Gilbert Sheldon (19 June 1598 – 9 November 1677) was an English religious leader who served as the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1663 until his death.

Early life

Sheldon was born in Stanton, Staffordshire in the parish of

Ellastone Ellastone is a rural village in the West Midlands of England on the Staffordshire side of the River Dove, between Uttoxeter and Ashbourne in north Staffordshire. Geography Ellastone lies on the River Dove and is a hive of fluvial activity. ...

, on 19 June 1598, (according to an entry in Sheldon's family Bible, now in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, which states in handwriting, 'Gilb. Sheldon, borne 19 June 1598.'), the youngest son of Roger Sheldon; his father worked for

Gilbert Talbot, 7th Earl of Shrewsbury Gilbert Talbot, 7th Earl of Shrewsbury, 7th Earl of Waterford, 13th Baron Talbot, KG (20 November 1552 – 8 May 1616), styled Lord Talbot from 1582 to 1590, was a peer in the peerage of England. He also held the subsidiary titles of 16th Baron ...

. He was educated at

Trinity College, Oxford (That which you wish to be secret, tell to nobody) , named_for = The Holy Trinity , established = , sister_college = Churchill College, Cambridge , president = Dame Hilary Boulding , location = Broad Street, Oxford OX1 3BH , coordinates ...

; he matriculated at Oxford on 1 July 1614, graduated BA from Trinity College on 27 November 1617, and MA(Oxon) on 28 June 1620. In 1619, he was incorporated at Cambridge. In 1622 he was elected fellow of

All Souls' College All Souls College (official name: College of the Souls of All the Faithful Departed) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically b ...

, where he took the degrees of BD on 11 November 1628 and DD on 25 June 1634. In 1622, he was ordained, and shortly afterwards he became domestic chaplain to

Thomas Coventry, 1st Baron Coventry Thomas Coventry, 1st Baron Coventry (157814 January 1640) was a prominent English lawyer, politician and judge during the early 17th century. Education and early legal career He entered Balliol College, Oxford, in 1592, and the Inner Temple in ...

. In March 1636 he was elected warden of All Souls' on the death of Richard Astley. He had already made the acquaintance 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 ...

, and corresponded with him on college business, university politics, and on the conversion of

William Chillingworth William Chillingworth (12 October 160230 January 1644) was a controversial English churchman. Early life He was born in Oxford, where his father served as mayor; William Laud was his godfather. In June 1618 he became a scholar of Trinity Coll ...

from Roman Catholicism. Sheldon was not initially a Laudian, and he resisted (unsuccessfully) Laud's appointment of

Jeremy Taylor Jeremy Taylor (1613–1667) was a cleric in the Church of England who achieved fame as an author during the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell. He is sometimes known as the "Shakespeare of Divines" for his poetic style of expression, and he is fr ...

to a fellowship at All Souls'. In 1634 and 1640 he was pro-vice-chancellor. In 1638 he was on the commission of visitation for Merton College; the visit produced a report requiring reforms. During the years 1632–1639 he received the livings of Hackney (1633);

Oddington, Oxfordshire Oddington is a village and civil parish about south of Bicester in Oxfordshire, England. The village is close to the River Ray on the northern edge of Otmoor. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 129. History The toponym is d ...

;

Ickford Ickford is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Buckinghamshire Council, unitary authority area of Buckinghamshire, England. It is on the boundary with Oxfordshire, about west of the market town of Thame. The River Tham ...

, Buckinghamshire (1636); and

Newington, Oxfordshire Newington is a village and civil parish in South Oxfordshire, about north of Wallingford. The 2011 Census recorded the parish's population as 102. Archaeology Archaeological work in the grounds of Newington House in the early 1980s and the ...

; besides being a

prebendary A prebendary is a member of the Roman Catholic or Anglican clergy, a form of canon with a role in the administration of a cathedral or collegiate church. When attending services, prebendaries sit in particular seats, usually at the back of th ...

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

from 1632. Sheldon gravitated towards the

Great Tew circle The Great Tew Circle was a group of clerics and literary figures who gathered in the 1630s at the manor house of Great Tew, Oxfordshire in southern England, and in London. Lord Clarendon referred to the Circle as "A college situate in a purer ai ...

of Lucius Cary (Falkland), and was on friendly terms with Edward Hyde; he had no

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. ...

sympathies. He became a royal chaplain through Coventry, and the king intended preferment for him, plans interrupted by the political crises.

