William
Laud, the son of a prosperous merchant, was born in Reading in 1573.
He was educated at Reading Grammar School and St. John's College,
Oxford. Laud was ordained in 1601 and soon made it clear he was sympathetic
to Roman
Catholics and
hostile to the growing Puritan movement.
With
the support of a rich patron, George
Villiers,
1st Duke of Buckingham, Laud made steady progress in the Church and
was appointed archdeacon of Huntingdon (1615), dean of Gloucester
(1616), Bishop of St. Davids (1621), Bishop of Bath and Wells (1626),
Bishop of London (1628) and finally Archbishop
of Canterbury in
1633.
When James
I died in 1625, his son Charles
II became king.
Over the next few years Laud became the king's main political adviser.
Laud argued that the king ruled by Divine
Right. He claimed
that the king had been appointed by God and people who disagreed with
him were bad Christians.
Laud believed that Church
reforms had gone too far. Anglicans
tended to support the policies of Laud but the Puritans
strongly disagreed with
him. When Laud gave instructions that the wooden communion tables
in churches should be replaced by stone altars. Puritans accused Laud
of trying to reintroduce Catholicism.
The Puritans claimed that
Laud was trying to make English churches look like those in Catholic
countries. When Puritans complained about these reforms. Laud had
them arrested. In 1637 John Bastwick,
Henry Burton and William
Prynne had their ears cut off for writing pamphlets attacking
Laud's views.
Laud also upset the Puritans
(Presbyterians) in Scotland when he insisted
they had to use the English Prayer Book. Scottish Presbyterians were
furious and made it clear they were willing to fight
to protect their religion. In 1639 the Scottish army marched on England.
Charles, unable to raise a strong army, was forced to agree not to
interfere with religion in Scotland. Charles also agreed to pay the
Scottish war expenses.
Charles did not have the
money to pay the Scots and so he had to ask Parliament for help. The
Parliament summoned in 1640 lasted for twenty years and is therefore
usually known as The Long Parliament. This time Parliament was determined
to restrict the powers of the king.
Under the leadership of
John Pym, a law was passed which stated
that Parliament should in future meet every three years. It was also
decided to take away the king's right to dissolve Parliament. Other
laws were passed making it illegal for the king to impose his own
taxes. Parliament then passed a law that gave members control over
the king's ministers.
Laud was arrested and sent
to the Tower of London. He
was eventually found guilty of "endeavouring to subvert the laws,
to overthrow the Protestant religion" and was beheaded on Tower
Hill in 1645.
(1)
Archbishop William
Laud, diary entry (11th May, 1640)
Monday night, at midnight
my house at Lambeth was beset with 500 of these rascal routers. I
had notice, and strengthened the house as well as I could; and God
be thanked, I had no harm; they continued there full two hours. Since
I have fortified my house as well as I can; and hope all may be safe.
But yet libels are continually set up in all places of note in the
city.
Available
from Amazon Books (order below)
