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.

The Prince Bishops and their powers

William St Carileph, a much stronger bishop than his predecessor, had thus become the first head of the County Palatinate of Durham: a virtually separate state, and defensive buffer zone sandwiched between "civilised" England and the often-dangerous Northumbria-Scottish borderland. Carileph and successive bishops had nearly all the powers within their County Palatinate that the king had in the rest of England. Although they were often called Prince Bishops this title was not actually used by any of the office holders.

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The exceptional independence of the bishops reached its full development by 1300, although it diminished very substantially during the sixteenth century. Full powers were not returned to the Crown until 1836.

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Bishops of Durham had the power to;

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• hold their own parliament
• raise their own armies
• appoint their own sheriffs and Justices
• administer their own laws
• levy taxes and customs duties
• create fairs and markets
• issue charters
• salvage shipwrecks
• collect revenue from mines
• administer the forests
• mint their own coins

In 1093 Bishop William demolished the old Durham Minster. The first stones of the replacement cathedral were laid by the Bishop and King Malcolm III of Scotland – even though Malcolm had invaded the county just two years before. Only a few months later, Malcolm III was killed during a raid on Alnwick.

Related Topics:
Minster - Cathedral - Malcolm III of Scotland - Alnwick

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Because the Earl joined the new King Donald III of Scotland, William Rufus invaded and took direct control of Northumbria. Suspecting of supporting the revolt, Bishop Carileph was summoned to Windsor to meet the king; he died there on January 6, 1096. Ranulf Flambard, William Rufus' chief adviser, was appointed the next Bishop, but not until 1099. Flambard had acquired a fortune for himself and the king by collecting revenue from postponed appointments and through his tough approach to taxing the barons.

Related Topics:
Donald III of Scotland - Windsor - January 6 - 1096

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By 1100 William Rufus was dead and Henry I was on the throne. To appease the barons, Flambard was imprisoned in the Tower of London. The first prisoner in the tower, Flambard also become the first to escape – using a rope smuggled in by a butler in a cask of wine. He then fled to seek refuge in Normandy.

Related Topics:
1100 - Henry I - Tower of London - Normandy

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One of the many anomalies of county administration in England that were resolved in the late nineteenth century was Islandshire. This exclave resulted from the Bishop holding Bedlington, and the shires or parishes of Norham and Holy Island, which lie on the south bank of the River Tweed, and also the Bishop's duty to maintain a major fortress overlooking the Tweed at Norham to check Scottish incursions. For a period Carlisle was also placed under the bishop's jurisdiction, to protect the west of England from invasion.

Related Topics:
Islandshire - Exclave - Bedlington - Norham - Holy Island - Carlisle

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To differentiate his ecclesiastical and civil functions, the Bishops used two or more seals: the traditional almond-shaped seal of a cleric, and the oval seal of a nobleman. They also had a large round seal showing them seated administering justice on one side, and, on the other, armed and mounted on horseback. That design was, and still is, used by monarchs as the Great Seal of the Realm. Similarly, the bishop of Durham's coat of arms was set against a crosier and a sword, instead of two crosiers, and the mitre above the coat of arms was encircled with a coronet normally reserved for dukes.

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In 1534, under King Henry VIII, an act was passed that listed the places that might be used in providing titles for Anglican assistant-bishops appointed as assistants to diocesan bishops. Such bishops had been common in the diocese of Durham, ensuring that episcopal functions continued to be performed while the diocesan bishop was playing his expected part in affairs of state. For instance Bishop Langley was frequently in London and occasionally overseas because as chancellor to Kings Henry IV, Henry V and Henry VI, he was the highest ranking servant of the Crown.

Related Topics:
Henry VIII - Anglican - Henry IV - Henry V - Henry VI

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