- Gilbert Sheldon
Infobox Archbishop of Canterbury
Full name = Gilbert Sheldon
birth_name =
began = 1663
term_end = 1677
predecessor =William Juxon
successor =William Sancroft
birth_date = 1598 | birthplace =Stanton, Staffordshire ,England
death_date = 1677 | deathplace =
tomb =Croydon ,Surrey ,England |Gilbert Sheldon (1598-1677),
Archbishop of Canterbury , was born at Stanton in the parish ofEllastone ,Staffordshire , and educated atTrinity College, Oxford .He was ordained in 1622 and was appointed chaplain to Lord Coventry (1578-1640). Four years later he was elected warden of
All Souls College, Oxford . During the years 1632-1639 he received the livings of Hackney (1633);Oddington, Oxfordshire ;Ickford ,Buckinghamshire (1636); andNewington, Oxfordshire ; besides being aprebendary of Gloucester from 1632.In 1638 he was on a commission appointed to visit
Merton College, Oxford . He was intimate with the Royalist leaders, participated in the negotiations for the Uxbridge treaty of 1644, and collected funds for Charles II in exile. In 1648 he was ejected from All Souls by order of parliament, and imprisoned for some months, but he regained the wardenship in 1659.In 1660 he became
bishop of London andmaster of the Savoy , and theSavoy Conference was held at his lodgings. He was consecratedarchbishop of Canterbury in 1663. He was greatly interested in the welfare of Oxford University, of which he became chancellor in 1667, succeeding Clarendon (1609-1674). TheSheldonian Theatre at Oxford was built and endowed at his expense.References
* http://www.nndb.com/people/274/000101968/
* On Sheldon's role in the Savoy Conference and the Great Ejection of puritans from the Church of England, see Lee Gatiss, "The Tragedy of 1662: The Ejection and Persecution of the Puritans" at http://www.latimertrust.org/ls66.htm
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.