Bishop of Lincoln
The Bishop of Lincoln heads the Anglican Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury. The bishops were Roman Catholic until the English Reformation of the 1530s.
The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire. The Bishop's seat, or cathedra, is located in the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the city of Lincoln. This was originally a minster church founded around 653 and re-founded as a cathedral in 1072.
The current bishop of is the Right Reverend Dr John Saxbee, the 71st (34th Anglican) Bishop of Lincoln, who signs John Lincoln. His official residence is Bishop's House in Lincoln.
History
Identifying the origin of the diocese has posed some difficulty. The original Catholic diocese of Lindsey (Lindine) was founded in 628 by the Roman missionary, Saint Paulinus of York, almost certainly with its seat at the church of St Paul-in-the-Bail in Lincoln. This did not outlive Paulinus's flight south in 633.
A subsequent diocese was considered the foundation of Saint Theodore, Archbishop of Canterbury, out of the diocese of Lindisfarne. The seat of this supposed Bishop of Lindsey at Sidnacester (Syddensis) has been placed, by various commentators, at Caistor, Louth, Horncastle and, most often, at Stow, all in present-day Lincolnshire. More recent research has concluded, however, that the seat was, in fact, the original foundation of 628 in Lincoln itself.
Due to the threat of Viking invasion, the bishop's seat was moved to the cathedral at Dorchester-on-Thames in present-day Oxfordshire in 971. Each subsequent bishop was called Bishop of Dorchester until the seat returned to Lincoln and the diocese renamed in 1072.
List of the Bishops of the Diocese of Lindsey
| Tenure | Incumbent | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Diocese of Lindsey - Seat at Lincoln | ||
| 678 to c.679 | Eadhedus (Eadhæd) |
Expelled; retired to Ripon |
| c.680 to 692? | Ethelwinus (Æthelwine) |
|
| ?693 or 701 to 716 or 731 | Edgarus (Edgar) |
|
| 720 or 716 or 731 to 733 | Kinebertus (Embercus; Cyneberht) |
|
| 733 to 750 | Alwigh (Alwig) |
|
| 750 or 751 to 765 | Eadulphus (Aldwulf) |
|
| 765/767 to 783 or 796 | Ceolulfus (Ceolwulf) |
|
| 783 to 789 | Unwona | |
| 789 or 796 to 836 or 839 | Eadulphus, Syddensis civitas episcopus (Eadwulf) |
|
| 836 or 839 to 862 or 866? | Beorhtred (Berhtred) |
Last de facto Bishop of Lindsey |
| 862 or 866 to 866 or 869 | Eadbald | Nominal bishop of Lindsey |
| 866 or 869 to 869? | ?Burgheard | Nominal bishop of Lindsey |
| 866 or 869 to 875? | or ?Eadberht |
Nominal bishop of Lindsey |
| 875? to 953? | Apparent interruption to succession | |
| 953? to 971 or 975 | Leofwine | Nominal bishop of Lindsey |
| ?996 to 1004 | Sigeferth | Last nominal bishop of Lindsey |
| ?1009 to 1011? | ?Ælfstan | Possible nominal bishop of Lindsey |
Bishops of a united Diocese of Dorchester-on-Thames with Lindsey
Leofwine was Bishop of both Lindsey and Dorchester-on-Thames. In 971, he formally united the Diocese of Lindsey/Lincoln with that of Dorchester. The bishops' seat was kept at Dorchester Cathedral, and each was thus known as Bishop of Dorchester. As shown above, nominal or suffragan Bishops of Lindsey appear to have continued for some time.
List of the Bishops of the Diocese of Lincoln
| Anglican Hierarchy in Great Britain | ||
| Provincial metropolitans | Diocesan bishops | |
| The Church of England | ||
| Canterbury | Bath & Wells | Birmingham | Bristol | Saint Edmundsbury & Ipswich | Chelmsford | Chichester | Coventry | Derby | Ely | Exeter | Gibraltar in Europe | Gloucester | Guildford | Hereford | Leicester | Lichfield | Lincoln | London | Norwich | Oxford | Peterborough | Portsmouth | Rochester | Saint Albans | Salisbury | Southwark | Truro | Winchester | Worcester | |
| York | Blackburn | Bradford | Carlisle | Chester | Durham | Liverpool | Manchester | Newcastle | Ripon and Leeds | Sheffield | Sodor & Man | Southwell | Wakefield | |
| The Church in Wales | ||
| Wales | Bangor | Llandaff | Monmouth | Saint Asaph | Saint David's | Swansea & Brecon | |
| The Scottish Episcopal Church | ||
| Primus | Aberdeen and Orkney | Argyll & the Isles | Brechin | Edinburgh | Glasgow & Galloway | Moray, Ross & Caithness | Saint Andrews, Dunkeld & Dunblane | |
Sources
- Cathedrals and Abbeys of England & Wales Richard Morris, 1979, J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd
- Discovering Cathedrals David Pepin, 2004, Shire Publications Ltd
- The Observer's Book of Cathedrals Anthony S.B.New, 1972, Frederick Warne & Co Ltd
- Haydn's Book of Dignities (1894) Joseph Haydn/Horace Ockerby, reprinted 1969
- Whitaker's Almanack 1883 to 2004 Joseph Whittaker & Sons/A&C Black, London
- Handbook of British Chronology (2nd ed, 1961), Royal Historical Society
