Bancroft, Richard, Archbishop of Canterbury (1544 -1610)

Richard Bancroft was the son of John Bancroft, gentleman, and his wife Mary, niece of Hugh Curwen, Bishop of Oxford. He was educated at Christ's College, Cambridge, where he took his B.A. in 1567, and then moved to Jesus College where he obtained his M.A. in 1570, his B.D. in 1580, and his D.D. in 1585. A leading anti?puritan divine, he was largely responsible for the arrest of the Martinists. He became Treasurer of St Paul's, was made Bishop of London in 1597, and succeeded Whitgift as Archbishop of Canterbury in 1604. He bequeathed his valuable library to his successors in the See of Canterbury, and today it forms part of the Lambeth Palace Library. There is a shelf list, dated 24 April 1612, which lists 352 manuscripts and 5,769 printed books, in an unnumbered manuscript in Lambeth Palace Library, but this only represents about a third of his books. The computer catalogue there lists 840 books with his arms. There is a list of twenty-two manuscripts bequeathed to him by John Rainolds, President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, in Corpus Christi Oxford MS 352.

Stamp(s) Stamp Information
Bancroft, Richard, Archbishop of Canterbury (1544 - 1610) (Stamp 1) Title: Bancroft, Richard, Archbishop of Canterbury (1544 - 1610) (Stamp 1)
Arms: An archiepiscopal staff headed with a cross patty surmounted by a pall charged with four crosses patty fitchy
Dimensions (height x width): 100mm x 79mm
Impalement: On a bend between six cross crosslets three garbs (Bancroft)
Heraldic Charges: crosses crosslet (6), Heraldic Charges: cross patty, Heraldic Charges: crosses patty (4), Heraldic Charges: garbs (3), Heraldic Charges: pall, Heraldic Charges: staff, archiepiscopal
Bancroft, Richard, Archbishop of Canterbury (1544 - 1610) (Stamp 2) Title: Bancroft, Richard, Archbishop of Canterbury (1544 - 1610) (Stamp 2)
Arms: An archiepiscopal staff headed with a cross patty surmounted by a pall charged with four crosses patty fitchy
Dimensions (height x width): 52mm x 47mm
Impalement: On a bend between six cross crosslets three garbs (Bancroft)
Heraldic Charges: crosses crosslet (6), Heraldic Charges: cross patty, Heraldic Charges: crosses patty (4), Heraldic Charges: garbs (3), Heraldic Charges: pall, Heraldic Charges: staff, archiepiscopal