BANCROFT, Richard, English divine: b. Farnworth, Lancashire, 1544; d. 12 Nov. 1610. He was graduated at Cambridge University, where he received the degree of M.A. in 1570. He was ordained soon afterward and was ap pointed chaplain to the bishop of Ely, and in 1575 became rector of Teversham, Cambridge: In 1584 he was appointed rector of Saint An drew's, Holborn, where his great abilities and zeal as a champion of the Church led to his rapid promotion. He became treasurer of Saint Paul's Cathedral in 1585, and the fol lowing year became a member of the ecclesias tical commission. On 9 Feb. 1589 he preached at Paul's Cross a sermon which was in sub stance a passionate attack on the Puritans, an assertion of the divine right of bishops, and urged the theory of the apostolic succession. In 1597 he was consecrated bishop of London and was present at the death of Queen Eliza beth. He took a prominent part in the con ference of prelates and Presbyterian divines, held at Hampton Court in 1604, and in the same year became president of the Canterbury Convocation, at which he presented and caused to be passed a book of canons aimed at Puri tanism and which forced many clergymen to give up their livings. It was set aside by Par
liament two months later. In November 1604, he became archbishop of Canterbury, in which capacity he continued to show the same zeal and severity as before in suppressing heresy and schism. He involved himself in a struggle to make the ecclesiastical courts independent of the law by speciously magnifying the royal authority over them. In the last few months of his life he took part in the discussion about the consecration of Scottish bishops, and ad vised their consecration by bishops of the Eng lish Church. By this act were laid the foundations of the Scottish Episcopal Church. Bancroft was ((chief overseer-)" of the author ized version of the Bible. While Bancroft's character was defective by his intemperate zeal, the Anglican Church owes its present consti tution and firm position in the state largely to his labors. Consult Usher,