Laud, William

LAUD, WILLIAM. - Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, b. at Reading on 7 Oct. 1573, d. beheaded in London on 10 Jan. 1645.

Ordained minister in 1601, in 1611 he was elected president of St. John's College, chaplain to James I and, some years later, dean of Gloucester, where he devoted himself to restoring Anglican worship and doctrine. In 1621 he was appointed bishop of St. David's, a diocese he visited with great diligence. By command of the King he held several conferences and talks with the Jesuit Father J. Fisher, of which he left a written account, which Fisher refuted (cf. Sommervogel, III, col. 760). Made bishop of Bath and Wells in 1626, he worked effectively to re-establish the doctrine of the 39 Articles. On the death of Buckingham, he and his friend Lord Strafford were the King's principal advisers, and in that office they drew hatred upon themselves for the severe measures taken against the Puritans and the nonconformists. In 1628 he received the bishopric of London and in 1629 was made chancellor of the University of Oxford. In 1633 he succeeded his enemy, Archbishop Abbot, in the primatial see of Canterbury, and in the same year he accompanied the king of Scotland for his coronation. On this occasion Charles I arranged that a new Prayer book should be compiled for the Church of Scotland, and willed that to this end the bishops should be in full agreement with L. When in 1637 it was finished and an attempt was made to impose it, the riots began, which led to the formation of the Covenant, by which the Scots swore to defend their form of religion against any imposition. In 1640 the English Parliament declared itself opposed to the policy of Lord Strafford, of L. and of the King. L. was accused and confined in the Tower of London. Condemned to death, he obtained with difficulty the commutation of the gallows to beheading. Many writings of his are preserved (latest ed. by W. Scott and J. Bliss, 7 vols., Oxford 1847-60), among which is his autobiography with the unheard-of piece of news that before his appointment to the primatial see of England, the cardinal's hat had been offered to him. The biography is followed by the Troubles and tryal, compiled in prison. Some sermons, 200 letters, a summary of devotions, the reports on his diocesan visitations and some notes on the Controversies of St. R. Bellarmine are also preserved.

Camillo Crivelli