HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

George Abbot (29 October 15624 August 1633) was an English
divine Divinity or the divine are things that are either related to, devoted to, or proceeding from a deity.divine< ...
who was Archbishop of Canterbury from 1611 to 1633. He also served as the fourth Chancellor of the University of Dublin, from 1612 to 1633. ''
Chambers Biographical Dictionary ''Chambers Biographical Dictionary'' provides concise descriptions of over 18,000 notable figures from Britain and the rest of the world. It was first published in 1897. The publishers, Chambers Harrap, who were formerly based in Edinburgh, clai ...
'' describes him as " sincere but narrow-minded
Calvinist Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...
". Among his five brothers,
Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...
became
Bishop of Salisbury The Bishop of Salisbury is the ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Salisbury in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers much of the counties of Wiltshire and Dorset. The see is in the City of Salisbury where the bishop's seat ...
and
Maurice Maurice may refer to: People * Saint Maurice (died 287), Roman legionary and Christian martyr * Maurice (emperor) or Flavius Mauricius Tiberius Augustus (539–602), Byzantine emperor *Maurice (bishop of London) (died 1107), Lord Chancellor and ...
became
Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional pow ...
. He was a translator of the
King James Version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an Bible translations into English, English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and publis ...
of the bible.


Life and career


Early years

Born at Guildford in Surrey, where his father Maurice Abbot (died 1606) was a cloth worker, he was taught at the
Royal Grammar School, Guildford The Royal Grammar School, Guildford (originally 'The Free School'), also known as the RGS, is a selective independent day school for boys in Guildford, Surrey in England. The school dates its founding to the death of Robert Beckingham in 1509 who ...
. According to an eighteenth-century biographical dictionary, when Abbot's mother was pregnant with him she had a dream in which she was told that if she ate a pike her child would be a son and rise to great prominence. Some time afterwards she accidentally caught a pike while fetching water from the
River Wey The River Wey is a main tributary of the River Thames in south east England. Its two branches, one of which rises near Alton in Hampshire and the other in West Sussex to the south of Haslemere, join at Tilford in Surrey. Once combined the ...
and it "being reported to some gentlemen in the neighbourhood, they offered to stand sponsors for the child, and afterwards shewed him many marks of favour". He later studied, and then taught under many eminent scholars, including Dr Thomas Holland, at Balliol College, Oxford, was chosen Master of
University College In a number of countries, a university college is a college institution that provides tertiary education but does not have full or independent university status. A university college is often part of a larger university. The precise usage varies ...
in 1597, and appointed
Dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...
of Winchester in 1600. He was three times
Vice-Chancellor A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system. In most Commonwealth and former Commonwealth nations, the chancellor ...
of the
University A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...
, and took a leading part in preparing the
authorised version The King James Version (KJV), also the King James Bible (KJB) and the Authorized Version, is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by sponsorship of K ...
of the
New Testament The New Testament grc, Ἡ Καινὴ Διαθήκη, transl. ; la, Novum Testamentum. (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus, as well as events in first-century Chri ...
. In 1608, he went to
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
with
George Home, 1st Earl of Dunbar George Home, 1st Earl of Dunbar, KG, PC (ca. 155620 January 1611) was, in the last decade of his life, the most prominent and most influential Scotsman in England. His work lay in the King's Household and in the control of the State Affairs of ...
to arrange for a union between the churches of England and Scotland. He so pleased King James in this affair that he was made
Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry The Bishop of Lichfield is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Lichfield in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers 4,516 km2 (1,744 sq. mi.) of the counties of Powys, Staffordshire, Shropshire, Warwickshire and West M ...
in 1609 and was translated to the see of
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
a month afterwards.


