William Cotton (bishop)

William Cotton (died 1621) was an English bishop.

Life

William Cotton was brought up in Finchley, Middlesex.[1] He graduated M.A. at Queens' College, Cambridge in 1575.[2] He was Archdeacon of Lewes from 1578 to 1598, when he became Bishop of Exeter.[3]

He was confrontational in his relationship with the Puritans of his diocese. He took rooted objection to the nomination as Bodley lecturer of John Hazard.[4] Cotton suspected Hazard of “false doctrine”, of intrusion into congregations that already had preachers, and association with the seventh-day Sabbatarian John Traske, which Hazard denied; George Abbot as Archbishop of Canterbury had licensed Hazard to preach, but Cotton was not satisfied with that.[5][6]

He died in 1621. His sons included William Cotton and Edward Cotton, both of whom became archdeacons of Totnes.

Notes

  1. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=22508
  2. "Cotton, William (CTN568W)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  3. Concise Dictionary of National Biography
  4. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=67120
  5. Christopher Hill, Society and Puritanism in Pre-Revolutionary England (1969 edition), p. 102.
  6. http://users.rcn.com/rwtrask/jtraske.htm
Church of England titles
Preceded by
Gervase Babington
Bishop of Exeter
15981621
Succeeded by
Valentine Carey
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