Bishop of Carlisle
|
Arms of the see of Carlisle |
The
Bishop of Carlisle is the
Ordinary of the
Church of England Diocese of Carlisle in the
Province of York. During the Middle Ages and the Tudor period the Diocese was
Roman Catholic.
The diocese covers the County of
Cumbria except for
Alston Moor. The
see is in the
City of Carlisle where the seat is located at the
Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity which was a
collegiate church until elevated to cathedral status in
1133.
The diocese was created in 1133 by
Henry I out of part of the
Diocese of Durham. It was extended in 1858 taking over part of the
Diocese of Chester. The current bishop is The Right Reverend
Graham Dow, the 66th
Bishop of Carlisle who signs
Graham Carlisle.
The original territory of the diocese first became a political unit in the reign of King
William Rufus (1087-1100), who made it into the Earldom of Carlisle, which covered most of the counties of
Cumberland and
Westmorland. In
1133, during the reign of his successor,
Henry I, a diocese was erected in the territory of the earldom, the territory being subtracted from the
Diocese of Durham. This happened despite there being locally a strong Celtic element that looked to Glasgow for episcopal administration. As the first bishop, the king secured the appointment of his former confessor, Æthelwulf (1133-1155), an Englishman, Prior of the Augustinian Canons, whom he had established at Carlisle in 1102, though at the time of his consecration Æthelwulf seems to have been Prior of the Augustinian house at Nostell in Yorkshire. An efficient administrator, he ruled the diocese until his death in 1156 and succeeded in imparting a certain vigour to diocesan life. Among other initiatives, he built a moderate-sized Norman minster of which the transepts and part of the nave still exist. To serve this
cathedral he introduced his own Augustinian brethren, with the result that Carlisle was the only see in England with an Augustinian cathedral chapter, the other monastic cathedral chapters in England consisting of Benedictine monks. There was only one archdeaconry, that of Carlisle.
Of the next bishop, Bernard, little is known, and after his death, in or about 1186, there was a long vacancy, during which the diocese was administered by another Bernard, Archbishop of Ragusa. During this period Carlisle suffered severely from the incursions of the Scots, and early in the reign of
Henry III the king complaining to the pope that Carlisle had revolted in favour of Scotland, and that the canons had elected a bishop for themselves. The papal legate, Gualo, punished this action by exiling the canons and appointing Hugh, Abbot of Beaulieu, a good administrator, as bishop.
It was important to the English Government to have a reliable prelate at Carlisle, as they constantly looked to the bishop to attend to Scottish affairs, negotiate treaties, and generally play the part of diplomat. The next bishop was
Walter Malclerk, formerly agent of King
John, and a prominent figure in the reign of
Henry III. Always a patron of the Friars Preachers, he introduced both Dominicans and Franciscans into the city and diocese. He resigned his see in 1246 in order to join the Order of St. Dominic. About this time a new choir was begun and carried to completion, only to be destroyed in the great fire of
1292.
A fresh beginning was made by the energetic Bishop John de Halton (1292-1324), a favourite of
Edward I, and for nearly a hundred years the building of the present choir proceeded, though with many interruptions. Its chief glory is the great East window, remarkable both for its own beauty and as marking a transition from the earlier style to the perfection of tracery. During this time the see was governed by a line of bishops, busy and useful diplomats in their day, but not remarkable in other respects. One of these was
Thomas Merke, a close friend of
Richard II, who was later tried for high treason under
Henry IV and deprived. The subsequent bishops were scholars, frequently employed in negotiating truces and treaties with Scotland, and several of them were Chancellors of Oxford or of Cambridge University.
Among this generation of scholar diplomats was Cardinal
Thomas Wolsey's friend,
John Kite (1521-1537), who remained faithful to his master, and who supported him in the poverty of his latter days.
The last of the Catholic bishops was
Owen Oglethorpe, a kindly-tempered man who was prevailed on to crown Elizabeth when no other bishop could be found to do it. This was act he afterwards much regretted. On Christmas Day after the Queen's accession he disobeyed the note she sent him in the Chapel Royal forbading him to elevate the Sacred Host in her presence. His refusal to take the Oath of Supremacy led to his being deprived of his title along with the other Catholic bishops, and he died a prisoner 31 December, 1559. Carlisle was a poor diocese, and when the Reformers plundered the churches they found little but a chalice in each, and even of these some were of tin.
