Bishop of St Asaph | |
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Bishopric | |
anglican | |
Incumbent: Gregory Cameron | |
Location | |
Ecclesiastical province | Wales |
Information | |
Diocese | St Asaph |
Cathedral | St Asaph Cathedral |
The Bishop of St Asaph heads the Church in Wales diocese of St Asaph.
The diocese covers the counties of Conwy and Flintshire, Wrexham county borough, the eastern part of Merioneth in Gwynedd and part of northern Powys. The Episcopal seat is located in the Cathedral Church of St Asaph in the city of St Asaph in Denbighshire, north Wales.
The Bishop's residence is Esgobty, St Asaph. The current bishop is Gregory Cameron, who was elected on 5 January and consecrated on 4 April 2009. He became Bishop of St Asaph in succession to John Davies, who was consecrated in October 1999 and who retired in 2008. [1]
This diocese was supposedly founded by St Kentigern (Cyndeyrn) about the middle of the 6th century, although this is unlikely. The date often given is 583. Exiled from his see in Scotland, Kentigern is said to have founded a monastery called Llanelwy – which is the Welsh name for St Asaph – at the confluence of the rivers Clwyd and Elwy in north Wales, where after his return to Scotland he was succeeded by Asaph or Asa, who was consecrated Bishop of Llanelwy. The Diocese of Llanelwy originally largely coincided with the kingdom of Powys, together with the part of the kingdom of Gwynedd known as Gwynedd Is Conwy, but lost much territory first by the Mercian encroachment marked by Watt's dyke and again by the construction of Offa's Dyke, soon after 798. Nothing is known of the history of the diocese during the disturbed period that followed. Some historians doubt the existence of the diocese per se before the Norman period, and the bishop list and the fact that the Diocese of Bangor, in the kingdom of Gwynedd, held large tracts of land there tends to confirm this.
Domesday Book gives scanty particulars of a few churches but is silent as to the cathedral. Early in the twelfth century Norman influence asserted itself and in 1143 Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury, consecrated one Gilbert as Bishop of St. Asaph, but the position of his successors was very difficult and one of them, Godfrey, was driven away by poverty and the hostility of the Welsh. A return made in the middle of the thirteenth century (London, British Library, Cotton Vitellius, c. x.) shows the existence of eight rural deaneries, seventy-nine churches, and nineteen chapels. By 1291 the deaneries had been doubled in number and there were Cistercian houses at Basingwerk, Aberconwy, Strata Marcella and Valle Crucis, and a Cistercian nunnery, Llanllugan Abbey. The cathedral, which had been burnt in the wars, was rebuilt and completed in 1295. Dedicated to St Asaph, it was a plain massive structure of simple plan, and was again destroyed during the Wars of the Roses. When it was restored by Bishop Redman the palace was not rebuilt and thus the bishops continued to be nonresident, notwithstanding the fact that in the late Middle Ages the bishop had five episcopal residences, four of which were alienated under Edward VI of England. Redman was abbot of Shap Abbey and visitor for the Premonstratensian canons, and spent most of his time visiting their monasteries or his diocese; he was diligent in his duties and felt no need to be resident in the city. At the end of the fifteenth century there was a great revival of church building, as is evidenced by the churches of that date still existing in the diocese. The chief shrines in the diocese were St Winefred's Well, St Garmon in Yale, St Derfel Gadarn in Edeirnion, St Melangell at Pennant, and the Holy Cross in Strata Marcella. All these were demolished at the Reformation. At that time the diocese contained one archdeaconry, sixteen deaneries, and one hundred and twenty-one parishes.
The names and succession of the bishops after Saints Kentigern and Asaph are not clearly known until 1143. The last bishop in communion with Rome was Thomas Goldwell, who acceded in 1555 and was in the process of being transferred to Oxford when Queen Mary died and Elizabeth I came to the throne. Goldwell fled to the Continent and died in Rome on 13 April 1585, the last surviving member of the pre-Reformation hierarchy.
The Report of the Commissioners appointed by his Majesty to inquire into the Ecclesiastical Revenues of England and Wales (1835) found the see had an annual net income of £6,301. This made it the wealthiest diocese in Wales and the fourth richest in Britain after Canterbury, London and Winchester. [2]
The see continued to be part of the Church of England until the Church was disestablished in Wales in 1920, since when it has been part of the (Anglican) Church in Wales.