Archbishop of Canterbury

On 4 March 1611, Abbot was raised to the position of Archbishop of Canterbury. As archbishop, he defended the apostolic succession of Anglican bishops and the validity of the church's priesthood in 1614. In consequence of the Nag's Head Fable, the archbishop invited certain Roman Catholics to inspect the register in the presence of six of his own episcopal colleagues, the details of which inspection were preserved. It was agreed by all parties that: In spite of his defence of the catholic nature of the priesthood, his
Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. ...
instincts frequently led him not only into harsh treatment of Roman Catholics, but also into courageous resistance to the royal will, such as when he opposed the scandalous divorce suit of the Lady Frances Howard against Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex, and again in 1618 when, at
Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...
, he forbade the reading of the
Declaration of Sports The ''Declaration of Sports'' (also known as the ''Book of Sports'') was a declaration of James I of England issued just for Lancashire in 1617, nationally in 1618, and reissued by Charles I of England, Charles I in 1633. It listed the sports and r ...
listing the permitted Sunday recreations. He was naturally, therefore, a promoter of the match between the king's daughter, Princess Elizabeth, and
Frederick V, Elector Palatine Frederick V (german: link=no, Friedrich; 26 August 1596 – 29 November 1632) was the Elector Palatine of the Rhine in the Holy Roman Empire from 1610 to 1623, and reigned as King of Bohemia from 1619 to 1620. He was forced to abdicate both ...
, and a firm opponent of the projected marriage of the new Prince of Wales (later
Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...
) and the Spanish Infanta, Maria Anna. This policy brought upon the archbishop the hatred of
William Laud William Laud (; 7 October 1573 – 10 January 1645) was a bishop in the Church of England. Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by Charles I in 1633, Laud was a key advocate of Charles I's religious reforms, he was arrested by Parliament in 1640 ...
(with whom he had previously come into collision at Oxford) and the king's court, although the King himself never forsook Abbot. In July 1621, while hunting in Lord Zouch's park at
Bramshill Bramshill is a civil parish in the English county of Hampshire. Its name has become synonymous with the Police Staff College, Bramshill located in Bramshill House. Bramshill forms part of the district of Hart. It is bordered by the Rivers Whit ...
in
Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...
, a bolt from his cross-bow aimed at a deer happened to strike one of the keepers, who died within an hour, and Abbot was so greatly distressed by the event that he fell into a state of settled
melancholia Melancholia or melancholy (from el, µέλαινα χολή ',Burton, Bk. I, p. 147 meaning black bile) is a concept found throughout ancient, medieval and premodern medicine in Europe that describes a condition characterized by markedly d ...
. His enemies maintained that the fatal issue of this accident disqualified him for his office, and argued that, though the homicide was involuntary, the sport of hunting which had led to it was one in which no clerical person could lawfully indulge. The King had to refer the matter to a commission of ten, though he said that "an angel might have miscarried after this sort". The commission was equally divided, and the King gave a casting vote in the Archbishop's favour, though signing also a formal pardon or dispensation. Gustavus Paine notes that Abbot was both the "only translator of the 1611 Bible and the only Archbishop of Canterbury ever to kill a human being". After this, the Archbishop seldom appeared at the council, chiefly on account of his infirmities. In 1625 he attended the King constantly, however, in his last illness, and performed the ceremony of the coronation of King Charles I as king of England. His refusal to license the assize sermon preached by Dr Robert Sibthorp at Northampton on 22 February 1627, in which cheerful obedience was urged to the king's demand for a general loan, and the duty proclaimed of absolute non-resistance even to the most arbitrary royal commands, led Charles to deprive him of his functions as
primate Primates are a diverse order of mammals. They are divided into the strepsirrhines, which include the lemurs, galagos, and lorisids, and the haplorhines, which include the tarsiers and the simians ( monkeys and apes, the latter including ...
, putting them in commission. The need of summoning parliament, however, soon brought about a nominal restoration of the Archbishop's powers. His presence being unwelcome at court, he lived from that time in retirement, leaving Laud and his party in undisputed ascendancy. He died at Croydon on 4 August 1633, and was buried at Guildford, his native place, where he had endowed Abbot's Hospital with lands to the value of £300 a year.


Legacy

Abbot was a conscientious
prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Christian clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which means 'carry before', 'be set above or over' or 'pre ...
, though narrow in view and often harsh towards both separatists and Roman Catholics. He wrote a large number of works, the most interesting being his discursive ''Exposition on the Prophet Jonah'' (1600), which was reprinted in 1845. His ''Geography, or a Brief Description of the Whole World'' (1599), passed through numerous editions. The newest edition, edited by the current Master of the Abbot's Hospital, was published by Goldenford Publishers Ltd on 20 June 2011, to commemorate the 400th anniversary of his enthronement as Archbishop of Canterbury. Abbot had a large private library of more than 8000 volumes, the majority of which he left to Lambeth Palace Library. Books bearing his armorial stamp can still be found in libraries today. Guildford remembers the Archbishop with his hospitalAbbot's Hospital
retrieved 9 January 2016
and a statue in the High Street. A secondary school and a pub in the High Street are named after him. His tomb can be found in Holy Trinity Church.


Notes


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Abbot, George (Archbishop) 1562 births 1633 deaths People from Guildford 17th-century Anglican archbishops People educated at Royal Grammar School, Guildford Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Archbishops of Canterbury Bishops of London Bishops of Lichfield Chancellors of the University of Dublin English translators Vice-Chancellors of the University of Oxford Masters of University College, Oxford Translators of the King James Version 17th-century English Anglican priests English diplomats Scottish Episcopal Church Deans of Winchester Burials in Surrey English male poets 17th-century Anglican theologians 16th-century Anglican theologians