There is nothing unique about the premature departure of an Archbishop of Canterbury. Justin Welby leaves office on January 6, the Feast of the Epiphany, marking the visit of the Magi to see the Christ Child. So, it is perhaps sobering to remember that, like the proverbial wise men, many of his predecessors left office to return home by some other route they had not initially bargained for.
We can date the Church of England from Thomas Cranmer, the first Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury from 1533-34. One of only two post-Reformation officeholders to be relieved of the post, he was burnt at the stake in 1556 during the reign of Mary Tudor for being too Protestant. William Laud was beheaded in 1645, after the defeat of Charles I by the New Model Army for being too Catholic. You can’t win.
Before Cranmer, several archbishops had their appointments vetoed by papal authority, while several chosen candidates thought better of it and declined the See. Some had their elections quashed or disputed by the monarch. A couple of candidates died of plague before consecration, while another was excommunicated, one fled accused of high treason, and others resigned on being promoted to the rank of cardinal. Thomas Becket was assassinated in 1170, and Simon Sudbury was beheaded by a mob during the Peasants’ Revolt in 1381. Historically, untimely death in office was an occupational hazard.
A personal favourite is Cardinal Reginald Pole, who conveniently died of influenza just a few hours after Mary I had died on November 17, 1558. Otherwise, he’d have been executed too. He had almost married Mary I, but in 1556 was ordained priest and two days later consecrated bishop to become Archbishop of Canterbury. The Tudor dynasty really knew how to fast-track their favourites.
Archbishops of Canterbury are expendable and rarely memorable. Before the Reformation, 16 were canonised. Nowadays, they might get a seat in the House of Lords upon retirement. So, with Welby gone and soon to be forgotten, what are the lessons to be learnt?
First, this is the only time the officeholder has left due to public pressure and been made to resign. Thousands of people signed a petition calling for him to go, and his departure is symptomatic of a public mood that has turned decisively against an unaccountable episcopacy and its ecclesiocracy. If the church resists scrutiny and external regulation, it will repeatedly fail as a credible public body and never be trusted.
Second, the resignation points to a much deeper malaise for the Church of England. This is not so much a church in crisis as a body nearing the end of its natural life. Like all organic bodies, institutions have a lifespan too; death is a normal part of the existential cycle. If there is to be a resurrection — not just endless attempts at resuscitation and rejuvenation — death must be embraced. The church preaches this. It must live it too.
Third, the Church of England continues to live and flourish locally. All life is there, and that is truly hopeful.
Read it all in the Sunday Times
Professor Martyn Percy is the author of The Crisis of Global Anglicanism: Empire, Slavery and Revolt in the Church of England (Hurst Books, 2025). He teaches at the University of Bern, Switzerland, and the University of Saint Joseph, Macao