Bishops of St Asaph | |||
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From | Until | Incumbent | Notes |
6th century AD | Kentigern (Saint Mungo) | Originally Bishop of Glasgow from c. 540; founded diocese as episcopus Elvensis, Elguensis, Elveiisis, Lanelwensis | |
6th century AD | Saint Asaph | ||
c. 600 | Saint Tysilio | ||
c. 800 | Renchidus | ||
c. 928 | Cebur | ||
c. 1070 | Melanus | ||
1143 | c. 1151 | Gilbert | See recreated as suffragan of Canterbury |
c. 1152 | 1154 | Geoffrey of Monmouth | |
1154 | 1155 | Richard | Died in office |
c. 1160 | 1165 | Godfrey | Left see to become abbot of Abingdon in 1165, removed from office in 1175 |
1175 | 1181 | Adam the Welshman | Canon of Pershore |
1183 | c. 1186 | John I | |
1186 | c. 1224 | Reiner | |
1225 | c. 1233 | Abraham | |
1235 | c. 1241 | Hugh | Monk of the Friars |
1242 | 1247 | Hywel ab Ednyfed | Also known as Howel ap Ednevet |
1247 | 1249 | vacant | |
1249 | 1266 | Einion I | Also known as Anian |
1267 | 1268 | John II | |
1268 | 1293 | Einion II | Also known as Anian de Schonau, prior of Rhudland |
1293 | 1314 | Llywelyn de Bromfield | Also known as Leolinus de Bromfield |
1315 | c. 1352 | Dafydd ap Bleddyn | Also known as David ap Blethin; canon of St. Asaph |
1352 | 1357 | John Trevor (I) | Also known as John Trevaur |
1357 | 1375 | Llywelyn ap Madog | Also known as Leolinus ap Madoc ap Elis; dean of St. Asaph |
1376 | 1382 | William Spridlington | Also known as William de Spridlington; dean of St. Asaph |
1382 | 1389 | Lawrence Child | Monk of Battle Abbey, licentiate of the civil law |
1390 | 1394 | Alexander Bache | Also known as Alexander Bach; canon of St. Asaph |
1395 | 1402 | John Trevor (II) | Prebendary of Hereford; deprived, possibly reinstated following David II as see not declared vacant prior to his death in 1410 |
1402 | c. 1408 | David II | |
1411 | c. 1433 | Robert Lancaster | Also known as Robert of Lancaster |
1433 | 1444 | John Low | Also known as John Lobbe; a friar eremite; translated to Rochester |
1444 | 1449 | Reginald Pecock | Also known as Reginald Peacock; translated to Chichester |
1450 | 1463 | Thomas Bird | Also known as Thomas Knight; deprived for rebellion; temporalities of the diocese to the king, the bishop of Rochester, Robert Caunton, and John Stanley before the pardoning of Thomas in 1471 |
1471 | 1495 | Richard Redman | Translated to Exeter |
c. 1495 | 1500 | Michael Deacon | Also known as Michael Dyacon; the king's confessor |
1500 | 1503 | Dafydd ab Ieuan ab Iorwerth | Also known as David ap Yeworth; abbot of Valle Crucis |
c. 1503 | c. 1513 | Dafydd ab Owain | Also known as David ap Owen; abbot of Aberconwy |
1513 | 1518 | Edmund Birkhead | Also known as Edmund Brokehed |
1518 | 1535 | Henry Standish |
Bishops of St Asaph | |||
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From | Until | Incumbent | Notes |
c. 1535 | 1536 | William Barlow | Prior of Haverfordwest. Translated to St David's, then Bath & Wells, then Chichester |
1536 | 1554 | Robert Parfew | Also known as Robert Warton; abbot of St. Savior's Bermondsey; translated to Hereford |
1556 | c. 1559 | Thomas Goldwell CR | Went into voluntary exile (as Catholic) |
Bishops of St Asaph | |||
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From | Until | Incumbent | Notes |
1560 | 1561 | Richard Davies | Translated to St David's |
1561 | 1573 | Thomas Davies | |
1573 | 1600 | William Hughes | |
1601 | 1604 | William Morgan | Translator of the Bible into Welsh. Translated from Llandaff |
1604 | 1623 | Richard Parry | Dean of Bangor |
1624 | 1629 | John Hanmer | Prebendary of Worcester |