Civil War period

He was intimate with the Royalist leaders, and participated in the negotiations for the

Uxbridge Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon. Situated west-northwest of Charing Cross, it is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Uxb ...

treaty of 1645. During this period he became with

Henry Hammond Henry Hammond (18 August 1605 – 25 April 1660) was an English churchman, who supported the Royalist cause during the English Civil War. Early life He was born at Chertsey in Surrey on 18 August 1605, the youngest son of John Hammond (c. 155 ...

one of the churchmen closest to the king, and attended him as

Clerk of the Closet The College of Chaplains of the Ecclesiastical Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom is under the Clerk of the Closet, an office dating from 1437. It is normally held by a diocesan bishop, who may, however, remain in office after leav ...

in Oxford, later in Newmarket, Suffolk and finally in the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...

. When the parliamentarians occupied Oxford in 1646 he resisted the visitation, but was finally and physically ejected from All Souls in early 1648. Taken into custody, he was to have been imprisoned in

Wallingford Castle Wallingford Castle was a major medieval castle situated in Wallingford in the English county of Oxfordshire (historically Berkshire), adjacent to the River Thames. Established in the 11th century as a motte-and-bailey design within an Anglo-Sa ...

with Hammond but the commander was unwilling to have them. He was freed, with restrictions on his movements, later that year. He lived quietly for a dozen years in the Midlands, at Snelston in Derbyshire or with friends in Staffordshire,

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...

and Glamorgan, where he stayed with Sir John Aubrey. He was active in fundraising for the poor clergy and for Charles II in exile. He corresponded with Jeremy Taylor, whom he supported, and with Hyde. On the death of John Palmer, whom the visitors had made warden of All Souls' in his place, on 4 March 1659, he was quietly reinstated.

Bishop of London

On 21 September 1660, Sheldon was nominated

Bishop of London A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

; he was elected on 9 October and his election was confirmed on 23 October. On 28 October, he was consecrated in the

Henry VII Chapel The Henry VII Lady Chapel, now more often known just as the Henry VII Chapel, is a large Lady chapel at the far eastern end of Westminster Abbey, paid for by the will of King Henry VII. It is separated from the rest of the abbey by brass gates ...

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the Unite ...

; he had been made

Dean of the Chapel Royal The Dean of the Chapel Royal, in any kingdom, can be the title of an official charged with oversight of that kingdom's chapel royal, the ecclesiastical establishment which is part of the royal household and ministers to it. England In England, ...

not long before and became

Master of the Savoy The Savoy Palace, considered the grandest nobleman's townhouse of medieval London, was the residence of prince John of Gaunt until it was destroyed during rioting in the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. The palace was on the site of an estate given t ...

not long after. Since

William Juxon William Juxon (1582 – 4 June 1663) was an English churchman, Bishop of London from 1633 to 1646 and Archbishop of Canterbury from 1660 until his death. Life Education Juxon was the son of Richard Juxon and was born probably in Chichester, ...

was now Archbishop of Canterbury, but was aged and infirm, Sheldon in practical terms exercised many of the powers of the archbishopric in the period to 1663, and he was on the privy council. He was commissioned to consecrate the new Scottish bishops. The

Savoy Conference The Savoy Conference of 1661 was a significant liturgical discussion that took place, after the Restoration of Charles II, in an attempt to effect a reconciliation within the Church of England. Proceedings It was convened by Gilbert Sheldo ...

of 1661 was held at his lodgings. He hardly participated but was understood to be pulling strings in terms of the outcome. In his formulation,

objections should be set out and considered; the point of the Conference was liturgical, to look into reform of the ''

Book of Common Prayer The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the name given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The original book, published in 1549 in the reign ...

''. The subsequent

Uniformity Act 1662 The Act of Uniformity 1662 (14 Car 2 c 4) is an Act of Parliament, Act of the Parliament of England. (It was formerly cited as 13 & 14 Charles II of England, Ch.2 c. 4, by reference to the regnal year when it was passed on 19 May 1662.) It pr ...

was very much in line with Sheldon's thinking. The Act was a sequel to Sheldon's successful orchestration of opposition to Charles II's intended Declaration of Indulgence, earlier in 1662.Ronald H. Fritze, William B. Robison, ''Historical Dictionary of Stuart England, 1603–1689'' (1996), p. 492

Archbishop of Canterbury

He was translated to become Archbishop of Canterbury in 1663: the ''

congé d'élire ( , ; fro, label=Law French, congé d'eslire, lit=leave/permission to choose) is a licence from the Crown in England issued under the great seal to the dean and chapter of the cathedral church of a diocese, authorizing them to elect a bishop o ...

