King, William (1650–1729), theologian and bishop. Though born into a Presbyterian background in Co. Antrim, he was ordained in the Church of Ireland and became dean of
St Patrick's cathedral in 1674. During the
Williamite War he remained in Dublin, and was imprisoned by the Jacobites. He became bishop of Derry in 1690 and archbishop of Dublin in 1703.
The State of the Protestants of Ireland under the Late King James's Government (1691) is often read as an anti‐Catholic polemic. But its real purpose was to justify the extreme step of having withdrawn allegiance from a legitimate monarch, on the grounds that the position Irish Protestants had been placed in had left them no other choice. King in fact voted against most of the
penal laws introduced after 1691, and strongly condemned the incomplete ratification of the treaty of
Limerick. On the other hand he strongly opposed concessions of any kind to Presbyterians.
A Discourse Concerning the Inventions of Men in the Worship of God (1694) attacked Presbyterian claims to be a separate denomination. Two other important tracts were
De origine male (On the Origin of Evil) (1702) and
A Sermon on Predestination (1709). Within the Church of Ireland he was a consistent, if somewhat fussy and self‐righteous, promoter of internal reform and conscientious churchmanship.
King's unwavering commitment to the Protestant succession assured him of the favour of the incoming
Whig government after 1714, and he was four times lord justice during 1714–22. However, his hostility to any move to improve the position of dissenters put him at odds with English ministers. In addition he was increasingly seen as an over‐zealous defender of Irish national interests. Already during 1697–9 a legal dispute with the
Irish Society had involved him in constitutional controversy, when he had refused to accept the right of the English House of Lords to overturn an Irish verdict in his favour. He strongly opposed the
Declaratory Act, and displayed open hostility to English recipients of Irish ecclesiastical patronage. That he was passed over in favour of
Boulter for the archbishopric of Armagh was due to politics as well as age.
