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Cosmo Gordon Lang
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==Archbishop of York== {{multiple image | align = left | direction = vertical | width = 150 | header = | image1 = Cosmo Lang, Archbishop of York (1910).jpg | alt1 = A young-looking dark-haired man faces forward. He is wearing black and white robes and a crucifix. | caption1 = Lang in 1910, a youthful-looking archbishop | image2 = Cosmo Lang, Archbishop of York (1918).jpg | alt2 = A balding elderly-looking man with a fringe of white hair faces left, although his eyes are turned to the camera. He is wearing black and white robes. | caption2 = Lang after World War I. The alteration to his appearance was caused by alopecia and stress. }} ===Appointment=== In late 1908 Lang was informed of his election as [[Anglican Diocese of Montreal|Bishop of Montreal]]. Letters from the [[Governor General of Canada]] and the [[High Commissioner for Canada in the United Kingdom|Canadian High Commissioner]] urged him to accept, but the Archbishop of Canterbury asked him to refuse.<ref name= L178>Lockhart, pp. 178β80</ref><ref>{{cite news|title= Cosmo Gordon Lang Raised to Dignity|work=The New York Times|date= 15 November 1908|url= https://www.nytimes.com/1908/11/16/archives/new-archbishop-of-york-cosmo-gordon-lang-raised-to-dignity-refused.html| access-date=2 August 2009}} {{subscription required}}</ref> A few weeks later a letter from [[H. H. Asquith]], the prime minister, informed Lang that he had been nominated [[Archbishop of York]].<ref name= L178/> Lang was only 44 years old, and had no experience as a diocesan bishop. On the issue of age, the ''[[Church Times]]'' believed that Asquith deliberately recommended the youngest bishop available, after strong political lobbying for the appointment of the elderly [[Bishop of Hereford]], [[John Percival (bishop)|John Percival]].<ref>{{cite news|title= 100 years ago: Dr Lang Raised to York|work=The Church Times|date= 21 November 1908|url= http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2008/21-november/comment/100-years-ago-dr-lang-raised-to-york| access-date=6 December 2015}}</ref> Such a promotion for a suffragan, and within so short a period after ordination, was without recent precedent in the Church of England. Lang's friend [[Hensley Henson]], a future [[Bishop of Durham]], wrote: "I am, of course, surprised that you go {{em|straight}} to an archbishopric{{nbsp}}[...] But you are too meteoric for precedent."<ref name= L178/> The appointment was generally well received, although the [[Protestant Truth Society]] sought in vain to prevent its confirmation. Strong opponents of Anglo-Catholic practices, they maintained that as Bishop of Stepney Lang had "connived at and encouraged flagrant breaking of the law relating to church ritual".<ref>{{cite EB1911|wstitle= Confirmation of Bishops}}</ref> ===First years=== Lang's [[canonical election|election]] to York was [[confirmation of bishops|confirmed]] on 20 January<ref>{{Church Times | title = The Archbishop of York. His Election Confirmed. | archive = 1909_01_22_099 | issue = 2400 | date = 22 January 1909 | page = 99 | accessed = 12 March 2021 }}</ref> and he was enthroned at [[York Minster]] on 25 January 1909. In 18 years since ordination he had risen to the second-highest position in the Church of England.<ref>Lockhart, p. 193</ref> In addition to his diocesan responsibilities for York itself, he became head of the entire [[Province of York|Northern Province]], and a member of the [[House of Lords]]. Believing that the [[Diocese of York]] was too large, he proposed reducing it by forming a new [[Diocese of Sheffield]], which after several years' work was inaugurated in 1914.<ref>{{cite web|title= Our Diocese |publisher= The Diocese of Sheffield|url= http://www.sheffield.anglican.org/our-diocese |access-date= 6 December 2015}}</ref> In the years following his appointment, Lang spoke out on a range of social and economic issues, and in support of improved working conditions. After taking his seat in the House of Lords in February 1909, he made his maiden speech in November in the debate on the controversial [[People's Budget]], advising the Lords against their intention to reject this measure. He cast his first Lords vote against rejection, because he was "deeply convinced of the unwisdom of the course the Lords proposed to take". Although his speech was received with respect, Lang's stance was politely reproved by the leading Conservative peer [[Lord Curzon]].