Editing George Abbot (bishop) (section)

==Life and career==

===Early years===
Born at [[Guildford]] in [[Surrey]], where his father Maurice Abbot (died 1606) was a cloth worker,<ref name="CBD" /> he was taught at the [[Royal Grammar School, Guildford]].<ref name = "ODNBAbbot"/> According to an eighteenth-century biographical dictionary, when Abbot's mother was pregnant with him she had a dream in which she was told that if she ate a [[Northern pike|pike]] her child would be a son and rise to great prominence. Some time afterwards, she accidentally caught a pike while fetching water from the [[River Wey]], and it "being reported to some gentlemen in the neighbourhood, they offered to stand sponsors for the child, and afterwards shewed him many marks of favour".<ref>{{cite book|author=Society of gentlemen|title=The Biographical Dictionary, Or, Complete Historical Library: Containing the Lives of the Most Celebrated Personages of Great Britain and Ireland, Whether Admirals, Generals, Poets, Statesmen, Philosophers, Or Divines: a Work Replete with Instruction and Entertainment|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8jtQAQAAIAAJ|year=1780|publisher=F. Newbery|page=5}}</ref> He later studied and then taught under many eminent scholars, including [[Thomas Holland (translator)|Thomas Holland]], at [[Balliol College, Oxford]], was chosen Master of [[University College, Oxford|University College]] in 1597, and appointed [[Dean (religion)|Dean]] of [[Winchester Cathedral|Winchester]] in 1600. He was three times [[Vice-Chancellor]] of the [[University of Oxford|University]] and took a leading part in preparing the [[Authorized King James Version|authorised version]] of the [[New Testament]]. In 1608, he went to [[Scotland]] with [[George Home, 1st Earl of Dunbar]] to arrange for a union between the churches of England and Scotland. He so pleased [[James I of England|King James]] in this affair that he was made [[Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry]] in 1609 and was translated to the [[episcopal see|see]] of [[Bishop of London|London]] a month afterwards.<ref name=EB1911/>

[[File:Abbot Hospital, Guildford, front (perspective adjusts).JPG|thumb|right|[[Abbot's Hospital]] in [[Guildford]]]]

===Archbishop of Canterbury===
On 4 March 1611, Abbot was raised to the position of [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] by [[James VI and I|King James I]]. As archbishop, he defended the [[apostolic succession]] of Anglican bishops and the validity of the church's priesthood in 1614. In consequence of the [[Nag's Head Fable]], the archbishop invited certain Roman Catholics to inspect the register in the presence of six of his episcopal colleagues, the details of which inspection were preserved. It was agreed by all parties that:

{{blockquote|The register agrees in every particular with what we know of the history of the times, and there exists not the semblance of a reason for pronouncing it a forgery.<ref>{{Cite web | author=John Wordsworth | author-link = John Wordsworth|title=A Letter on the Succession of Bishops in the Church of England | url=http://anglicanhistory.org/england/jwords/heykamp.html |website=Project Canterbury |date=13 May 1890 | access-date=5 October 2008}}</ref>}}

Despite his defence of the catholic nature of the priesthood, his [[Puritan]] instincts frequently led him not only into harsh treatment of Roman Catholics but also into courageous resistance to the royal will, such as when he opposed the scandalous divorce suit of the Lady [[Frances Carr, Countess of Somerset|Frances Howard]] against [[Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex]], and again in 1618 when, at [[Croydon]], he forbade the reading of the [[Declaration of Sports]] listing the permitted Sunday recreations. He was naturally, therefore, a promoter of the match between the king's daughter, [[Elizabeth of Bohemia|Princess Elizabeth]], and [[Frederick V, Elector Palatine]], and a firm opponent of the projected marriage of the new Prince of Wales (later [[Charles I of England|Charles I]]) and the Spanish Infanta, [[Maria Anna of Spain|Maria Anna]]. This policy brought upon the archbishop the hatred of [[William Laud]] (with whom he had previously come into collision at Oxford) and the king's court, although the king himself never forsook Abbot.<ref name=EB1911/>

In July 1621,<ref>''BBC History'', July 2011, p. 12</ref> while hunting in [[Edward la Zouche, 11th Baron Zouche|Lord Zouch]]'s park at [[Bramshill House|Bramshill]] in [[Hampshire]], a bolt from his cross-bow aimed at a deer happened to strike one of the keepers, who died within an hour, and Abbot was so greatly distressed by the event that he fell into a state of settled [[melancholia]]. His enemies maintained that the fatal issue of this accident disqualified him for his office and argued that, though the [[homicide]] was involuntary, the sport of hunting that had led to it was one in which no clerical person could lawfully indulge. The king had to refer the matter to a commission of ten, though he said that "an angel might have miscarried after this sort". The commission was equally divided, and the king voted in Abbot's favour, though also signing a formal pardon or dispensation.<ref name=EB1911/> Gustavus Paine notes that Abbot was both the "only translator of the [[Authorized King James Version|1611 Bible]] and the only [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] ever to kill a human being".<ref>{{cite book|last=Paine|first=Gustavus S|title=The Men Behind the King James Version|year=1977|publisher=Baker|page=157}}</ref>{{efn|This ceased to be true, by some definitions, in 1980 with the appointment of former soldier and [[Military Cross]] recipient [[Robert Runcie]]. Abbot remains the only known Archbishop of Canterbury to kill while in office.}}

[[File:Holy Trinity Church Guildford Abbot Tomb Above.jpg|thumb|150px|The tomb of George Abbot in [[Holy Trinity Church, Guildford]]|left]]

After this, Abbot seldom appeared at the council, chiefly because of his infirmities. In 1625, he attended the king constantly; however, in his last illness, he performed the coronation ceremony of [[Charles I of England|King Charles I]] as king of England. His refusal to license the [[assize sermon]] preached by [[Robert Sibthorp]] at [[Northampton]] on 22 February 1627, in which cheerful obedience was urged to the king's demand for a general loan, and the duty proclaimed of absolute non-resistance even to the most arbitrary royal commands, led Charles to deprive him of his functions as [[primate (bishop)|primate]], putting them in commission. However, the need to summon parliament soon brought about a nominal restoration of the archbishop's powers. His presence was unwelcome at court, and he lived from that time on retirement, leaving Laud and his party in undisputed ascendancy. He died at Croydon on 4 August 1633 and was buried at Guildford, his native place, where he had endowed [[Abbot's Hospital]] with lands valued at £300 a year.<ref name=EB1911/>