William Laud

William Laud was born in Reading on October 7, 1573, as the only son of William Laud, a clothier. Laud was educated at the Reading Grammar School. From there he went on to St. John’s College, Oxford, in 1589. He graduated B.A. in 1594, M.A. in 1598 and D.D. in 1608. In 1601 he was first ordained a deacon and later that year a priest. In 1608 he also entered the service of Richard Neile, bishop of Rochester – Laud was made Neile’s chaplain. Furthermore, Laud was elected president of St. John’s in 1611. From 1611 he was a royal chaplain and came to notice of King James I. He also became Duke Buckingham’s chaplain and confidant during his years of power. Laud also became a very dominant voice concerning church policies and appointments. In 1627 Laud became privy councillor and then in 1628 the bishop of London. He was a combatant of the Puritan clergy and thought of the Anglican Church as a branch of the universal church. Therefore he devoted himself to enforce a form of service strictly according to the Book of Common Prayer. In connection to this, new ceremonials as bowing when mentioning the name of Jesus were imposed. Moreover, churches were repaired and beautified. During his combat against the Puritan clergy, he tried to eliminate the Puritans from important position within the church – he worked closely with Charles I, whose politics he strongly supported. When he became chancellor in Oxford in 1629, he introduced new reforms and new endowments to improve the university. He also stamped out Calvinism to make Oxford a royalist stronghold. The university also functioned as a training ground for Laudian religion. In 1633, Laud became archbishop of Canterbury on the death of George Abbott. Hence, he held the highest churchly office in the Anglican Church – probably also because of the support of Duke Buckingham, who was the first minister of the king. Consequently, he continued his combat against the Puritans – for instance, he mutilated and imprisoned Puritan propagandist such as William Prynne. His tyranny caused to some extend violent opposition – not only from the Puritan’s movement. Laud’s only constant ally was Thomas Wentworth, who was lord deputy of Ireland from 1637 onwards and who later became the earl of Strafford. Later, by 1637, the attempts by Charles I and Laud to establish Anglican forms of worship in Scotland provoked severe resistance there. That is why in 1639 the Second Bishops’ Wars began. In December of 1640 the Long Parliament accused Laud of high treason and thus imprisoned him. His actual trial did not begin before 1644. Then on January 10, 1645, Laud was beheaded.

Sources:

Smith, George. The Dictionary of National Biography. London, 1882.

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