Archbishop William Laud

First published in 1987, Archbishop William Laud shows how Laud dragged the English Church, and with it English society, towards a new and radical version of Anglicanism. Carlton presents Laud in the context of his times, showing how closely his personal life and character were woven into his political and religious career. By using Laud’s personal papers, his letters and diary, Carlton draws a psychological profile of this most insecure man. He analyses Laud’s dreams, revealing that both awake and asleep the archbishop was haunted by some guilty secret, obsessed with details, bedevilled by enemies and conspiracies, while being both ashamed and proud of his own humble origins. The tensions between Laud’s private and public worlds made him seem cruel, thus turning him into the perfect scapegoat for the failure of the king’s policies. This book will be of interest to students of history, literature and psychology.

Acknowledgements 1. ‘Where I was bred up’ 2. ‘I made all quiet in the college’ 3. ‘Pastors, labourers, and watchmen’ 4. ‘A cloud arising’ 5. ‘Nothing but trouble and danger’ 6. ‘The little man is come up trumps’ 7. ‘The Richelieu of England’ 8. ‘To be your chancellor’ 9. ‘More vinegar than oil’ 10. ‘Who’s the fool now!’ 11. ‘The beast is wounded’ 12. ‘A foul business it is’ 13. ‘The sty of all pestilential filth’ 14. ‘Never afraid to die, nor ashamed to live’ 15. Epilogue Abbreviations Notes Index

Charles Carlton