Sterne, Richard

Sterne, Richard, an English prelate, was born at Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, in 1596. He was admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1611, taking his degree of A.B. in 1614, and that of A.M. in 1618. In 1620 he removed to Benet College, and was elected fellow July 10, 1623. He proceeded B.D. the following year, and was incorporated in the same degree at Oxford, 1627. Appointed one of the university preachers in 1626, he was selected as one of Dr. Love's opponents in the philosophical act, kept for the entertainment of the Spanish and Austrian ambassadors. In 1632 he was made president of the college, and in March 1633, master of Jesus College. He took the degree of D.D. in 1635. He was presented by his college to the rectory of Hareton, Cambridgeshire, in 1641, but did not get possession. till the summer following. He had, however, been presented in 1634 to the living of Yeovilton, Somerset County, through the favor of Laud, who chose him to attend him on the scaffold. He was seized by Cromwell, and ejected from all his preferments; but after some years was released, and permitted to retire to Stevanage, Hertfordshire, where he supported himself till the Restoration by keeping a private school. Soon after, he was appointed bishop of Carlisle, and was concerned in the Savoy Conference and in the revisal of the Book of Common Prayer. On the decease of Dr. Freween. he was made archbishop of York, which position he held till the time of his death, Jan. 18, 1683. Besides some Latin verses, he published, Comment on Psalm 103 (Lond. 1649, 8vo): — Summa Logicoe (1686, 8vo), published after his death: — and was one of the assistants in the publication of the Polyglot. See Chalmers, Biog. Dict. s.v.; Hoefer, Nouv. Biog. Générale, s.v.; Hook, Ecclesiastes Biog. s.v.