Bishop of St Asaph
Bishop ofSt Asaph | |
---|---|
Bishopric | |
anglican | |
Incumbent: Gregory Cameron | |
Location | |
Ecclesiastical province | Wales |
Information | |
Diocese | St Asaph |
Cathedral | St Asaph Cathedral |
TheBishopofSt Asaphheads theChurch in Walesdiocese of St Asaph.
The diocese covers the counties ofConwyandFlintshire,Wrexham county borough,the eastern part ofMerionethinGwyneddand part of northernPowys.TheEpiscopal seatis located in theCathedral Church of St Asaphin thecityofSt AsaphinDenbighshire,northWales.
The Bishop's residence is Esgobty, St Asaph. The current bishop isGregory Cameron,who was elected on 5 January and consecrated on 4 April 2009. He became Bishop of St Asaph in succession toJohn Davies,who was consecrated in October 1999 and who retired in 2008.[1]
Early times[edit]
This diocese was supposedly founded by StKentigern(Cyndeyrn) about the middle of the 6th century, although this is unlikely. The date often given is 583. Exiled from hisseein Scotland, Kentigern is said to have founded a monastery called Llanelwy – which is the Welsh name for St Asaph – at the confluence of the rivers Clwyd and Elwy in north Wales, where after his return to Scotland he was succeeded byAsaphor Asa, who was consecrated Bishop of Llanelwy. TheDiocese of Llanelwyoriginally largely coincided with thekingdom of Powys,together with the part of thekingdom of Gwyneddknown as Gwynedd Is Conwy, but lost much territory first by theMercianencroachment marked by Watt's dyke and again by the construction ofOffa's Dyke,soon after 798. Nothing is known of the history of the diocese during the disturbed period that followed. Some historians doubt the existence of the dioceseper sebefore the Norman period, and the bishop list and the fact that theDiocese of Bangor,in the kingdom of Gwynedd, held large tracts of land there tends to confirm this.
Middle Ages[edit]
TheDomesday Bookof 1086 gives scanty particulars of a few churches but is silent as to the cathedral. Early in the twelfth century Norman influence asserted itself and in 1143Theobald,Archbishop of Canterbury,consecrated one Gilbert as Bishop of St. Asaph, but the position of his successors was very difficult and one of them, Godfrey, was driven away by poverty and the hostility of the Welsh. A return made in the middle of the thirteenth century (London, British Library, Cotton Vitellius, c. x.) shows the existence of eight rural deaneries, seventy-nine churches, and nineteen chapels. By 1291 the deaneries had been doubled in number and there wereCistercianhouses at Basingwerk, Aberconwy, Strata Marcella and Valle Crucis, and aCistercian nunnery,Llanllugan Abbey.The cathedral, which had been burnt in the wars, was rebuilt and completed in 1295. Dedicated to St Asaph, it was a plain massive structure of simple plan, and was again destroyed during theWars of the Roses.When it was restored by Bishop Redman the palace was not rebuilt and thus the bishops continued to be nonresident, notwithstanding the fact that in the late Middle Ages the bishop had five episcopal residences, four of which were alienated underEdward VI of England.Redman was abbot of Shap Abbey and visitor for the Premonstratensian canons, and spent most of his time visiting their monasteries or his diocese; he was diligent in his duties and felt no need to be resident in the city. At the end of the fifteenth century there was a great revival of church building, as is evidenced by the churches of that date still existing in the diocese. The chief shrines in the diocese wereSt Winefred's Well,St Garmon in Yale, StDerfel Gadarnin Edeirnion,St Melangell at Pennant,and the Holy Cross in Strata Marcella. All these were demolished at the Reformation. At that time the diocese contained one archdeaconry, sixteen deaneries, and one hundred and twenty-one parishes.
The names and succession of the bishops after Saints Kentigern and Asaph are not clearly known until 1143. The last bishop in communion with Rome wasThomas Goldwell,who acceded in 1555 and was in the process of being transferred to Oxford whenQueen Marydied andElizabeth Icame to the throne. Goldwell fled to the Continent and died in Rome on 13 April 1585, the last surviving member of the pre-Reformation hierarchy.
TheReport of the Commissioners appointed by his Majesty to inquire into the Ecclesiastical Revenues of England and Wales(1835) found the see had an annual net income of £6,301. This made it the wealthiest diocese in Wales and the fourth richest in Britain after Canterbury, London and Winchester.[2]
The see continued to be part of the Church of England until the Church was disestablished in Wales in 1920, since when it has been part of the (Anglican)Church in Wales.
