William Whittlesey

William Whittlesey (or Whittlesea) (d. 1374), archbishop of Canterbury, was probably born in the Cambridgeshire village of Whittlesey, England.

He was educated at Oxford, and owing principally to the fact that he was a nephew of Simon Islip, archbishop of Canterbury, he received numerous ecclesiastical preferments; he held prebends at Lichfield, Chichester and Lincoln, and livings at Ivychurch, Croydon and Cliffe.

Later he was appointed vicar-general, and then dean of the court of arches by Islip. In 1360 he became bishop of Rochester, and two years later bishop of Worcester. In 1368 Whittlesey was elected archbishop of Canterbury in succession to Simon Langham, but his term of office was very uneventful, a circumstance due partly, but not wholly, to his feeble health. He died at Lambeth on the 5th or 6th of June 1374.

This entry was originally from the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.