He was educated at the Bury St Edmunds free grammar school before being admitted to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, in September 1633[3] and matriculating there in 1634.

[citation needed] He remained abroad till the Restoration, after which he was chosen one of the university preachers, and was elected Master of his alma mater Emmanuel College in 1662, serving until 1665.

In 1677, being now prolocutor of the Convocation of the English Clergy, he was unexpectedly advanced to the archbishopric of Canterbury, at the express wish of the King, who trusted in his moderation.

[7] Sancroft wrote with his own hand the petition presented in 1688 against the reading of the Declaration of Indulgence, which was signed by himself and six of his suffragans (collectively known as the Seven Bishops).

[8] Upon the withdrawal of James II, Sancroft concurred with the Lords in a declaration to William III for a free parliament, and due indulgence to the Protestant dissenters.

But, when William and his wife (James's daughter) Mary were declared king and queen, he refused to take the oath to them, and was accordingly suspended and deprived in 1690.

[10] Sancroft was a patron of Henry Wharton (1664–1695), the divine and church historian, to whom on his deathbed he entrusted his manuscripts and the remains of Archbishop Laud (published in 1695).