Prior of Christ Church

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Inscribed panels in Canterbury Cathedral listing the priors Deanscanterburylist.jpg
Inscribed panels in Canterbury Cathedral listing the priors

The prior of Christ Church served in Christ Church Cathedral Priory in Canterbury, attached to Canterbury Cathedral.

Contents

Context

Canterbury Cathedral began life as cathedral for its city, diocese and archdiocese, headed by the Archbishop of Canterbury and run by a dean. However, when the cathedral was re-formed as a monastic institution (known as Christ Church Priory) as well as a cathedral, a Prior was put in charge of the monastery (with the Archbishop effectively acting as abbot). When in 1539 the monastery was dissolved and reverted to being solely a cathedral, the prior's duties reverted to a dean, the first of whom was Nicholas Wotton. [1]

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References

  1. 1 2 A full list of the priors and deans of Canterbury is given in A History of Canterbury Cathedral, ed. P. Collinson, N. Ramsay, M. Sparks. (OUP 1995, revised edition 2002), page 565.
  2. Quarreled with Theobald, the archbishop, ending in Jeremiah's resignation on papal orders
  3. He witnessed the murder of Thomas Becket in 1170. His next role was as Abbot of Peterborough Abbey, and he took some contact relics of Becket with him to that abbey.
  4. His next office was as abbot of Tewkesbury.
  5. Went to Verona in person to plead the case of the monastery against archbishop Baldwin, but died abroad.
  6. Baldwin's appointee, unsuitable for the role and resented by the monks
  7. Appointed by Baldwin in exchange for backing down in the dispute, but forced to resign by the monks soon after Baldwin's departure for the crusade
  8. Opposed by a faction of monks who accused him of oppressive rule and mismanagement; eventually resigned to join the Cistercian abbey at Beaulieu; priory temporarily taken into king's hands, but returned on protests by the monks.
  9. Quarrels with his monks; advised archbishops Reynolds (a comparatively young man) and Mepeham
  10. Advised archbishop Mepeham, but archbishop Stratford was more independent and the prior's good relations with the archbishop were again lost.
  11. Quarreled with the city mayor