Primate is a title or rank bestowed on some important archbishops in certain Christian churches. Depending on the particular tradition, it can denote either jurisdictional authority or (usually) ceremonial precedence.
John Morton was an English cleric, civil lawyer and administrator during the period of the Wars of the Roses. He entered royal service under Henry VI and was a trusted councillor under Edward IV and Henry VII. Edward IV made him Bishop of Ely and under Henry VII he became Lord Chancellor, Archbishop of Canterbury and a cardinal.
Boniface of Savoy was a medieval Bishop of Belley in Savoy and Archbishop of Canterbury in England. He was the son of Thomas, Count of Savoy and owed his initial ecclesiastical posts to his father. Other members of his family were also clergymen, and a brother succeeded his father as count. One niece Eleanor of Provence was married to King Henry III of England, and another was married to King Louis IX of France. It was Henry who secured Boniface's election as Archbishop, and throughout his tenure of that office, he spent much time on the continent. He clashed with his bishops, with his nephew-by-marriage, and with the papacy but managed to eliminate the archiepiscopal debt that he had inherited on taking office. During Simon de Montfort's struggle with King Henry, Boniface initially helped Montfort's cause but later supported the king. After his death in Savoy, his tomb became the object of a cult, and he was eventually beatified in 1839.
William Whittlesey was a Bishop of Rochester, then Bishop of Worcester, then finally Archbishop of Canterbury. He also served as Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge.
William de Corbeil or William of Corbeil was a medieval Archbishop of Canterbury. Very little is known of William's early life or his family, except that he was born at Corbeil, south-east of Paris, and that he had two brothers. Educated as a theologian, he taught briefly before serving the bishops of Durham and London as a clerk and subsequently becoming an Augustinian canon. William was elected to the See of Canterbury as a compromise candidate in 1123, the first canon to become an English archbishop. He succeeded Ralph d'Escures who had employed him as a chaplain.
John Kemp was a medieval English cardinal, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Lord Chancellor of England.
An ecclesiastical court, also called court Christian or court spiritual, is any of certain non-adversarial courts conducted by church-approved officials having jurisdiction mainly in spiritual or religious matters. Historically, they interpret or apply canon law, a basis of which was the Corpus Juris Civilis of Justinian, which is also considered the source of the civil law legal tradition.
A consistory court is a type of ecclesiastical court, especially within the Church of England where they were originally established pursuant to a charter of King William the Conqueror, and still exist today, although since about the middle of the 19th century consistory courts have lost much of their subject-matter jurisdiction. Each diocese in the Church of England has a consistory court.
Geoffrey was an illegitimate son of King Henry II of England who became bishop-elect of Lincoln and archbishop of York. The identity of his mother is uncertain, but she may have been named Ykenai. Geoffrey held several minor clerical offices before becoming Bishop of Lincoln in 1173, though he was not ordained as a priest until 1189. In 1173–1174, he led a campaign in northern England to help put down a rebellion by his legitimate half-brothers; this campaign led to the capture of William, King of Scots. By 1182, Pope Lucius III had ordered that Geoffrey either resign Lincoln or be consecrated as bishop; he chose to resign and became chancellor instead. He was the only one of Henry II's sons present at the king's death.
The Arches Court or Court of Arches, presided over by the Dean of Arches, is an ecclesiastical court of the Church of England covering the Province of Canterbury. Its equivalent in the Province of York is the Chancery Court.
Berhtwald was the ninth Archbishop of Canterbury in England. His predecessor had been Theodore of Tarsus. Berhtwald begins the first continuous series of native-born Archbishops of Canterbury, although there had been previous Anglo-Saxon archbishops, they did not succeed each other until Berhtwald's successor Tatwine.
Thomas of Bayeux was Archbishop of York from 1070 until 1100. He was educated at Liège and became a royal chaplain to Duke William of Normandy, who later became King William I of England. After the Norman Conquest, the king nominated Thomas to succeed Ealdred as Archbishop of York. After Thomas' election, Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, demanded an oath from Thomas to obey him and any future Archbishops of Canterbury; this was part of Lanfranc's claim that Canterbury was the primary bishopric, and its holder the head of the English Church. Thomas countered that York had never made such an oath. As a result, Lanfranc refused to consecrate him. The King eventually persuaded Thomas to submit, but Thomas and Lanfranc continued to clash over ecclesiastical issues, including the primacy of Canterbury, which dioceses belonged to the province of York, and the question of how York's obedience to Canterbury would be expressed.
Thomas II was a medieval archbishop of York.
George Cornelius Gorham (1787–1857) was a priest in the Church of England. His legal recourse to being denied a certain post, decided subsequently by a secular court, caused great controversy.
The Chancery Court of York is an ecclesiastical court for the Province of York of the Church of England. It receives appeals from consistory courts of dioceses within the province. The presiding officer, the Official Principal and Auditor, has been the same person as the Dean of the Arches since the nineteenth century. The court comprises the auditor, two clergy, and two laity, as for the Court of the Arches in the Province of Canterbury. The registrar is distinct, however, and is at present Louise Connacher.
William Lyndwood was an English bishop of St. David's, diplomat and canonist, most notable for the publication of the Provinciale.
Hilary was a medieval bishop of Chichester in England. English by birth, he studied canon law and worked in Rome as a papal clerk. During his time there, he became acquainted with a number of ecclesiastics, including the future Pope Adrian IV, and the writer John of Salisbury. In England, he served as a clerk for Henry of Blois, who was the bishop of Winchester and brother of King Stephen of England. After Hilary's unsuccessful nomination to become Archbishop of York, Pope Eugene III compensated him by promoting him to the bishopric of Chichester in 1147.
Osbert de Bayeux was a medieval English cleric and archdeacon in the Diocese of York. A relative of Thurstan, the Archbishop of York, Osbert probably owed his ecclesiastical positions to this relative. After Thurstan's death, Osbert was opposed to one of the candidates for the archbishopric, William fitzHerbert, and worked to secure fitzHerbert's deposition and replacement by Henry Murdac.
Richard Newcourt was an English notary and historian, author of the Repertorium Ecclesiasticum Parochiale Londinense, a history of the diocese of London.
William Fleshmonger(? -1541/42), the son of a Winchester College tenant, was born in Hambledon, Hampshire. He was a Doctor of Canon Law and Dean of Chichester during the turmoil of the English Reformation.
