Johnson, Paul. British Cathedrals. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1980.
Available at: http://www.amazon.com/
The study of British Cathedrals raises “certain specific problems.” E.g. architectural, historical, and in terms of diocesan boundaries.
Administrative revisions reflected Roman, Anglo-Saxon, Norman and Henrician imperial re-arrangements.
Basically, a bishop was over a diocese and an archbishop was over a province.
The archbishop would receive the pallium, or, a fur tippet worn by Roman officials.
Generally, there was 1 cathedral per diocese.
There were “definitely” Cathedral churches in London and York during Roman imperial times” (11).
British dioceses were “unusually large” and were “substantially changed over time” (11). However, during “Dark Ages Britain,” vast areas were not served at all by diocesan bishops on the Imperial model, but were served by “monastic centers.” As such, bishops were “functionaries” with “small parishes” (11).
Iona, for example, was an Abbey whose monks evangelized Scotland and northern England.
Southern England was evangelized by Rome in the late 6th century and had “the rudiments of a Roman-style diocesan system” (11).
The first cathedrals:
• Canterbury Cathedral before 600
• Rochester in 604
• London in 604
• York in 627
• Ripon in 678
• Worcester before 680
• Hereford before 680
The Mercia area revolved around the Cathedrals of Lichfield and Leicester.
The Wessex area revolved around Sherborn and Winchester Cathedrals.
The Saxon diocesan system was “substantially changed as a result of shifts of power and population and the Danish invasion” (11). As a result, Cathedral-sees at Dunwich, Elham, Henam and Whithorn ceased to exist. Lindisfare Cathedral moved to Durham.
Administrative revision to diocesan boundaries were also addressed due to invasion and depradations. One example is Edward the Confessor’s relocation of a bishopric to Exeter in 1050 (my own ancestral home with the Great-great Grandparents living within 1000 feet of the old Cathedral, not that it matters except to us). Illustrative of one re-arrangement due to invasions is evinced by manuscript 2072 in the Exeter Cathedral which reads:
"This do I first make known to my lord Pope Leo, and confirm it by his attestation, and then to all the magnates of the English, that I deliver over the diocese of Cornwall…with all its adjoining parishes to St. Peter in the city of Exeter, to wit that it be one episcopal seat, one pontificate, and one ecclesiastical rule. And because of the fewness of the people and the devastation of their goods—for pirates have been able to plunder the churches of Cornwall and of Crediton—it seemed clear that there is a safer defence against the enemies in the town of Exeter, and therefore I will that the See should be there: that is, that Cornwall, with its churches, and Devonshire, with its churches, should be in one bishopric, and should be ruled by one Bishop. And so I, King Edward, place this privilege upon the altar of St. Peter with my own hand: and, leading Bishop Leofric by the right arm, whilst my Queen Edith leads him by the left, place him on his episcopal throne, in the presence of my great men and my kinsfolk, my nobles and chaplains” (10).
During most of England’s middle ages, there were 17 Cathedral Churches.
There were 9 “secular Cathedrals,” that is, served by canons who did not take “vows of poverty.” These 9 Cathedrals were called “Old Foundation Cathedrals.” They were:
1. Chichester
2. Exeter
3. Hereford
4. Lichfield
5. London
6. Lincoln
7. Salisbury
8. Wells
9. York
“Other Saxon Cathedrals” that predated but were continued in Norman times were served by Benedictine monks. These were called “Monastic Foundations.” They were:
1. Bath
2. Canterbury
3. Durham
4. Ely
5. Norwich
6. Rochester
7. Winchester
8. Worcester
Carlisle Cathedral was run by Augustinian canons since the 12th century.
Henry VIII destroyed the monastic system. He turned 21 old monastic foundations into Cathedrals. Mr. Johnson notes that there is an “autograph list” from Henry's hand. They are:
1. Waltham
2. Thames,
3. Dunstable
4. Newenham
5. Shrewsbury
6. Fountains
7. Leicester
Mr. Johnson observes that Osney and Westminster Abbey "became" Cathedrals for a short time in the 16th century. The latter was turned in to a “Royal Peculiar,” that is, a Cathedral "without" episcopal governance and one that reported directly to the Royal.
Henry VIII converted two Benedictine houses into Cathedrals: Gloucester and Peterborough.
Henry VIII converted the Augustinian houses into Cathedrals at Oxford, Bristol and Carlisle.
All of these Henrician conversions became known as the “New Foundation” (11).
During the 19th-20th centuries, 20 “new Anglican Cathedrals” were added to the list:
1. St. Albans
2. Southwark
3. Ripon
4. Southwell
5. Manchester
6. Birmingham
7. Blackburn
8. Chelmsford
9. Leicester
10. Portsmouth
11. St. Edmunsbury
12. Bradford
13. Sheffield
14. Newcastle
15. Wakefield
16. Douglas
17. Truro
18. Guilford
19. Liverpool
20. Coventry
There are surviving Episcopal Cathedrals in Scotland as well.
If one adds the 27 Romanist Cathedrals to the above, there are nearly 90 Cathedrals in England.
Alcuin of York, the 8th century Saxon cleric who would go to serve on the Continent with Charlemagne, noted that York Cathedral was 200 feet long.
Further comparisons to York Cathedral:
1. Lichfield was 200 feet
2. Chichester was 175 feet
3. Canterbury was shorter and was 80 feet. In the 9th century, it was enlarged to 200 feet, but was burned during the Norman times
4. Winchester, in 650 A.D., was only 60 feet and was in a cruciform shape
St. Paul’s Saxon Cathedral was the largest Cathedral (length not given on St. Paul's) until Edward the Confessor (1003-1066) built his new abbey, Westminster Abbey. Edward is considered the last Anglo-Saxon King of England.