<ref>{{cite web|title= Finance Bill|publisher=Hansard (House of Lords)|date= 30 November 1909|url= https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/lords/1909/nov/30/finance-bill-1|work= [[Hansard|Parliamentary Debates (Hansard)]]|access-date=4 August 2009}}</ref><ref>Lockhart, pp. 236β37</ref> Despite this socially progressive stance, Lang's political instincts remained conservative. He voted against the [[Home Rule Act 1914|1914 Irish Home Rule Bill]] and opposed liberalisation of the divorce laws.<ref name="McLeod232">McLeod, p. 232</ref> After playing a prominent role in [[George V of the United Kingdom|King George V's]] coronation in 1911, Lang became increasingly close to the Royal Family, an association which drew the comment that he was "more courtier than cleric".<ref name= Monarchy>{{cite web|title= Monarchy Series 4|publisher=Channel 4 |url= http://www.channel4.com/programmes/monarchy |access-date=6 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151107041525/http://www.channel4.com/programmes/monarchy |archive-date=7 November 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref> His love of ceremony, and concern for how an archbishop should look and live, began to obscure other aspects of his ministry;<ref>Lockhart, p. 202</ref> rather than assuming the role of the people's prelate he began, in the words of his biographer Alan Wilkinson, to act as a "prince of the church".<ref>{{cite odnb|last= Wilkinson|first= Alan|title= (William) Cosmo Gordon Lang (1864β1945)|id=34398}} ("Archbishop of York" section)</ref> ===First World War=== [[File:Cosmo Lang, Prelate of the Order of Knights of St. John of Jerusalem.jpg|180px|thumb|upright|alt=Cosmo Gordon Lang, as Prelate of the Venerable Order of Saint John, at the Grand Priory Church of the Order of St John of Jerusalem, Clerkenwell, London, on 11 January 1918|Lang on 11 January 1918, celebrating the outcome of the [[Battle of Jerusalem]] ]] When war broke out in August 1914, Lang concluded that the conflict was righteous, and that younger clergy should be encouraged to serve as military chaplains, although it was not their duty to fight. He thereafter was active in recruiting campaigns throughout his province.<ref>Lockhart, pp. 246β47</ref> At a meeting in York in November 1914 he caused offence when he spoke out against excessive anti-German propaganda, and recalled a "sacred memory" of the [[Wilhelm II|Kaiser]] kneeling with King Edward VII at the bier of Queen Victoria.<ref name= Wilk3>{{cite odnb|last= Wilkinson|first= Alan|title= (William) Cosmo Gordon Lang (1864β1945)|id=34398}} ("First World War" section)</ref> These remarks, perceived as pro-German, produced what Lang termed "a perfect hail of denunciation".<ref name= L249>Lockhart, pp. 249β51</ref> The strain of this period, coupled with the onset of [[alopecia]], drastically altered Lang's relatively youthful appearance to that of a bald and elderly-looking man.<ref name= Wilk3/> His friends were shocked; the king, meeting him on the Royal train, apparently burst into guffaws of laughter.<ref name= L249/> Public hostility against Lang was slow to subside, re-emerging from time to time throughout the war.<ref name= L249/> Lang continued his contribution to the war effort, paying visits to the [[Grand Fleet]] and to the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]].<ref name= Wilk3/> He applied all his organisational skills to the Archbishop of Canterbury's National Mission of Repentance and Hope,<ref>Lockhart, pp. 254β55</ref> an initiative designed to renew Christian faith nationwide, but it failed to make a significant impact.<ref>Manwaring, p. 12</ref> As a result of the [[Battle of Jerusalem]] of December 1917, the [[British Empire]]'s [[Egyptian Expeditionary Force]] captured the [[Jerusalem|Holy City]], bringing it under Christian control for the first time since the [[Crusades]]. As Prelate of the [[Venerable Order of Saint John]], Lang led a service of celebration on 11 January 1918 at the Order's Grand Priory Church, [[Clerkenwell]]. He explained that it was 917 years since the [[Knights Hospitaller|Order's hospital]] had been founded in [[Jerusalem]], and 730 years since they were driven out by [[Saladin]]. "London is the city of the Empire's commerce, but Jerusalem is the city of the soul, and it is particularly fitting that [[British Armed Forces|British Armies]] should have delivered it out of the hands of the [[infidel]]."