In January 1583 he was employed by Elizabeth to signify to Grindal that he should resign his archbishopric on account of failing health and increasing blindness. The archbishop's death in July of that year put an end to the negotiation. In 1585 he was consulted by Elizabeth whether she could legitimately assist the Low Countries in their struggle with Philip II of Spain, and gave a long affirmative reply. In 1585, again, he was one of the prelates before whom Edward Gellibrand, fellow of Magdalen, was cited as being the ringleader of the Presbyterian party in Oxford. Two years later Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester made an ineffectual attempt to obtain his translation to Durham. On the defeat of the Spanish Armada, he was appointed by Elizabeth to preach at the thanksgiving service at St. Paul's Cathedral on 24 November 1588. His translation to the archbishopric of York was as Sandys's successor in 1589. His tenure of the primacy was short. He died at Bishopthorpe on 28 September 1594, aged 71. He was unmarried. He was buried at the east end of York Minster, with a long epitaph.