1629 | 1646 | John Owen | Archdeacon of St Asaph; deprived of the see when episcopacy was abolished by Parliament on 9 October 1646; died 1651 |
1646 | 1660 | The see was abolished during the Commonwealth and the Protectorate. [3] [4] | |
1660 | 1666 | George Griffith | Archdeacon of St Asaph |
1667 | 1670 | Henry Glemham | Dean of Bristol |
1670 | 1680 | Isaac Barrow | Translated from Sodor & Man |
1680 | 1692 | William Lloyd | Dean of Bangor; translated to Lichfield & Coventry, then Worcester |
1692 | 1703 | Edward Jones | Translated from Cloyne, Ireland |
1703 | 1704 | George Hooper | Dean of Canterbury; translated to Bath & Wells |
1704 | 1708 | William Beveridge | Archdeacon of Colchester |
1708 | 1714 | William Fleetwood | Canon of Windsor; translated to Ely |
1714 | 1727 | John Wynne | Principal of Jesus College, Oxford; translated to Bath & Wells |
1727 | 1731 | Francis Hare | Dean of Worcester and of St Paul's in London; translated to Chichester |
1732 | 1735 | Thomas Tanner | Canon of Christ Church, Oxford |
1736 | 1743 | Isaac Maddox | Dean of Wells; translated to Worcester |
1743 | 1744 | John Thomas | Dean of Peterborough; elected in Nov. but translated to Lincoln in Jan. before consecration |
1744 | 1748 | Samuel Lisle | Archdeacon of Canterbury; translated to Norwich |
1748 | 1761 | Robert Hay Drummond | Prebendary of Westminster; translated to Salisbury |
1761 | 1769 | Richard Newcome | Translated from Llandaff |
1769 | 1788 | Jonathan Shipley | Translated from Llandaff |
1789 | 1790 | Samuel Hallifax | Also known as Samuel Halifax; translated from Gloucester |
1790 | 1802 | Lewis Bagot | Translated from Norwich |
1802 | 1806 | Samuel Horsley | Translated from Rochester |
1806 | 1815 | William Cleaver | Translated from Bangor |
1815 | 1830 | John Luxmoore | Translated from Hereford |
1830 | 1846 | William Carey | Translated from Exeter |
1846 | 1870 | Thomas Vowler Short | Translated from Sodor & Man |
1870 | 1889 | Joshua Hughes | Vicar of Llandovery |
1889 | 1920 | Alfred George Edwards | Church in Wales disestablished 1920 |
Bishops of St Asaph | |||
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From | Until | Incumbent | Notes |
1920 | 1934 | Alfred George Edwards | First Archbishop of Wales 1920–1934 |
1934 | 1950 | William Havard | |
1950 | 1971 | David Bartlett | |
1971 | 1981 | Harold Charles | |
1981 | 1999 | Alwyn Rice Jones | Archbishop of Wales 1991–1999 |
1999 | 2008 | John Davies | |
2009 | incumbent | Gregory Cameron | Consecrated 4 April 2009 |
Source(s): [5] [6] |
Among those who have served as assistant bishops of the diocese have been:
Kentigern, known as Mungo, was a missionary in the Brittonic Kingdom of Strathclyde in the late sixth century, and the founder and patron saint of the city of Glasgow.
St Asaph is a city and community on the River Elwy in Denbighshire, Wales. In the 2011 Census it had a population of 3,355, making it the second-smallest city in the United Kingdom in terms of population and urban area. It is in the historic county of Flintshire.
Thomas Goldwell was an English Catholic clergyman, Bishop of Saint Asaph, the last of those Catholic bishops who had refused to accept the English Reformation.
Saint Deiniol was traditionally the first Bishop of Bangor in the Kingdom of Gwynedd, Wales. The present Bangor Cathedral, dedicated to Deiniol, is said to be on the site where his monastery stood. He is venerated in Brittany as Saint Denoual. In English and Latin his name is sometimes rendered as Daniel.
The Diocese of Saint Asaph is a diocese of the Church in Wales in north-east Wales, named after Saint Asaph, its second bishop.
