Charles Chauncy

Charles Chauncy (baptized Nov. 5, 1592, Yardley-Bury, Hertfordshire, Eng.—died Feb. 19, 1672, Cambridge, Mass. [U.S.]) was an American clergyman and the second president of Harvard College, described by Cotton Mather as “a most incomparable scholar.” Chauncy attended Trinity College, Cambridge, and was in turn vicar at Ware and at Marston St. Lawrence, but he twice incurred censure from the authorities for nonconformity. His formal recantation in February 1637 caused him lasting self-reproach. In the same...