WHITGIFT, JOHN: Archbishop of Canterbury; b. at Great Grimsby (30 m. n.e. of Lincoln), England, in 1530 (1533?); Id. at Lambeth (2 m. s. of Charing Cross, London) Feb. 29, 1604. He studied at Queen's College and at Pembroke Hall, Cambridge (B.A., 1553-54; M.A., 1557; B.D., 1563); was fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge, 1555-67; took holy orders, 1560; was rector of Teversham, Cambridgeshire, 1560-72; became chaplain to the bishop of Ely, 1560; was Lady Margaret professor of divinity, 1563-67; master of Pembroke Hall, 1567; master of Trinity College, 1567-77; regius professor of divinity, 1567-69; became prebendary of Ely, 1568; dean of Lincoln, 1571; prebendary of Nassington in the church of Lincoln, and rector of Laceby, Lincolnshire, 1572; bishop of Worcester, 1577; and in 1583 was raised to the primacy. He headed the prelatical party, and for years earned on a controversy with Thomas Cartwright, the great champion of Puritanism. When raised to the primacy, Whitgift was in position to carry out repressive measures against the Puritan party. Agreeing to identify himself absolutely with the cause of uniformity, he obtained a free hand from Elizabeth. In the stifling of Puritanism and in the administration of a coercive policy he was determined. In 1583 he drew up a series of stringent articles which, among other things, required, for the exercise of ecclesiastical functions, a pledge of fidelity to the

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Book of Common Prayer, and of acceptance of the Thirty-nine Articles. In 1584 he drew up his interrogations, to be administered to any of the clergy whom the amended court of high commission saw fit to question. Although this evoked strong protest and remonstrance, Whitgift refused to show greater moderation, and followed up his policy with the Star-chamber decree of 1586, prohibiting any manuscript from being set up in type until it had been read and licensed by the archbishop or the bishop of London. He was the object, later, of a series of attacks printed secretly by the Puritans. In 1595 he drew up the Lambeth Articles (q.v.), which adopted unqualifyingly the Calvinist- views of predestination and election. These were the result of a request, from the Calvinist leaders of Cambridge, for him to pronounce authoritatively in their favor at Cambridge. He won the favor of James VI. of Scotland (James I. of England) and the confidence of the officers of State. Whitgift's character stood high in the esteem of his contemporaries; he was not self-indulgent, despite the pomp of his palace at Lambeth, and he was said to be pious and earnest in his labors. But the animosities aroused by his policy of coercion lived long after him, causing his better qualities to be overlooked. His Works appeased, edited for the Parker Society by John Ayre (3 vols., Cambridge, 1851-54).

Bibliography: Illustrative documents are reproduced in Gee and Hardy, Documents, pp. 481 sqq. Consult: J. Strype, Life and Acts of John WhitgiJt, 2 parts, Oxford, 1718, new ed., 1822; G. Paule, Life . . . of John Whitgift, London, 1612; Life of John Whitgift, added to D. W. Garrow, Hist. and Antiquities of Croyden, Croyden, 1818; W. Maskell, Hist. of the Marprelate Controversy, London, 1845; C. Wordsworth, Ecclesiastical Biography, 4 vols., London, 1853; W. F. Hook, Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury, vol. v., 12 vols., London, 1860-76; C. H. and T. Cooper, Athenoe Cantabrigienaes, vol. ii., London, 1861; E. Arber, Introductory Sketch to the Martin Marprelate Controversy, London, 1879; W. Clark, The Anglican Reformation, New York, 1879; J. H. Overton, The Church in England, i. 467, 472-175 et passim, vol. ii. passim, London, 1897; W. H. Frere, The English Church (15581625), London, 1904; Cambridge Modern History, ii. 161, 592, 597, New York, 1904; DNB, 1xi. 129-137.