Sancroft, William (1617–1693)

English prelate, non-juror, and Archbishop of Canterbury from 1677. After the restoration of Charles II, he became dean of York in 1663 and of St Paul's in 1664, superintending its rebuilding after the Fire of London. Sancroft drew up the petition against reading the Declaration of Indulgence in 1687, for which he and six other bishops were committed to the Tower in 1688, but later acquitted. On refusing to take the oath of allegiance to William and Mary in 1689, he was suspended. His works include Fur praedestinatus (1651), Modern Policies (1652), Three Sermons (1654), and Letters to Mr North (1657).