List of the Bishops of St Asaph[edit]
Pre-reformation bishops[edit]
Bishops of St Asaph | |||
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From | Until | Incumbent | Notes |
6th century AD | Kentigern(Saint Mungo) | OriginallyBishop of Glasgowfromc. 540;founded diocese asepiscopus Elvensis,Elguensis,Elveiisis,Lanelwensis | |
6th century AD | Saint Asaph | ||
c. 600 | Saint Tysilio | ||
c. 800 | Renchidus | ||
c. 928 | Cebur | ||
c. 1070 | Melanus | ||
1143 | c. 1151 | Gilbert | See recreated as suffragan of Canterbury |
c. 1152 | 1154 | Geoffrey of Monmouth | |
1154 | 1155 | Richard | Died in office |
c. 1160 | 1165 | Godfrey | Left see to become abbot of Abingdon in 1165, removed from office in 1175 |
1175 | 1181 | Adam the Welshman | Canon of Pershore |
1183 | c. 1186 | John I | |
1186 | c. 1224 | Reiner | |
1225 | c. 1233 | Abraham | |
1235 | c. 1241 | Hugh | Monk of the Friars |
1242 | 1247 | Hywel ab Ednyfed | Also known as Howel ap Ednevet |
1247 | 1249 | vacant | |
1249 | 1266 | Einion I | Also known as Anian |
1267 | 1268 | John II | |
1268 | 1293 | Einion II | Also known as Anian de Schonau, prior of Rhudland |
1293 | 1314 | Llywelyn de Bromfield | Also known as Leolinus de Bromfield |
1315 | c. 1352 | Dafydd ap Bleddyn | Also known as David ap Blethin; canon of St. Asaph |
1352 | 1357 | John Trevor(I) | Also known as John Trevaur |
1357 | 1375 | Llywelyn ap Madog | Also known as Leolinus ap Madoc ap Elis; dean of St. Asaph |
1376 | 1382 | William Spridlington | Also known as William de Spridlington; dean of St. Asaph |
1382 | 1389 | Lawrence Child | Monk of Battle Abbey, licentiate of the civil law |
1390 | 1394 | Alexander Bache | Also known as Alexander Bach; canon of St. Asaph |
1395 | 1402 | John Trevor(II) | Prebendary of Hereford; deprived, possibly reinstated following David II as see not declared vacant prior to his death in 1410 |
1402 | c. 1408 | David II | |
1411 | c. 1433 | Robert Lancaster | Also known as Robert of Lancaster |
1433 | 1444 | John Low | Also known as John Lobbe; a friar eremite; translated toRochester |
1444 | 1449 | Reginald Pecock | Also known as Reginald Peacock; translated toChichester |
1450 | 1463 | Thomas Bird | Also known as Thomas Knight; deprived for rebellion; temporalities of the diocese to the king, the bishop of Rochester, Robert Caunton, and John Stanley before the pardoning of Thomas in 1471 |
1471 | 1495 | Richard Redman | Translated toExeter |
c. 1495 | 1500 | Michael Deacon | Also known as Michael Dyacon; the king's confessor |
1500 | 1503 | Dafydd ab Ieuan ab Iorwerth | Also known as David ap Yeworth; abbot of Valle Crucis |
c. 1503 | c. 1513 | Dafydd ab Owain | Also known as David ap Owen; abbot of Aberconwy |
1513 | 1518 | Edmund Birkhead | Also known as Edmund Brokehed |
1518 | 1535 | Henry Standish |
During the Reformation[edit]
Bishops of St Asaph | |||
---|---|---|---|
From | Until | Incumbent | Notes |
c. 1535 | 1536 | William Barlow | Prior of Haverfordwest. Translated toSt David's,thenBath & Wells,thenChichester |
1536 | 1554 | Robert Parfew | Also known as Robert Warton; abbot of St. Savior's Bermondsey; translated toHereford |
1556 | c. 1559 | Thomas GoldwellCR | Went into voluntary exile(as Catholic) |
Post-Reformation[edit]
Bishops of theChurch of England[edit]
Bishops of St Asaph | |||
---|---|---|---|
From | Until | Incumbent | Notes |
1560 | 1561 | Richard Davies | Translated toSt David's |
1561 | 1573 | Thomas Davies | |
1573 | 1600 | William Hughes | |
1601 | 1604 | William Morgan | Translator of the Bible into Welsh. Translated fromLlandaff |
1604 | 1623 | Richard Parry | Dean of Bangor |
1624 | 1629 | John Hanmer | Prebendary of Worcester |
1629 | 1646 | John Owen | Archdeacon of St Asaph; deprived of the see when episcopacy was abolished by Parliament on 9 October 1646; died 1651 |