The present diocese covers the County of
Cumbria apart from
Alston Moor which is part of the
Diocese of Newcastle. It was extended in 1858 by the addition of part of the
Diocese of Chester.
The
see is in the
City of Carlisle where the seat is located at the
Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity which was a
collegiate church until elevated to cathedral status in
1133. The cathedral was originally dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, though this was changed at the Reformation.
The current
bishop is The Right Reverend
Graham Dow, the 66th
Bishop of Carlisle who signs
Graham Carlisle.
The Bishop of Carlisle has one
Suffragan Bishop to assist him, namely the Bishop of
Penrith.
| Tenure | Incumbent | Notes |
|---|
| 1133 to 1156 | Athelwold | Prior of St Oswald's, Nostell |
| 1186 | Paulinus of Leeds | Granted by Richard I but declined |
| 1186 to 1203 | vacant | |
| 1203 to 1214 | Bernard | Abp of Ragusa. Translated by Pope 1203, Royal assent 1204 |
| 1214 to 1218 | vacant | Scottish occupation 1216 to 1217 |
| 1218 to 1223 | Hugh of Beaulieu | Abbot of Beaulieu, Hants |
| 1223 to 1246 | Walter Mauclerk | Lord Treasurer 1227-33. Resigned 1246 |
| 1246 to 1254 | Silvester de Everdon | Archdeacon of Chester; Keeper of the Great Seal |
| 1255 to 1256 | Thomas Vipont |
| 1258 to 1280 | Robert de Chauncy
(Robert de Chause) | Called by Leland, chaplain to the queen |
| 1278 | William de Rotherfeld | Elected but refused |
| 1280 to 1292 | Ralph of Irton
(Rodolph de Ireton) | Prior of Gisborne |
| 1293 to 1324 | John de Halton
(John de Halghton) | Canon of Carlisle |
| 1325 | William Ayremyn | Canon of York; elected (but see following) |
| 1325 to 1332 | John Ross
(John de Rosse) | Canon of Hereford; appointed by Pope John XXII. Son of Robert de Ros, 1st Baron de Ros. |
| 1332 to 1352 | John Kirkby
(John de Kirkeby) | Canon of Carlisle |
| 1352 | John Horncastle
(John de Horncastle) | Elected but set aside by Pope Clement VI before consecration |
| 1353 to 1362 | Gilbert Welton
(Gilbert de Wilton) |
| 1363 to 1396 | Thomas Appleby
(Thomas de Appleby) | Canon of Carlisle |
| 1396 to 1397 | Robert Reed
(Robert Reade) | Translated from Waterford; translated to Chichester |
| 1397 to 1399 | Thomas Merke
(Thomas Merkes) | Deprived; vicar of Sturminster, Dorset |
| 1400 to 1419 | William Strickland |
| 1420 to 1423 | Roger Whelpdale | Provost of Queen's College, Cambridge |
| 1423 to 1429 | William Barrow
(William Barrowe) | Translated from Bangor |
| 1429 to 1449 | Marmaduke Lumley | Archdeacon of Northumberland, Lord Treasurer, Lord Chancellor and Chancellor of Cambridge; translated to Lincoln |
| 1450 to 1452 | Nicholas Close | Archdeacon of Colchester; translated to Lichfield & Coventry |
| 1452 to 1462 | William Percy | Prebendary of York, Lincoln and Salisbury; Chancellor of Cambridge |
| 1462 to 1463 | John Kingscote
(John Kingscotes) | Archdeacon of Gloucester |
| 1463 to 1468 | Richard Scroope
(Richard Scrope) | Rector of Fen-Ditton, Cambridgeshire |
| 1468 to 1477 | Edward Story | Chancellor of Cambridge; translated to Chichester |
| 1477 to 1495 | Richard Bell | Prior of Durham; resigned |
| 1495 to 1502 | William Senhouse
(William Sever; William Seveyer) | Abbot of St Mary's, York; translated to Durham |
