Wednesday, October 7, 2026

It is the 7th of October 2026. Welcome to the Christian History Almanac, brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org; I’m Dan van Voorhis.

Every theological tradition has its heroes and villains. Last year at the HWSS conference we got some “Luther v. Erasmus” (and my talk may have been, characteristically irenic- “give Erasmus a chance”). For Calvin, you’ve got Arminius. We’ve done a whole weekend edition on rivals. Who’s the figure that might send shivers down your spine?

 

Well, for Puritans from the 17th century to the present that answer is easy- the dastardly, the devilish… William Laud. The court jester to King Charles I was said to have warned the king about the diminutive Archbishop of Canterbury, “Give great praise to the Lord, and little Laud to the devil”.

 

The 19th-century historian Thomas Babington Macaulay called him a “ridiculous old bigot”. The usually impartial encyclopedia Britannica calls Laud “A humorless, dwarflike figure, uninterested in court pleasures, unmarried, tactlessly impartial in his condemnations; he could never establish a party of influential supporters. During the war and interregnum, royalists and peacemakers generally preferred to forget him.”

 

So- who was this man and why was he so maligned and… is it fair?

 

William Laud was born on this, the 7th of October in 1573 in Reading, Berkshire. He went to the Reading Free School and then St. John’s College Oxford. St. John’s had been a Catholic institution, but with Queen Elizabeth on the throne, England was Protestant. Laud would study at St. John’s with a group under Lancelot Andrewes- a Protestant but opposed to the radical Puritans. Anti-Puritanism would be at the core of Laud’s public image and would lead to his downfall.

 

Laud’s earliest controversies included his early attacks on Calvinism, his adherence to apostolic succession, and his belief that the true church required bishops. Despite the distrust of his “popery” (he made clear he was not Catholic, but couldn’t beat the charges), he rose through the ranks to become the chaplain to King James in 1611. By 1616 he was the Dean of Gloucester and a canon of Westminster Abbey.

 

He fell out of favor with King James on a trip to Scotland in 1617 when he insisted on wearing his high clerical vestments. When James died and Charles came to the throne, the new king favored Laud, who was also made Dean of the Royal Chapel. He would rise in quick succession as Bishop of London, Chancellor of Oxford, and finally Archbishop of Canterbury by 1633. He further incensed the Scots by trying to insist on their adopting the Book of Common Prayer- this would lead to the Bishops' War (the beginning of the English Civil Wars) and the National Covenant amongst the Scots that would lead to the Presbyterian Church of Scotland.

 

Even more moderate Protestants were taken aback when Laud requested that the Altars- since moved to a central location in the church for a public communion- be moved back against the East wall. He wanted any wooden tables replaced with stone. He wanted the stained glass back. For the average English Christian, it was easy to hear accusations that he was a “secret papist”, see changes in church, and oppose going back to Rome.

 

The English had seen decades of strife over confessional identity and were likely weary of another change. Laud, the little man- humorless but able to climb the ladder quickly- became the easy target. It was in 1640 that Charles I called the so-called “Long Parliament”- he needed money for the Bishops' Wars- but the Parliament soon passed an act stating that it could not be dissolved. Now, with power that outstripped the King, Laud and others were soon arrested.

 

Laud’s trial was long and contested. He was not found guilty of treason, but the House of Commons was able to get an ordinance of attainder- close enough to guilty and thus, in 1645, he was taken from the Tower of London to Tower Hill in London. He asked to be granted a quick execution, and it was granted- he was beheaded on the 10th of January 1645.

William Laud was an ambitious churchman who followed his mentor, Lancelot Andrewes (a well-respected theologian) and feared that the Anglican Church, fought so hard for, might devolve into anarchy without the old systems of governance and the rituals that served the church for so long. But his heavy-handed treatment of Puritans made him an easy target, so too did his humorlessness and height… but he is remembered fondly by many high Anglicans and Anglo-Catholics and remembered by the Church of England and the Episcopal Church on the 10th of January. Died on that day in 1645; born on this day in 1573, William Laud was 71 years old.

 

The Last word for today comes from the daily lectionary and John 11:

45 Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him. 46 But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47 Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.

“What are we accomplishing?” they asked. “Here is this man performing many signs. 48 If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.”

49 Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, “You know nothing at all! 50 You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.”

51 He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, 52 and not only for that nation but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and make them one. 53 So from that day on they plotted to take his life.

 

This has been the Christian History Almanac for the 7th of October 2026 brought to you by 1517 at 1517.org.

The show is produced by a man like a young stag on the spice-laden mountains- he is Christopher Gillespie.

The show is written and read by a man who got that from the daily lectionary from Song of Songs 8… happy to stick with John’s Gospel… Dan van Voorhis.

You can catch us here every day- and remember that the rumors of grace, forgiveness, and the redemption of all things are true…. Everything is going to be ok.