William Laud was a significant religious and political advisor during the personal rule of King Charles I. During his time as the Archbishop of Canterbury, Laud attempted to impose order and unity on the Church of England through implementing a series of religious reforms that attacked the strict Protestant practices of English Puritans. Accused of popery, tyranny and treason, Laud was considered one of the key instigators of the conflict between the monarchy and Parliament, which ultimately paved the way for the English Civil War.
William Laud
Laud was born in 1573 in Reading, Berkshire. The son of a wealthy clothing merchant, he began his education at Reading Grammar School, before attending St. John’s College at the University of Oxford, where in 1593 he became a fellow. Whilst completing his studies at Oxford, Laud was ordained as a priest in April 1601, which initiated the start of his prolific religious and political career. With the support of his patron George Villiers, a prominent noblemen and royal favourite of both James I and Charles I, Laud promptly rose through the ecclesiastical ranks of the Church of England and was appointed Archdeacon of Huntingdon (1615), Dean of Gloucester (1616), Bishop of St. Davids (1621), Bishop of Bath and Wells (1626) and Bishop of London (1628).
