John Whitgift
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The Most Reverend and Right Honourable John Whitgift |
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|---|---|
| Archbishop of Canterbury | |
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| Installed | August 1583 |
| Term ended | 29 February 1604 |
| Predecessor | Edmund Grindal |
| Successor | Richard Bancroft |
| Personal details | |
| Born | c. 1530 Great Grimsby, Lincolnshire, England |
| Died | 29 February 1604 (aged 73/74) Lambeth, London, England |
| Buried | Croydon, Surrey |
John Whitgift (c. 1530 – 29 February 1604) was the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1583 to his death. Noted for his hospitality, he was somewhat ostentatious in his habits, sometimes visiting Canterbury and other towns attended by a retinue of 800 horses. Whitgift's theological views were often controversial.
He was the eldest son of Henry Whitgift, a merchant, of Great Grimsby, Lincolnshire, where he was born, probably between 1530 and 1533. The Whitgift family is thought to have originated in the relatively close Yorkshire village of Whitgift, adjoining the River Ouse.
John Whitgift's early education was entrusted to his uncle, Robert Whitgift, abbot of the neighbouring Wellow Abbey, on whose advice he was sent to St Anthony's School, London. In 1549 he matriculated at Queens' College, Cambridge, and in May 1550 he moved to Pembroke Hall, where the martyr John Bradford was his tutor. In May 1555 he became a fellow of Peterhouse.
Whitgift taught Francis Bacon and his older brother Anthony Bacon at Cambridge University in the 1570s. As their tutor, Whitgift bought the brothers their early classical text books, including works by Plato, Cicero and others.
Having taken holy orders in 1560, he became chaplain to Richard Cox, Bishop of Ely, who collated (that is, appointed) him to the rectory of Teversham, just to the east of Cambridge. In 1563 he was appointed Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity at the University of Cambridge, and his lectures gave such satisfaction to the authorities that on 5 July 1566 they considerably augmented his stipend. The following year he was appointed Regius Professor of Divinity, and became master first of Pembroke Hall and then of Trinity. He had a principal share in compiling the statutes of the university, which passed the great seal on 25 September 1570, and in the November following he was chosen as vice-chancellor.
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