<ref>{{cite journal |editor-last=Fenwick |editor-first=Mrs Bedford |title=Editorial: The Deliverance of Jerusalem |date=19 January 1918 |url=http://people.bu.edu/zackcost/page035-volume60-19thjanuary1918.pdf |journal=The British Journal of Nursing |volume=LX |issue=1555 |page=35 |access-date=30 November 2009 |archive-date=27 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151227102100/http://people.bu.edu/zackcost/page035-volume60-19thjanuary1918.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> Early in 1918, at the invitation of the [[Episcopal Church of the United States]], he made a goodwill visit to America, praising the extent and willingness of America's participation in the war.<ref>Johnson, p. 14</ref> The ''[[Westminster Gazette]]'' called this "one of the most moving and memorable visits ever paid by an Englishman [''sic''] to the United States".<ref>Quoted by Lockhart, p. 262</ref> ===Post-war years=== After the war, Lang's primary cause was that of church unity. In 1920, as chairman of the Reunion Committee at the Sixth [[Lambeth Conference]], he promoted an "Appeal to all Christian People", described by Hastings as "one of the rare historical documents that does not get forgotten with the years".<ref>Hastings, p. 97</ref> It was unanimously adopted as the Conference's Resolution 9, and ended: "We{{nbsp}}[...] ask that all should unite in a new and great endeavour to recover and to manifest to the world the unity of the Body of Christ for which He prayed."<ref>{{cite web|title= Resolution 9 (1920): Reunion of Christendom (Lambeth Conference 1920)|publisher=The Anglican Communion|url= http://www.anglicancommunion.org/resources/document-library/lambeth-conference/1920/resolution-9-reunion-of-christendom?author=Lambeth+Conference&year=1920 |access-date=6 December 2015}}</ref> Despite initial warmth from the English [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)#Today|Free Churches]], little could be achieved in terms of practical union between [[episcopal polity|episcopal]] and non-episcopal churches, and the initiative was allowed to lapse. Historically, the Appeal is considered the starting-point for the more successful [[ecumenical]] efforts of later generations.<ref name= Wilk3/><ref>Hastings, pp. 98β99</ref> Lang was supportive of the [[Malines Conversations]] of 1921β26, though not directly involved.<ref>Lockhart, p. 280</ref> These were informal meetings between leading British Anglo-Catholics and reform-minded European Roman Catholics, exploring the possibility of reuniting the Anglican and Roman communions. Although the discussions had the blessing of [[Randall Davidson]], the Archbishop of Canterbury, many Anglican evangelicals were alarmed by them. Ultimately, the talks foundered on the entrenched opposition of the Catholic [[ultramontanes]].<ref>Hastings, pp. 208β11</ref> A by-product of these conversations may have been the awakening of opposition to the revision of the Anglican [[Book of Common Prayer|Prayer Book]]. The focus of this revision, which Lang supported, was to make concessions to Anglo-Catholic rituals and practices in the Anglican service. The new Prayer Book was overwhelmingly approved by the Church's main legislative body, the [[Church Assembly]], and by the House of Lords. Partly through the advocacy of the fervently evangelical [[Home Secretary]], [[Sir William Joynson-Hicks]], the revision was twice defeated in the House of Commons, in December 1927 by 238 votes to 205 and, in June 1928, by 266 to 220.<ref>Hefling, p. 242</ref><ref>McKibbin, p. 277</ref> Lang was deeply disappointed, writing that "the gusts of Protestant convictions, suspicions, fears [and] prejudices swept through the House, and ultimately prevailed."<ref>Lockhart, p. 308</ref> On 26 April 1923, [[George V]] awarded Lang the [[Royal Victorian Chain]], an honour in the personal gift of the Sovereign<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=32819|page=3135|date=1 May 1923}}</ref> After the marriage of Prince Albert, Duke of York (later [[George VI]]) in 1923, Lang formed a friendship with his Duchess (later [[Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother]]) which lasted for the rest of Lang's life. In 1926, he baptised Princess Elizabeth (later [[Elizabeth II]]) in the private chapel of [[Buckingham Palace]].<ref>{{cite web| url= http://royalcentral.co.uk/uk/thequeen/the-christening-of-hm-the-queen-59320 |title= The Christening of HM The Queen|publisher= Royal Central|date= 20 April 2016|access-date = 21 September 2017 }}</ref> In January 1927, Lang took centre-stage in the elaborate ceremonies which marked the 1,300th anniversary of the founding of York Minster.<ref>Lockhart, pp. 296β97</ref>
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