ANDREWES, LANCELOT

Lancelot Andrewes was a renowned English prelate, preacher, and theologian who shared Archbishop William Laud's Arminianism. Born in London in 1555 to Thomas and Joan Andrewes, he attended the Cooper's Free School, Merchant Taylors' School, and Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, obtaining the B.A. (1575), M.A. (1578), an appointment as catechist (1578), ordination as deacon (1580), B.D. (1585), D.D. (c. 1588), and mastership (1589-1605), plus an M.A. (1581) from Jesus College, Oxford. After serving as chaplain to the earl of Huntingdon, president of the Council of the North, he obtained the living at St. Giles, Crip-plegate, London, and prebends at St. Paul's and Southwell in 1589, thanks to Sir Francis Walsingham.He was chaplain to Queen Elizabeth* and Archbishop John Whitgift and received a prebend (1597) and deanery (1601) at Westminster Abbey, but rejected the bishoprics of Salisbury (1596) and Ely (1599), being unwilling to alienate their revenues. However, he served James I* as bishop of Chichester (1605-9), Ely (1609-19), and Winchester (1619-26); lord almoner (1605-19); dean of the Chapel Royal (1619-26); at the Hampton Court Con­ference (1604); with the Authorized Version of the Bible (1607-11); and as a privy councillor. He died on 26 September 1626. Andrewes was a good administrator, generous benefactor, and opponent of corruption, but avoided politics. A linguist (Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and fifteen modern languages), learned in patristic literature, and a brilliant preacher, Andrewes (like Richard Hooker*) defended the via media, rejecting both transub-stantiation and predestination. He incurred Puritan ire for favoring "high-church" worship and the Arminian belief in free will. His writings are voluminous, though few appeared during his lifetime. Most famous are Tortura torti (1609), a reply to Cardinal Robert Bellarmine's attack on the oath of allegiance instituted after the Gunpowder Plot, and Preces privatae (A Manual for Private Devo­tions), posthumously published prayers.

K. Fincham, Prelate as Pastor: The Episcopate of James I, 1990.

N. Lossky, Lancelot Andrewes the Preacher (1555-1626): The Origins of the Mystical Theology ofthe Church ofEngland, trans. Andrew Louth, 1991.