Bancroft, RICHARD

Bancroft, RICHARD, Archbishop of Canterbury, and a bitter opponent of the Puritans, was born at Farnworth, Lancashire, in 1544. Sent to Cambridge by his uncle, Hugh Curwen, Archbishop of Dublin, he took his B.A. in 1567, and in 1576 became rector of Teversham, Cambridgeshire. Other preferments followed in rapid succession, until in 1597 he was consecrated Bishop of London. He attended Elizabeth during her last illness; and at the famous Hampton Court Conference under James I., he was one of the chief-commissioners on behalf of the Church of England, and took the lead in the disputations. He succeeded Whitgift as Archbishop of Canterbury in 1604, and died November 2, 1610. Bancroft had a high character as a preacher and statesman, and was a vigilant ruler of the church. He is author of two treatises and two sermons, one of which, preached at St Paul's in 1588, contains a furious invective against the Puritans.