Bishop of Ely
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The Bishop of Ely is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Ely in the Province of Canterbury. During the Middle Ages and Tudor times, the Diocese was Roman Catholic.
The diocese roughly covers the county of Cambridgeshire (with the exception of the Soke of Peterborough) and has its see in the City of Ely, Cambridgeshire, where the seat is located at the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity.
The current bishop is the Right Reverend Dr Anthony John Russell, BA, DPhil, the 68th Lord Bishop of Ely, who signs + Anthony Ely. The Bishops of Ely now reside in the Bishop's House, Ely, the former Cathedral Deanery.
History
The earliest historical notice of Ely is given by the Venerable Bede who writes (Hist. Eccl., IV, xix):- "Ely is in the province of the East Angles, a country of about six hundred families, in the nature of an island, enclosed either with marshes or waters, and therefore it has its name from the great abundance of eels which are taken in those marshes."
For more than a century the monastery flourished, till about the year 1105 Abbot Richard suggested the creation of the See of Ely, to relieve the enormous Diocese of Lincoln. The pope's brief erecting the new bishopric was issued 21 November 1108, and in October 1109 King Henry I granted his charter, the first Bishop being Hervé le Breton, or Harvey (1109-1131), former Bishop of Bangor. The monastery church thus became one of the "conventual" cathedrals. Of this building the transepts and two bays of the nave already existed, and in 1170 the nave as it stands to-day (a complete and perfect specimen of late Norman work) was finished. As the bishops succeeded to the principality of St Etheldreda they enjoyed palatine power and great resources.
The Bishops of Ely usually held high office in the State and the roll includes many names of famous statesmen, including eight Lord Chancellors and six Lord Treasurers. The Bishops of Ely spent much of their wealth on their cathedral, with the result that Ely can show beautiful examples of gothic architecture of every period.
Among his successors Geoffry Riddell (1174-1189) built nave and began the West Tower, Eustace (1198-1215) the West Porch, while Hugh de Norwold (1229-1254) rebuilt the Norman choir and John Hotham (1316-1337) rebuilt the collapsed central tower. Bishop John Alcock (1486-1500) was the founder of Jesus College, Cambridge. Two bishops - John de Fontibus and Hugh Belsham - were reputed saints, but never received formal cult; the former was commemorated on 19 June. Bishop Goodrich showed reforming tendencies and during his pontificate the monastery with all its dependencies was suppressed. The last Catholic bishop was Thomas Thirlby, who was one of the eleven confessor-bishops imprisoned by Elizabeth and who died imprisoned at Lambeth in 1570.
List of the Bishops of the Diocese of Ely, England
| Tenure | Incumbent | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1109 to 1133 | Hervey | Translated from Bangor |
| 1133 to 1174 | Nigel | |
| 1174 to 1189 | Geoffrey Ridel | Died in office |
| 1189 to 1198 | William Longchamp | |
| 1198 to 1220 | Eustace | |
| 1220 to 1225 | John of Fountains | |
| 1225 to 1229 | Geoffrey de Burgo | |
| 1229 to 1255 | Hugh of Northwold | |
| 1255 to 1258 | William of Kilkenny | |
| 1258 to 1286 | Hugh of Balsham | |
| 1286 to 1290 | John of Kirkby | |
| 1290 to 1299 | William of Louth | |
| 1299 to 1303 | Ralph Walpole | Translated from Peterborough |
| 1303 to 1310 | Robert Orford | |
| 1310 to 1316 | John Ketton | |
| 1316 to 1337 | John Hotham | |
| 1337 to 1345 | Simon Montacute | |
| 1345 to 1362 | Thomas de Lisle | |
| 1362 to 1367 | Simon Langham | |
| 1367 to 1374 | John Barnet | |
| 1374 to 1388 | Thomas Arundel (Thomas FitzAlan) | Translated to York |
| 1388 to 1426 | John Fordham | |
| 1426 to 1438 | Philip Morgan | |
| 1438 to 1444 | Lewis of Luxembourg | |
| 1444 to 1454 | Thomas Bourgchier (Thomas Bourgchier) | Translated to Canterbury |
| 1454 to 1479 | William Grey | |
| 1479 to 1486 | John Morton | Translated to Canterbury |
| 1486 to 1501 | John Alcock | Translated from Worcester |
| 26 September 1501 to 24 August 1505 | Richard Redman | Translated from Exeter; died in office |
| 17 July 1506 to 1515 | James Stanley | Constituted by Papal Bull |
| 1515 to 1534 | Nicholas West | |
| 1534 to 10 May 1554 | Thomas Goodrich (Thomas Goodricke) | Died in office |
| 1554 to 5 July 1559 | Thomas Thirlby | Translated from Norwich; deprived |
| 1559 to 22 July 1581 | Richard Cox | Died in office |
| 1600 to 1609 | Martin Heton | |
| 1609 to 1619 | Lancelot Andrewes | Translated from Chichester; translated to Winchester |
| 1619 to 1628 | Nicolas Felton | |
| 1628 to 1631 | John Buckeridge | |
| 1631 to 1638 | Francis White | |
| 1638 to 1667 | Matthew Wren | Translated from Norwich |
| 1667 to 1675 | Benjamin Laney | |
| 1675 to 6 July 1684 | Peter Gunning | Translated from Chichester; died in office |
| 1684 to 1691 | Francis Turner | |
| 1691 to 1707 | Simon Patrick | |
| 1707 to 1714 | John Moore | |
| 1714 to 4 August 1723 | William Fleetwood | Translated from St Asaph; died in office |
| 1723 to 1738 | Thomas Greene | |
| 1738 to 1748 | Robert Butts | |
| 1748 to 1754 | Thomas Gooch | |
| 1754 to 1771 | Matthias Mawson | |
| 1771 to 1781 | Edmund Keene | |
| 1781 to 1808 | James Yorke | |
| 1808 to 1812 | Thomas Dampier | |
| 1812 to 1836 | Bowyer Edward Sparke | |
| 1836 to 1845 | Joseph Allen | |
| 1845 to 1864 | Thomas Turton | |
| 1864 to 1873 | Edward Harold Browne | |
| 1873 to 1886 | James Russell Woodford | |
| 1886 to 1905 | Alwyne Frederick Compton | |
| 1905 to 1924 | Frederick Henry Chase | |
| 1924 to 1934 | Leonard Jauncey White-Thomson | |
| 1934 to 1941 | Bernard Oliver Francis Heyward | |
| 1941 to 1957 | Harold Edward Wynn | |
| 1957 to 1964 | Noel Baring Hudson | |
| 1964 to 1977 | Edward James Keymer Roberts | |
| 1977 to 1990 | Peter Knight Walker | |
| 1990 to 2000 | Stephen Whitefield Sykes | Resigned |
| 2000 to present | Dr Anthony John Russell, BA, DPhil | previously Area Bishop of Dorchester |
Sources
- Haydn's Book of Dignities (1894) Joseph Haydn/Horace Ockerby, reprinted 1969
- Whitaker's Almanack 1883 to 2004, Joseph Whitaker and Sons Ltd/A&C Black, London
- Catholic Encyclopaedia, 1908
See also
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