Saint Asaph was, in the second half of the 6th century, the first Bishop of St Asaph, i.e. bishop of the diocese of Saint Asaph.
The Bishop of Bangor is the ordinary of the Church in Wales Diocese of Bangor. The see is based in the city of Bangor where the bishop's seat (cathedra) is at Cathedral Church of Saint Deiniol.
The Diocese of Chester is a Church of England diocese in the Province of York covering the pre-1974 county of Cheshire and therefore including the Wirral and parts of Stockport, Trafford and Tameside.
Madog ap Gruffudd, or Madog ap Gruffudd Maelor, was Prince of Powys Fadog from 1191 to 1236 in north-east Wales, and Lord of Powys. He was the founder of Valle Crucis Abbey, in the lordship of Yale.
The Diocese of Wrexham, is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Wales. The diocese is a suffragan in the ecclesiastical province of the metropolitan Archdiocese of Cardiff.
The Abbey of Strata Marcella was a medieval Cistercian monastery situated at Ystrad Marchell on the west bank of the River Severn near Welshpool, Powys, Wales.
The Cathedral Church of Saints Asaph and Cyndeyrn, commonly called St Asaph Cathedral, is a cathedral in St Asaph, Denbighshire, north Wales. It is the episcopal seat of the Bishop of St Asaph. The cathedral dates back 1,400 years, while the current building dates from the 13th century. The cathedral is part of the Church in Wales and part of the Anglican Communion of Wales.
Llanllugan Abbey was a monastery of Cistercian nuns, one of only two Cistercian women's monasteries in Wales, located at Llanllugan, Powys, Wales. An early charter to Llanllugan nunnery was issued by Maredudd ap Rhobert, Lord of Cedewain, probably some time in the early thirteenth century. Maredudd's charter provided the nuns with their core estates in the township of Llanllugan between the two streams of the Rhiw. The abbey's other estates include Hydan grange in Castle Caereinion and Cowney in Llangadfan. Llanllugan also received income from appropriated churches, the rectory of Llanfair Caereinion was granted by Bishop Hugh of St Asaph in 1239 and Llanllwchairan by Bishop Anian of St Asaph in 1263. It was founded as a dependency of the Cistercian monks at the Abbey of Strata Marcella. The former monastery church survives as the parish church of Llanllugan. However, the site of the abbey buildings remains uncertain: they might have been in a meadow 200 metres to the south of the church.
This article is about the particular significance of the century 1201–1300 to Wales and its people.
This article is about the particular significance of the century 1101–1200 to Wales and its people.
The history of Gwynedd in the High Middle Ages is a period in the History of Wales spanning the 11th through the 13th centuries. Gwynedd, located in the north of Wales, eventually became the most dominant of Welsh polities during this period. Contact with continental courts allowed for Gwynedd to transition from a petty kingdom into an increasingly sophisticated principality of seasoned courtiers capable of high level deplomacy and representation; not only with the Angevine kings, but also the king of France and the Papal See. Distinctive achievements in Gwynedd include further development of Medieval Welsh literature, particularly poets known as the Beirdd y Tywysogion associated with the court of Gwynedd; the reformation of bardic schools; and the continued development of Cyfraith Hywel. All three of these further contributed to the development of a Welsh national identity in the face of Anglo-Norman encroachment of Wales.
Culture and Society in Gwynedd during the High Middle Ages refers to a period in the History of Wales spanning the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries. The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and followed by the Late Middle Ages. Gwynedd is located in the north of Wales.
Bleiddud was Bishop of St David's in Wales from 1061 to 1071. Little is known of him. His name is sometimes given as Bedwd.
A clas was a native Christian church in early medieval Wales. Unlike later Norman monasteries, which were made up of a main religious building supported by several smaller buildings, such as cloisters and kitchens, a clas was normally a single building. The building was run by a community of clergy and headed by an abod. Clasau were autonomous and were administered locally.
Dafydd ab Owain was a Welsh abbot and bishop. His family were from the Glasgoed area of Meifod, Powys. He studied at Oxford, graduating with a qualification in canon and civil law. He is thought to have taken his doctorate in law.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Ancient Diocese of Saint Asaph". Catholic Encyclopedia . New York: Robert Appleton Company.