Wake, William
Wake, William (1657–1737). Archbishop of Canterbury. A graduate of Christ Church, Oxford, after ordination (1682) Wake was chaplain to the English ambassador in Paris. His contact with Gallican divines at the Sorbonne gave him a continuing interest in the French church. Afterwards he was successively canon of Christ Church, Oxford (1689–1702), dean of Exeter (1703–5), bishop of Lincoln (1705), and archbishop (1716). However, Wake broke with the Whigs by opposing Hoadly's appointment to Bangor (1715), the suspension of convocation (1717), and the repeal of the Occasional Conformity and Schism Acts (1718). From 1723 his influence was eclipsed by Gibson of London. Always personally tolerant, his primary objective was to preserve the traditional latitude of the Anglican church without allowing degeneration into licence. Ecumenical before his time and risking governmental antipathy, he negotiated with the French church for possible union (1717–20) and encouraged intercommunion with continental Lutheran and reformed churches.
Revd Dr William M. Marshall
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Wake, William