1646 | 1660 | The see was abolished during theCommonwealthand theProtectorate.[3][4] | |
1660 | 1666 | George Griffith | Archdeacon of St Asaph |
1667 | 1670 | Henry Glemham | Dean of Bristol |
1670 | 1680 | Isaac Barrow | Translated fromSodor & Man |
1680 | 1692 | William Lloyd | Dean of Bangor; translated toLichfield & Coventry,thenWorcester |
1692 | 1703 | Edward Jones | Translated fromCloyne,Ireland |
1703 | 1704 | George Hooper | Dean of Canterbury; translated toBath & Wells |
1704 | 1708 | William Beveridge | Archdeacon of Colchester |
1708 | 1714 | William Fleetwood | Canon of Windsor; translated toEly |
1714 | 1727 | John Wynne | Principal of Jesus College, Oxford; translated toBath & Wells |
1727 | 1731 | Francis Hare | Dean of Worcester and of St Paul's in London; translated toChichester |
1732 | 1735 | Thomas Tanner | Canon of Christ Church, Oxford |
1736 | 1743 | Isaac Maddox | Dean of Wells; translated toWorcester |
1743 | 1744 | John Thomas | Dean of Peterborough; elected in Nov. but translated toLincolnin Jan. before consecration |
1744 | 1748 | Samuel Lisle | Archdeacon of Canterbury; translated toNorwich |
1748 | 1761 | Robert Hay Drummond | Prebendary of Westminster; translated toSalisbury |
1761 | 1769 | Richard Newcome | Translated fromLlandaff |
1769 | 1788 | Jonathan Shipley | Translated fromLlandaff |
1789 | 1790 | Samuel Hallifax | Also known as Samuel Halifax; translated fromGloucester |
1790 | 1802 | Lewis Bagot | Translated fromNorwich |
1802 | 1806 | Samuel Horsley | Translated fromRochester |
1806 | 1815 | William Cleaver | Translated fromBangor |
1815 | 1830 | John Luxmoore | Translated fromHereford |
1830 | 1846 | William Carey | Translated fromExeter |
1846 | 1870 | Thomas Vowler Short | Translated fromSodor & Man |
1870 | 1889 | Joshua Hughes | Vicar of Llandovery |
1889 | 1920 | Alfred George Edwards | Church in Wales disestablished 1920 |
Bishops of the disestablishedChurch in Wales[edit]
Bishops of St Asaph | |||
---|---|---|---|
From | Until | Incumbent | Notes |
1920 | 1934 | Alfred George Edwards | FirstArchbishop of Wales1920–1934 |
1934 | 1950 | William Havard | |
1950 | 1971 | David Bartlett | |
1971 | 1981 | Harold Charles | |
1981 | 1999 | Alwyn Rice Jones | Archbishop of Wales 1991–1999 |
1999 | 2008 | John Davies | |
2009 | incumbent | Gregory Cameron | Consecrated 4 April 2009 |
Source(s):[5][6] |
Assistant bishops[edit]
Among those who have served as assistant bishops of the diocese have been:
- 1993–1996:Huw Jones,laterBishop of St Davids
Notes[edit]
- ^"New Bishop of St Asaph is chosen".BBC. 5 January 2009.Retrieved5 January2009.
- ^The National Cyclopaedia of Useful KnowledgeVol.III, (1847), London, Charles Knight, p.362
- ^Plant, David (2002)."Episcopalians".BCW Project.Retrieved25 April2021.
- ^King, Peter (July 1968). "The Episcopate during the Civil Wars, 1642-1649".The English Historical Review.83(328). Oxford University Press: 523–537.doi:10.1093/ehr/lxxxiii.cccxxviii.523.JSTOR564164.
- ^Hardy, T. Duffus.Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae; or, a Calendar of the Principal Ecclesiastical Dignitaries in England and Wales, and of the Chief Officers in the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge from the Earliest Times to the Year MDCCXV, Corrected and Continued to the Present Time,Vol. I, "St. Asaph's".Oxford Univ. Press, 1854. Accessed 18 Feb 2013.
- ^"Historical successions: St Asaph".Crockford's Clerical Directory.Retrieved22 July2012.
References[edit]
- 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
- https://web.archive.org/web/20050320015243/http://tejones.net/religion/Bishops/
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Ancient Diocese of Saint Asaph".Catholic Encyclopedia.New York: Robert Appleton Company.