Caroline Divines

This unorganized grouping of seventeenth-century churchmen and scholars flourished during the reign of King Charles I (d. 1649) and derived its name from him. They furthered the theological precepts established in the sixteenth century by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer (1489-1556); John Jewel (1522-1571), Bishop of Salisbury; and Richard Hooker (1554-1600), the great Elizabethan theologian. Taking strong positions against Puritanism, they developed a via media approach between Roman Catholic and Puritan extremes and set forth an Anglican "High" doctrine of the church and episcopacy based on teachings of the early church. Chief among the divines are Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667), Lancelot Andrewes (1555-1626), and William Laud (1573-1644). Others sometimes included are poet-priest George Herbert (1593-1633); Deacon Nicholas Ferrar (1593-1637), who formed the community at Little Gidding; Bishop John Cosin (1594-1672), who became Bishop of Durham at the Restoration (1660); and somewhat lesser-known figures such as Bishop Richard Montague and Thomas Fuller.