Edward had “cultural ties with Continent Normandy” and this was the “beginning of great religious and artistic revolution.” The building of Westminster Abbey was a “distinctive break with the Saxon past” (13).
The Bayeau Tapestry shows the body of Edward the Confessor being borne into his newly built Abbey at Westminster in January 1066.
Available at: http://www.amazon.com/
The study of British Cathedrals raises “certain specific problems.” E.g. architectural, historical, and in terms of diocesan boundaries.
Administrative revisions reflected Roman, Anglo-Saxon, Norman and Henrician imperial re-arrangements.
Basically, a bishop was over a diocese and an archbishop was over a province.
The archbishop would receive the pallium, or, a fur tippet worn by Roman officials.
Generally, there was 1 cathedral per diocese.
There were “definitely” Cathedral churches in London and York during Roman imperial times” (11).
British dioceses were “unusually large” and were “substantially changed over time” (11). However, during “Dark Ages Britain,” vast areas were not served at all by diocesan bishops on the Imperial model, but were served by “monastic centers.” As such, bishops were “functionaries” with “small parishes” (11).
Iona, for example, was an Abbey whose monks evangelized Scotland and northern England.
Southern England was evangelized by Rome in the late 6th century and had “the rudiments of a Roman-style diocesan system” (11).
The first cathedrals:
• Canterbury Cathedral before 600
• Rochester in 604
• London in 604
• York in 627
• Ripon in 678
• Worcester before 680
• Hereford before 680
The Mercia area revolved around the Cathedrals of Lichfield and Leicester.
The Wessex area revolved around Sherborn and Winchester Cathedrals.
The Saxon diocesan system was “substantially changed as a result of shifts of power and population and the Danish invasion” (11). As a result, Cathedral-sees at Dunwich, Elham, Henam and Whithorn ceased to exist. Lindisfare Cathedral moved to Durham.
 |
| Exeter Cathedral |
"This do I first make known to my lord Pope Leo, and confirm it by his attestation, and then to all the magnates of the English, that I deliver over the diocese of Cornwall…with all its adjoining parishes to St. Peter in the city of Exeter, to wit that it be one episcopal seat, one pontificate, and one ecclesiastical rule. And because of the fewness of the people and the devastation of their goods—for pirates have been able to plunder the churches of Cornwall and of Crediton—it seemed clear that there is a safer defence against the enemies in the town of Exeter, and therefore I will that the See should be there: that is, that Cornwall, with its churches, and Devonshire, with its churches, should be in one bishopric, and should be ruled by one Bishop. And so I, King Edward, place this privilege upon the altar of St. Peter with my own hand: and, leading Bishop Leofric by the right arm, whilst my Queen Edith leads him by the left, place him on his episcopal throne, in the presence of my great men and my kinsfolk, my nobles and chaplains” (10).
During most of England’s middle ages, there were 17 Cathedral Churches.
There were 9 “secular Cathedrals,” that is, served by canons who did not take “vows of poverty.” These 9 Cathedrals were called “Old Foundation Cathedrals.” They were:
1. Chichester
2. Exeter
3. Hereford
4. Lichfield
5. London
6. Lincoln
7. Salisbury
8. Wells
9. York
“Other Saxon Cathedrals” that predated but were continued in Norman times were served by Benedictine monks. These were called “Monastic Foundations.” They were:
1. Bath
2. Canterbury
3. Durham
4. Ely
5. Norwich
6. Rochester
7. Winchester
8. Worcester
Carlisle Cathedral was run by Augustinian canons since the 12th century.
Henry VIII destroyed the monastic system. He turned 21 old monastic foundations into Cathedrals. Mr. Johnson notes that there is an “autograph list” from Henry's hand. They are:
1. Waltham
2. Thames,
3. Dunstable
4. Newenham
5. Shrewsbury
6. Fountains
7. Leicester
 |
| Westminster Abbey |
Henry VIII converted two Benedictine houses into Cathedrals: Gloucester and Peterborough.
Henry VIII converted the Augustinian houses into Cathedrals at Oxford, Bristol and Carlisle.
All of these Henrician conversions became known as the “New Foundation” (11).
During the 19th-20th centuries, 20 “new Anglican Cathedrals” were added to the list:
1. St. Albans
2. Southwark
3. Ripon
4. Southwell
5. Manchester
6. Birmingham
7. Blackburn
8. Chelmsford
9. Leicester
10. Portsmouth
11. St. Edmunsbury
12. Bradford
13. Sheffield
14. Newcastle
15. Wakefield
16. Douglas
17. Truro
18. Guilford
19. Liverpool
20. Coventry
There are surviving Episcopal Cathedrals in Scotland as well.
If one adds the 27 Romanist Cathedrals to the above, there are nearly 90 Cathedrals in England.
Alcuin of York, the 8th century Saxon cleric who would go to serve on the Continent with Charlemagne, noted that York Cathedral was 200 feet long.
Further comparisons to York Cathedral:
1. Lichfield was 200 feet
2. Chichester was 175 feet
3. Canterbury was shorter and was 80 feet. In the 9th century, it was enlarged to 200 feet, but was burned during the Norman times
4. Winchester, in 650 A.D., was only 60 feet and was in a cruciform shape
St. Paul’s Saxon Cathedral was the largest Cathedral (length not given on St. Paul's) until Edward the Confessor (1003-1066) built his new abbey, Westminster Abbey. Edward is considered the last Anglo-Saxon King of England.
Edward had “cultural ties with Continent Normandy” and this was the “beginning of great religious and artistic revolution.” The building of Westminster Abbey was a “distinctive break with the Saxon past” (13).
The Bayeau Tapestry shows the body of Edward the Confessor being borne into his newly built Abbey at Westminster in January 1066.
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