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| Blessed Abp. William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, Martyr for the Apostolic Faith |
Today, the 10th of January, we descendants of the Anglican Patrimony remember the blessed martyr, William Laud (1573-1647), who died for his refusal to recant the Apostolic Episcopacy and the grace-filled nature of the Sacraments of the Church. In his death, Blessed William Laud was a confessor of the ancient and apostolic faith, and deserves to be remembered as a witness to historic Orthodoxy in England.
Laud began his life work as a scholar at St. John’s College, Oxford, and was quickly recognized for his proficiency in Greek and Latin, as well as his decorum and propriety. His dissertations were written on the subject of the necessity of episcopal polity and the primacy of patristic theology, and was known as the “Enemy of Presbyterianism” from his earliest days as a Bachelor of Philosophy. Completing a Doctorate of Divinity at Oxford in 1609, Laud was immediately put to work by King James I, and functioned as an assistant to both political and ecclesiastical offices, becoming Dean of Gloucester, then of Westminster, and then Bishop of Bath and Wells, where he served King James’ interests loyally and wrote theology that would become the standard for the “High Church” position. He worked with the Blessed Lancelot Andrewes extensively, calling him “my most esteemed father in God”, and undertook the propagation of his theological school of Ancient Patristic Christianity in England after his death.
In 1629, King Charles I had Bp. Laud transferred to the bishopric of London, where he began to serve as counselor in Charles’ court on matters of religion. Laud became a strong supporter of the King’s dissolution of Parliament, the so-called “Personal Rule”, and crafted a very Patristic argument around the “Doctrine of the Divine Right of Kings”, which he taught in a distinctly anti-Calvinist, anti-Reformed theological position, now known as “English Arminianism.” Due to this alliance, Protestants began to rebel against King Charles and plot his overthrow, eventually leading to the English Civil War and Cromwell’s reign of Puritan terror in the Protectorate (lasting from 1649 to 1658).
In 1630, Laud was elevated to the Archbishopric of Canterbury, and there served to push his Laudian Reforms, and an attempted union with the Eastern Orthodox, and a restoration of the “Ancient Forms” of ornamentation and rubrics in the English Liturgy that deeply offended the dissenting Puritan and Presbyterian elements in the Church of England. He called his policy of restoration “The Beauty of Holiness” and focused upon the salvific role of the Church’s Sacraments, prayerful preparation for their reception, fasting and set times of repentance, and restoring Lent to its traditional place on the Church Calendar. Unfortunately, these wonderful theological contributions came at a time when the Continental Reformation was in retreat, making many feel that a return to Roman Catholicism was eminent, due to losses during the Thirty-Year's War. Reformed unrest against the restored Prayerbook and the restoration of the Episcopacy in Scotland also resulted in the pillaging of Northern England by Scottish Presbyterians.
Charles’ reign proved increasingly tumultuous and unpopular, and English Puritans and Scottish Presbyterians conspired to sedition and an overthrow of the royal government, supported by Puritans within the deposed Parliament. At the fateful reconvening of the “Long Parliament” in 1640, Laud was a principle focus of Puritan hate for his role as a religious figurehead. He was imprisoned in 1641, and held through the beginning of the English Civil War. Unable to find him guilty of any sedition or treason, the Puritan-held Parliament changed its definition of a capital offense to include actions that they believed worthy of death for reasons of religious feeling (called the “Act of Attainder”), which precluded the High Church theological position. With this change of law, they ordered his execution in 1644. He was martyred by beheading on this day, the 10th of January, at the Tower of London.
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| Abp. William Laud's Last Testament, an Autobiographical Meditation, Only Published After the Collapse of Cromwell's Dictatorship |
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| A Contemporary Depiction of the Trial of Abp. William Laud |
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| An Early High Church Depiction of the Trial, More than 100 Years After Abp. Laud's Martyrdom |
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| Pamphlets Demonizing Laud from the Puritans |
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| More Puritan Anti-Laudian Propaganda, Showing Abp. Laud as "Of the Divell" |
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| The Crowds Amassing to See Abp. Laud's Martyrdom |
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| Puritan Propaganda Depicting the Bloodied Head of Abp. Laud |
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A Record of Abp. Laud's Martyrdom Prayers Published After the Restoration of the Monarchy
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| Despite the Presbyterian and Puritan Desire to Wipe Abp. Laud's Influence Out of the Church of England, Just 50 Years Later, He was Commemorated as a Foundational Scholar and Theologian |
His last words were, “I was borne and baptized in the bosome of the Church of England established by Law; in that profession I have ever since lived, and in that I come now to dye; This is no time to dissemble with God, least of all in matter of Religion; and therefore I desire it may be remembred, I have alwaies lived in the [Christian] Religion, established in England, and in that I come now to dye. What Clamours and Slanders I have endured for labouring to keepe a Uniformity in the externall service of God, according to the Doctrine and Discipline of this Church, all men know, and I have abundautly felt.”
COLLECT
ALMIGHTY GOD, keep us constant in faith and zealous in witness, that, like Thy servant, Blessed William Laud of Canterbury, we may live in Thy fear, die in Thy favor, and rest in Thy peace; for the sake of Jesus Christ Thy Son our Lord, who livest and reignest with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen
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