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JOHN WHITGIFT (c. 1530-1604)

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Originally appearing in Volume V28, Page 609 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JOHN See also:WHITGIFT (c. 1530-1604)  , See also:English See also:archbishop, was the eldest son of See also:Henry See also:Whitgift, See also:merchant of See also:Great See also:Grimsby, See also:Lincolnshire, where he was See also:born, according to one See also:account in 1533, but according to a calculation founded on a statement of his own in 1530 . At an See also:early See also:age his See also:education was entrusted to his See also:uncle, See also:Robert Whitgift, See also:abbot of the neighbouring monastery of Wellow, by whose See also:advice he was afterwards sent to St See also:Anthony's school, See also:London . In 1549 he matriculated at Queens' See also:College, See also:Cambridge, and in May 1550 he migrated to See also:Pembroke See also:Hall, where he had the See also:martyr See also:John See also:Bradford for a See also:tutor . In May 1555 he became a See also:fellow of Peterhouse . Having taken orders in 156o, he became in the same See also:year See also:chaplain to See also:Richard See also:Cox, See also:bishop of See also:Ely, who collated him to the rectory of Teversham, See also:Cambridgeshire . In 1563 he was appointed See also:Lady See also:Margaret See also:professor of divinity at Cambridge, and his lectures gave such See also:satisfaction to the authorities that on the 5th of See also:July 1566 they considerably augmented his See also:stipend . The following year he was appointed regius professor of divinity, and also became See also:master first of Pembroke Hall and then of Trinity . He had a See also:principal See also:share in compiling the statutes of the university, which passed the great See also:seal on the 25th of See also:September 1570, and in See also:November following he was chosen See also:vice-See also:chancellor . See also:Macaulay's description of Whitgift as " a narrow, mean, tyrannical See also:priest, who gained See also:power by servility and adulation," is tinged with rhetorical exaggeration; but undoubtedly Whitgift's extreme High See also:Church notions led him to treat the Puritans with exceptional intolerance . In a See also:pulpit controversy with See also:Thomas See also:Cartwright, regarding the constitutions and customs of the Church of See also:England, he showed himself Cartwright's inferior in oratorical effectiveness, but the See also:balance was redressed by the exercise of arbitrary authority . Whitgift, with other heads of the university, deprived Cartwright in 1570 of his professorship, and in September 1571 exercised his See also:prerogative as master of Trinity to deprive him of his fellowship . In See also:June of the same year Whitgift was nominated See also:dean of See also:Lincoln .

In the following year he published An Answere to a Certain See also:

Libel intituled an Admonition to the See also:Parliament, which led to further controversy between the two divines . On the 24th of See also:March 1577, Whitgift was appointed bishop of See also:Worcester, and during the See also:absence of See also:Sir Henry See also:Sidney in See also:Ireland (1577) he acted as vice-See also:president of See also:Wales . In See also:August 1583 he was appointed archbishop of See also:Canterbury, and thus was largely instrumental in giving its See also:special complexion to the church of the See also:Reformation . Although he wrote a See also:letter to See also:Queen See also:Elizabeth remonstrating against the See also:alienation of church See also:property, Whitgift always retained her special confidence . In his policy against the Puritans, and in his vigorous enforcement of the subscription test, he thoroughly carried out the queen's policy of religious uniformity . He See also:drew up articles aimed at n<onforming ministers, and obtained increased See also:powers for the See also:Court of High See also:Commission . In 1586 he became a privy councillor . His See also:action gave rise to the Marprelate tracts, in which the bishops and See also:clergy were bitterly attacked . Through Whitgift's vigilance the printers of the tracts were, however, discovered and punished; and in See also:order more effectually to check the publication of such opinions he got a See also:law passed in 1593 making See also:Puritanism an offence against the See also:statute law . In the controversy between See also:Walter Travers and Richard See also:Hooker he interposed by prohibiting the See also:preaching of the former; and he moreover presented Hooker with the rectory of Boscombe in See also:Wiltshire, in order to afford him more leisure to See also:complete his Ecclesiastical Polity, a See also:work which, however, cannot be said to represent either Whitgift's theological or his ecclesiastical standpoint . In 1595 he, in See also:conjunction with the bishop of London and other prelates, drew up the Calvinistic See also:instrument known as the See also:Lambeth Articles, which were not accepted by the church . Whitgift attended Elizabeth on her deathbed, and crowned See also:James I .

He was See also:

present at the See also:Hampton Court See also:Conference in See also:January 1604, and died at Lambeth on the 29th of the following See also:February . He was buried in the church of See also:Croydon, and his See also:monument there with his recumbent effigy was in great See also:part destroyed in the See also:fire by which the church was burnt down in 1867 . Whitgift is described by his biographer, Sir G . Paule, as of " See also:middle stature, strong and well shaped, of a See also:grave countenance and See also:brown complexion, See also:black See also:hair and eyes, his See also:beard neither See also:long nor thick." He was noted for his hospitality, and was somewhat ostentatious in his habits, sometimes visiting Canterbury and other towns attended by a See also:retinue of 800 horsemen . He See also:left several unpublished See also:works, which are included among the See also:MSS . Angliae . Many of his letters, articles, injunctions, &c. are calendared in the published volumes of the " See also:State See also:Paper " See also:series of the reign of Elizabeth . His Collected Works, edited for the See also:Parker Society by John Ayre (3 vols., Cambridge, 1851-1853), include, besides the controversial tracts already alluded to, two sermons published during his lifetime, a selection from his letters to See also:Cecil and others, and some portions of his unpublished MSS . A See also:Life of Whitgift by Sir G . Paule appeared in 1612, 2nd ed . 1649 . It was embodied by John See also:Strype in his Life and Acts of Whitgift (1718) .

There is also a life in C . See also:

Wordsworth's Ecclesiastical See also:Biography (1810), W . F . See also:Hook's Archbishops of Canterbury (1875), and vol. i. of Whitgif t's Collected Works . See also C.H . See also:Cooper's Athenae Cantabrigienses .

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