Protestant bishops in restoration England

Abstract

The reconstruction of the Church of England’s hierarchy after 1660 has attracted extensive scholarly attention. Scholars have evaluated how far the doctrinal and ecclesial positions of the Laudian Church shaped the reconstruction of the episcopal hierarchy up to and beyond 1660, especially the Laudian recourse to theories of Jure divino episcopacy as justifying episcopal status and power. Detailed analysis of two texts, John Gauden’s The Looſing of St Peters Bands and Arthur Duck’s Life of Henry Chichele (a medieval archbishop of Canterbury) will demonstrate how the restored episcopate was prepared to appeal to its late-medieval past and to its immediate context in order to justify its authority and demonstrate its self-conception as being an agent of reformed authority.