Bishop of Durham

The Bishop of Durham is the officer of the Church of England responsible for the diocese of Durham, one of the oldest in the country. He is the senior bishop in the province of York, and sits in the House of Lords. Other duties include (with the Bishop of Bath and Wells) escorting the sovereign at the coronation. He is officially styled The Right Reverend Father in God, (Name), by Divine Permission Lord Bishop of Durham, but this full title is rarely used. In signatures, the bishop's family name is replaced by Dunelm (from the Latin name for Durham). In the past, bishops of Durham alternated their signatures between the French Duresm and Dunelm.

Origin of the Prince Bishops

The County Palatine of Durham was once a virtually independent state ruled by the so-called Prince Bishops, who were more or less the Kings of County Durham. It owes its unique position to the 7th and 8th century Kingdom of Northumbria. Although it once stretched from the Humber to the Firth of Forth, making up almost a third of the entire mainland of Britain, invasions by the Vikings and Scots reduced it to an earldom, stretching from the River Tweed to the Tees. It acted as a buffer zone, protecting the rest of England from Scottish invaders.

Related Topics:
Northumbria - Humber - Firth of Forth - Vikings - Scots - River Tweed - Tees

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Northumbria at the time of the Conquest

Both the Bishops of Durham and the Earls of Bamburgh had remained virtually independent of the Kings of England, even during the reign of Alfred the Great (849-899). When William the Conqueror became king of England in 1066, he soon realised he needed to control Northumbria to protect his kingdom from Scottish invasion. William gained the allegiance of both Bishop and Earl, and confirmed their powers and privileges, acknowledging the remote independence of Northumbria. Even so, rebellions followed.

Related Topics:
Alfred the Great - 849 - 899 - William the Conqueror - 1066

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William therefore attempted to install Robert Comine, a Norman noble, as the Earl of Northumbria, but before Comine could take up office, he and his 700 men were massacred in the City of Durham. In revenge, the Conqueror led his army in a bloody raid into Northumbria, an event that became known as `the Harrying of the North'. Aethelwine, the Anglo-Saxon Bishop of Durham, tried to flee Northumbria at the time of the raid, with Northumbrian treasures. The bishop was caught, imprisoned, and later died in confinement, his see becoming vacant.

Related Topics:
Norman - City of Durham - Anglo-Saxon

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The Earl-Bishop of Northumbria

The Norman William Walcher was appointed as the new Bishop of Durham, but since the north was still not completely subdued, the King appointed an Anglo-Saxon called Waltheof, of the old Northumbria house, as the new Earl. A close friendship developed between Walcher and Waltheof and the earl built a castle at Durham for his bishop; but Waltheof was nevertheless executed in 1075 after another rebellion.

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Waltheof's powers were given to Walcher, the first and only Earl-Bishop of Northumbria. Now the Northumbrian province maintained a degree of political independence but was in the hands of one of the King's men. Walcher was a well-intentioned man but an incompetent leader, and this led to his murder in Gateshead in 1081.

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Northumbria partitioned - Northumberland and Durham

Despite the murder, the new King William Rufus continued William I's policy in Northumbria. Walcher's successor, Bishop William of St. Carilef (1081-1096), was thus also given the powers of Earl, but only south of the Rivers Tyne and Derwent. This became the County Palatinate of Durham. The remainder, to the north of the rivers, became the county of Northumberland, where the political powers of the Bishops of Durham were limited to only certain districts. Despite the partition of political power, the Durham bishops remained the religious leaders for the whole of Northumbria until the creation of the diocese of Newcastle upon Tyne in the nineteenth century.

Related Topics:
William Rufus - William of St. Carilef - Tyne - Derwent - County Palatinate of Durham - County of Northumberland - Newcastle upon Tyne

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