'' was issued on 14 July, Sheldon was elected on 11 August, royal assent was given on 20 August and his election was confirmed (in a legal ceremony by which he officially took his new post) on 31 August at Lambeth Palace;The bishops present to confirm Sheldon's election were:

George Morley George Morley, 27 February 1598 to 29 October 1684, was a senior member of the Church of England from London, who served as Bishop of Worcester from 1660 to 1662, and of Winchester from 1662 to 1684. Early life Morley was born in London, Eng ...

, Bishop of Winchester;

William Piers William Piers may refer to: * William Piers (bishop) William Piers (Pierse, Pierce; –1670) was Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University from 1621 to 1624, Bishop of Peterborough from 1630 to 1632 and Bishop of Bath and Wells from 1632 until t ...

Bishop of Bath and Wells The Bishop of Bath and Wells heads the Church of England Diocese of Bath and Wells in the Province of Canterbury in England. The present diocese covers the overwhelmingly greater part of the (ceremonial) county of Somerset and a small area of D ...

; Robert Skinner,

Bishop of Oxford The Bishop of Oxford is the diocesan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Oxford in the Province of Canterbury; his seat is at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. The current bishop is Steven Croft, following the confirmation of his elect ...

;

Humphrey Henchman Humphrey Henchman (1592 – 1675) was a Church of England clergyman and bishop of London from 1663 to 1675. Biography He was born in Burton Latimer (or possibly nearby Barton Seagrove), Northamptonshire, the son of Thomas Henchman, a skinner, an ...

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 ...

; Seth Ward, Bishop of Exeter; and John Earle, Bishop of Worcester.Lambeth Palace Library Research Guide – Places of Confirmation of Election of Archbishops of Canterbury
(Accessed 31 July 2013) he was enthroned by proxy and vested with the

temporalities Temporalities or temporal goods are the secular properties and possessions of the church. The term is most often used to describe those properties (a ''Stift'' in German or ''sticht'' in Dutch) that were used to support a bishop or other religious ...

on 7 September. (Accessed 31 July 2013) He was greatly interested in the welfare of the University of Oxford, of which he became Chancellor in 1667, succeeding

Lord Clarendon Earl of Clarendon is a title that has been created twice in British history, in 1661 and 1776. The family seat is Holywell House, near Swanmore, Hampshire. First creation of the title The title was created for the first time in the Peera ...

, as Hyde now was. The

Sheldonian Theatre Sheldonian Theatre, located in Oxford, England, was built from 1664 to 1669 after a design by Christopher Wren for the University of Oxford. The building is named after Gilbert Sheldon, chancellor of the University at the time and the project's ...

at Oxford was built and endowed at his expense. He was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathemat ...

in 1665. He accepted much purely secular work, acting as arbiter on petitions presented through him, and taking up investigations passed on by the king, especially in connection with the navy. Sheldon lost political influence after the fall of Clarendon in 1667, and by making Charles's philandering a matter of religious reproach. He was vocal against the

Royal Declaration of Indulgence The Royal Declaration of Indulgence was Charles II of England's attempt to extend religious liberty to Protestant nonconformists and Roman Catholics in his realms, by suspending the execution of the Penal Laws that punished recusants from the ...

of 1672. He is depicted in a window in

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and W ...

Chapel. Sheldon is mentioned in Pepys' Diary who relates a story from his "Cozen Roger" that "...the Archbishop of Canterbury that now is, do keep a wench, and that he is a very wencher as can be and tells us that is publicly known that Sir Charles Sedley had got away one of the Archbishop's wenches from him..." Such stories, spread by his enemies, were common. There is in fact no credible evidence that Sheldon led an immoral life, though Samuel Pepys's cousin Roger Pepys, a

, may well have believed the gossip. A later entry in Pepys' Diary praises the Archbishop as a "stout and high spirited man", who openly spoke his mind to the King on matters of morality. Sheldon never married: this may have inspired the gossip reported by Pepys about his immoral private life. His niece, Catherine, married

John Dolben John Dolben (1625–1686) was an English priest and Church of England bishop and archbishop. Life Early life He was the son of William Dolben (died 1631), prebendary of Lincoln and bishop-designate of Gloucester, and Elizabeth Williams, ...

Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers th ...

Sheldon was buried in Croydon Parish Church, now renamed

Croydon Minster Croydon Minster is the parish and civic church of the London Borough of Croydon. There are currently more than 35 churches in the borough, with Croydon Minster being the most prominent. It is Grade I listed. Six Archbishops of Canterbury are b ...

Notes

References

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