Medieval Bishops' Houses in England and Wales

Michael Thompson

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781138324497
• eBook ISBN: 9780429834912
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: History

First published in 1998, this book describes the surviving medieval remains there and the far more numerous manor houses and castles owned by the bishops, as well as their London houses. Apart from royal residences these are far the largest group of medieval domestic buildings of a single type that we have. The author describes how these buildings relate to the way of life of the bishops in relation to their duties and their income and how in particular the dramatic social changes of the later middle ages influenced their form. The work of the great bishop castle-builders of the 12th century is discussed, as are the general history of the medieval house with its early influence from the Continent, the changes in style of hall and chamber (still controversial) and its climax in the great courtyard houses of Cardinal Wolsey, Archbishop of York. The book includes over a hundred plans, sections and photographs of the surviving parts of bishops' residences, with a survey of 1647 of the Archbishop's palace at Canterbury before demolition.

1 Introduction

'Bishop', the word being derived from Greek episkopos, overseer, was the title conferred on a higher grade of priest who held ecclesiastical jurisdiction over a considerable area, the diocese, a division adopted by Christians from the Roman empire at an early date. There were evidently bishops and presumably dioceses in Britain in the late Roman period, the fourth century AD. However, in this country the mission of St Augustine in 598 was the starting point, spreading from the south-east, for dioceses based on cathedrals —the church with the bishop's throne, the cathedra from which the bishop derived his authority. The changes in Saxon times in the dioceses need not concern us; sufficient for our purposes is it that after some shuffling of sees from rural to urban sites in the years following the Conquest the creation of the diocese of Carlisle in 1133 completed the pattern of 21 dioceses (omitting Galloway) that lasted until the Reformation in England and Wales when six more were created in England (Brett, 1975, chap. 1).

A peculiarity of the English bishoprics was that about half of the cathedrals were monasteries served by monks or canons: Benedictine at Canterbury, Rochester, Winchester, Durham, Worcester, Norwich and Ely, and Augustinian at Carlisle. The remaining 9 were secular served by secular canons: Hereford, Lincoln, Wells, Lichfield, York, Exeter, Salisbury, Chichester, London and the four Welsh sees of St Davids, Llandaff, Bangor and St Asaph. In the case of Bath and Wells, a joint see, Bath was monastic, although the bishop transferred his residence to Wells early in the thirteenth century. Coventry and Lichfield was again a partnership with Coventry monastic, the bishop having palaces at both places although he lived mainly at Lichfield from the thirteenth century. The see had earlier been a secular one at St John's, Chester. The extent of the dioceses was more or less fixed but in these two cases the see had two centres. We might expect, then, a total of 24 see palaces although in fact two sees never seem to have had one.

It can be seen in fig. 1 that the variation in size of dioceses was enormous, varying from Lincoln that extended from the Humber to the Thames to a tiny diocese like Rochester that occupied the corner of Kent. More important from a building point of view was the income available to the bishop: rich, £2500—4000 a year (Winchester, Canterbury, Durham); comfortable £1500—2500 a year (Ely, York, Lincoln, Bath and Wells, Exeter); tight, £750—1500 a year (Salisbury, London, Worcester, Norwich, Hereford); poor, £100-750 (Carlisle Rochester, Coventry and Lichfield, Chichester and the Welsh dioceses) (Heal, 1980, 40).

1. Map of medieval dioceses in England and Wales (G. Hill)

These figures are derived from the Valor Ecclesiasticus, the great survey at the Reformation of monasteries and cathedrals. There are earlier figures from the Domesday Book or the Taxatio ecclesiastica of the late thirteenth century, or later ones from the sale of episcopal lands by parliament at the time of the Commonwealth (Tatham, 1908) but all indicate the same sort of distribution of wealth.

The money derived from temporalities and spiritualities, or secular and ecclesiastical as we would say. The first was far more important for all except the poorest sees. When the dioceses were created land was given or bequeathed to the institution, the cathedral, but by the Norman Conquest or soon after, the capital was divided into two: one to support the prior and convent (the mensa) in the monastic cathedrals, or the dean and chapter in the secular cathedrals, and the rest to support the prelate (Howell, 1982). Only when the bishops enjoyed full rights over their manors could they freely use the resources accruing to them to construct houses.

At the Reformation there were estimated to be 640 manors belonging to the bishops, Winchester having 75, Canterbury 66, Durham 62, Ely 50 and so on down the line. The manors normally lay within the bishop's diocese, but in some cases outside, particularly with the archbishop of Canterbury. Not only did a bishop's resources come principally from his manors but he lived most of the time in houses on them, so they are central to the whole story with which we are concerned (fig. 2).

Manors could be in demesne, that is farmed directly or let out which was less usual. In the former case there had to be buildings to house the bailiff who was running the property, but when d...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of illustrations
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Abbreviations
• Chapter 1 Introduction
• Chapter 2 Castles by the cathedral
• Chapter 3 See palaces
• Chapter 4 London houses
• Chapter 5 Castles on the manors
• Chapter 6 Episcopal security in the later middle ages
• Chapter 7 Manor houses
• Chapter 8 Conclusion
• Appendices
• Bibliography
• Index