Archbishop of Canterbury from 1583-1604, during the reign of Elizabeth I, for whom he served as a useful buffer against the Puritans whom she loathed.
Born about the same time as the queen he served, Whitgift studied at Cambridge University, where he eventually also became a tutor to Francis Bacon and his brother Anthony Bacon. In 1563 he was appointed Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity, and then as its vice-chancellor in 1570. Whitgift was a controversial person, even during his own lifetime. A British historian and essayist, Thomas Maucaulay described him as a "narrow, mean, tyrannical priest, who gained power by servility and adulation." What is certain was that he was High Churchman and deeply intolerant of the Puritans, clearly demonstrated in his vehement debate with the puritan divine Thomas Cartwright, whom he—using the prerogative as master of the university—ousted from the university.
In 1577 he was appointed Bishop of Worcester, and in 1583, the queen appointed him Archbishop of Canterbury, replacing Edmund Grindal who had angered the queen over the question "prophesyings" and placed under house-arrest. In that role, he happily became the queen's voice and agent against the Puritans. During the last night as Elizabeth was ebbing away, he spent hours praying by her bedside. As the Archbishop of Canterbury, it was his privilege to crown the new king, James I. About the last important acts of his office, he attended the Hampton Court Conference, where his voice was not insignificant in sidelining the Puritan before the new king.
You may wish to read the entry on Whtigift in the Encyclopedia Brittanica, 1911 editon.
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