impeached by the Long Parliament, and on the 1st of See also:March imprisoned in the See also:tower. On the 12th of May, at Strafford's See also:request, the archbishop appeared at the window of his See also:cell to give him his blessing on his way to See also:execution, and fainted as he passed by. For some time he was See also:left unnoticed in confinement. On the 31st of May 1643, how-ever, Prynne received orders from the parliament to search his papers, and published a mutilated edition of his See also:diary.

The articles of See also:

impeachment were sent up to the Lords in October, the trial beginning on the 12th of March 1644, but the See also:attempt LAUD-See also:LAUDER, SIR T. D. See also:necessity for outward conformity, and the importance attached to See also:ritual and ceremony, unity in which must be established at all See also:costs, in contrast to See also:dogma and See also:doctrine, in which he showed himself lenient and large-minded, winning over See also:Hales by friendly discussion, and encouraging the publication of See also:Chillingworth's Religion of Protestants. He was not a See also:bigot, but a See also:martinet. The See also:external See also:form was with him the essential feature of religion, preceding the spiritual conception, and in Laud's See also:opinion being the real foundation of it. In his last words on the See also:scaffold he alludes to the dangers and slanders he had endured labouring to keep an uniformity in the external service of God; and See also:Bacon's conception of a spiritual See also:union founded on variety and See also:liberty was one completely beyond his comprehension. This narrow See also:materialism was the true cause of his fatal influence both in church and state. In his own See also:character it produced the somewhat blunted moral sense which led to the few incidents in his career which need moral defence, his performance of the See also:marriage ceremony between his first See also:patron Lord Devonshire and the latter's See also:mistress, the divorced wife of Lord See also:Rich, an See also:act completely at variance with his principles; his strange intimacy with Buckingham; his love of power and See also:place. Indistinguishable from his See also:personal ambition was his See also:passion for the aggrandisement of the church and its predominance in the state. He was greatly delighted at the foolish See also:appointment of Bishop See also:Juxon as lord treasurer in 1636. " No churchman had it," he cries exultingly, " since Henry VII.'s time, . . . and now if the. church will not hold up themselves under God, I can do no more." Spiritual influence, in Laud's opinion, was not enough for the church.

The church as the See also:

guide of the nation in See also:duty and godliness, even extending its activity into state affairs as a mediator and a See also:moderator, was not sufficient. Its power must be material and visible, embodied in great places of See also:secular See also:administration and enthroned in high offices of state. Thus the church, descending into the See also:political See also:arena, became identified with the doctrines of one political party in the state—doctrines odious to the See also:majority of the nation—and at the same time became associated with acts of violence and injustice, losing at once its influence and its reputation. Equally disastrous to the state was the See also:identification of the king's administration with one party in the church, and that with the party in an immense minority not only in the nation but even among the clergy themselves.

End of Article: LAUD, WILLIAM (1573-1645)

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