| 1502 to 1508 | Richard Leyburn
(Roger Leybourn) | Archdeacon of Durham |
| 1509 to 1520 | John Penny | Translated from Bangor |
| 1521 to 1537 | John Kite | Archbishop of Armagh |
| 1537 to 1556 | Robert Aldrich | Provost of Eton and Canon of Windsor |
| 1557 to 1559 | Owen Oglethorpe | Dean of Windsor; deprived. Crowned Elizabeth I of England |
| 1560 to 1570 | John Best | Prebendary of Wells |
| 1570 to 1577 | Richard Barnes, Bishop of Nottingham | Chancellor and Prebendary of York; translated to Durham |
| 1577 to 1598 | John May | Prebendary of Ely |
| 1598 to 1616 | Henry Robinson | Provost of Queen's College, Cambridge |
| 1616 to 1621 | Robert Snoden
(Robert Snowdon) | Prebendary of Southwell |
| 1621 to 1622 | Richard Milbourne | Translated to St David's |
| 1624 to 1626 | Richard Senhouse | Dean of Gloucester |
| 1626 to 1629 | Francis White | Dean of Carlisle; translated to Norwich |
| 1629 to 1641 | Barnaby Potter | Provost of Queen's College, Oxford |
| 1641 to 1655 | James Usher' | Archbishop of Armagh; died in office |
| 1655 to 1660 | vacant | For 5 years |
| 1660 to 1664 | Richard Sterne | Master of Jesus College, Cambridge; translated to York |
| 1664 to 1684 | Edward Rainbowe
(Edward Rainbow) |
| 1684 to 1702 | Thomas Smith | Dean of Carlisle |
| 1702 to 1718 | William Nicolson | Archdeacon and Prebendary of Carlisle; translated to Derry |
| 1718 to 1723 | Samuel Bradford | Prebendary of Westminster; translated to Rochester |
| 1723 to 1734 | John Waugh | Dean of Gloucester |
| 1734 to 1747 | Sir George Le Fleming, Bart | Dean of Carlisle |
| 1747 to 1764 | Richard Osbaldeston | Dean of York; translated to London |
| 1764 to 1768 | Charles Lyttelton | Dean of Exeter |
| 1768 to 1787 | Edmund Law | Archdeacon of Carlisle |
| 1787 to 1791 | John Douglas | Canon-resident of St Paul's, London; translated to Salisbury |
| 1791 to 1808 | The Honourable Edward Venables Vernon | Translated to York, afterwards named Harcourt |
| 26 January 1808 to 12 August 1827 | Samuel Goodenough | Died in office |
| 17 September 1827 to February 1856 | The Honourable Hugh Percy | Translated from Rochester; died in office |
| 25 February 1856 to 1860 | The Honourable Henry Montagu Villiers | Canon of St Paul's, London; translated to Durham |
| 29 August 1860 to 1 October 1869 | The Honourable Samuel Waldegrave | Canon of Salisbury; died in office |
| 28 October 1869 to 1891 | Harvey Goodwin | Dean of Ely |
| 1892 to 1904 | John Bardsley |
| 1905 to 1920 | John William Diggle, DD |
| 1920 to 1946 | Henry Herbert Williams, DD |
| 1946 to 1966 | Thomas Bloomer, DD |
| 1966 to 1972 | Sydney Cyril Bulley | Suff Bishop of Penrith |
| 1972 to 1989 | Henry David Halsey, BA | Suff Bishop of Tonbridge |
| 1989 to 1999 | Ian Harland | Suff Bishop of Lancaster |
| 2000 to present | Graham Dow |
*
Haydn's Book of Dignities (1894) Joseph Haydn/Horace Ockerby, reprinted 1969
*
Whitaker's Almanack 1883 to
2004 Joseph Whitaker & Sons Ltd/A&C Black, London
* http://www.stevebulman.f9.co.uk/cumbria/dean_and_chapter.html
*
Crockfords 1858 to
2003/4 Church CommissionersThe above text is in part adapted freely from the Catholic Encyclopaedia, 1908.*
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