Bishop of St Asaph
| Bishop of St Asaph | |
|---|---|
| Bishopric | |
| anglican | |
 | |
|
Incumbent: Gregory Cameron | |
| Province | Wales |
| 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]
Early times
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.
Middle Ages
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. 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 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.
List of the Bishops of St Asaph
| Tenure | Incumbent | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unknown | Kentigern (Saint Mungo) | Originally Bishop of Glasgow from c. 540; founded diocese as episcopus Elvensis, Elguensis, Elveiisis, Lanelwensis | |
| Unknown | Saint Asaph | ||
| About 600 | Tysilio | ||
| About 800 | Renchidus | ||
| About 928 | Cebur | ||
| About 1070 | Melanus | ||
| 1143 to c. 1151 | Gilbert | See recreated as suffragan of Canterbury | |
| c. 1152 to 1154 | Geoffrey of Monmouth | ||
| 1154 to 1155 | Richard | Died in office | |
| c. 1160 to 1165 | Godfrey | Left see to become abbot of Abingdon in 1165, removed from office in 1175 | |
| 1175 to 1181 | Adam the Welshman | Canon of Pershore | |
| 1183 to c. 1186 | John I | ||
| 1186 to c. 1224 | Reiner | ||
| 1225 to c. 1233 | Abraham | ||
| 1235 to c. 1241 | Hugh | Monk of the Friars | |
| 1242 to 1247 | Hywel ab Ednyfed | Also known as Howel ap Ednevet | |
| 1247 to 1249 | vacant | ||
| 1249 to 1266 | Einion I | Also known as Anian | |
| 1267 to 1268 | John II | ||
| 1268 to 1293 | Einion II | Also known as Anian de Schonau, prior of Rhudland | |
| 1293 to 1314 | Llywelyn de Bromfield | Also known as Leolinus de Bromfield | |
| 1315 to c. 1352 | Dafydd ap Bleddyn | Also known as David ap Blethin; canon of St. Asaph | |
| 1352 to 1357 | John Trevor (I) | Also known as John Trevaur | |
| 1357 to 1375 | Llywelyn ap Madog | Also known as Leolinus ap Madoc ap Elis; dean of St. Asaph | |
| 1376 to 1382 | William Spridlington | Also known as William de Spridlington; dean of St. Asaph | |
| 1382 to 1389 | Lawrence Child | Monk of Battle Abbey, licentiate of the civil law | |
| 1390 to 1394 | Alexander Bache | Also known as Alexander Bach; canon of St. Asaph | |
| 1395 to 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 to c. 1408 | David II | ||
| 1411 to c. 1433 | Robert Lancaster | Also known as Robert of Lancaster | |
| 1433 to 1444 | John Low | Also known as John Lobbe; a friar eremite; translated to Rochester | |
| 1444 to 1449 | Reginald Pecock | Also known as Reginald Peacock; translated to Chichester | |
| 1450 to 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 to 1495 | Richard Redman | Translated to Exeter | |
| c. 1495 to 1500 | Michael Deacon | Also known as Michael Dyacon; the king's confessor | |
| 1500 to 1503 | Dafydd ab Iorwerth | Also known as David ap Yeworth; abbot of Valle Crucis | |
| c. 1503 to c. 1513 | Dafydd ab Owain | Also known as David ap Owen; Abbot of Valle Crucis (Aberconwy?) | |
| 1513 to 1518 | Edmund Birkhead | Also known as Edmund Brokehed | |
| 1518 to 1535 | Henry Standish | ||
| c. 1535 to 1536 | William Barlow | Translated to St David's, then Bath & Wells, then Chichester | |
| 1536 to 1554 | Robert Warton | Also known as Robert Parfew; abbot of St. Savior's Bermondsey; translated to Hereford | |
| 1556 to c. 1559 | Thomas Goldwell | Theatines; went into voluntary exile | |
| 1560 to 1561 | Richard Davies | Also known as Richard Davyes; translated St David's | |
| 1561 to 1573 | Thomas Davies | Also known as Thomas Davyes | |
| 1573 to 1600 | William Hughes | ||
| 1601 to 1604 | William Morgan | Translator of the Bible into Welsh. Translated from Llandaff | |
| 1604 to 1623 | Richard Parry | Dean of Bangor | |
| c. 1623 to 1629 | John Hanmer | Prebendary of Worcester | |
| 1629 to 1651 | John Owen | Archdeacon of St Asaph; died in office | |
| 1651 to 1660 | vacant | For 9 years | |
| 1660 to 1666 | George Griffith | Archdeacon of St Asaph | |
| 1667 to c. 1669 | Henry Glemham | Dean of Bristol | |
| 1670 to 1680 | Isaac Barrow | Translated from Sodor & Man | |
| 1680 to 1692 | William Lloyd | Dean of Bangor; translated to Lichfield & Coventry, then Worcester | |
| 1692 to 1703 | Edward Jones | Translated from Cloyne, Ireland | |
| 1703 to 1704 | George Hooper | Dean of Canterbury; translated to Bath & Wells | |
| 1704 to c. 1708 | William Beveridge | Archdeacon of Colchester | |
| 1708 to 1714 | William Fleetwood | Canon of Windsor; translated to Ely | |
| 1714 to 1727 | John Wynne | Principal of Jesus College, Oxford; translated to Bath & Wells | |
| 1727 to 1731 | Francis Hare | Dean of Worcester and of St Paul's in London; translated to Chichester | |
| 1732 to 1735 | Thomas Tanner | Canon of Christ Church, Oxford | |
| 1736 to 1743 | Isaac Maddox | Dean of Wells; translated to Worcester | |
| 1743 to 1744 | John Thomas | Dean of Peterborough; elected in Nov. but translated to Lincoln in Jan. before consecration | |
| 1744 to 1748 | Samuel Lisle | Archdeacon of Canterbury; translated to Norwich | |
| 1748 to 1761 | The Hon. Robert Hay Drummond | Prebendary of Westminster; translated to Salisbury | |
| 1761 to 1769 | Richard Newcome | Translated from Llandaff | |
| 1769 to 1788 | Jonathan Shipley | Translated from Llandaff | |
| 1789 to 1790 | Samuel Hallifax | Also known as Samuel Halifax; translated from Gloucester | |
| 1790 to 1802 | Lewis Bagot | Translated from Norwich | |
| 1802 to 1806 | Samuel Horsley | Translated from Rochester | |
| 1806 to 1815 | William Cleaver | Translated from Bangor | |
| 1815 to 1830 | John Luxmoore | Translated from Hereford | |
| 1830 to 1846 | William Carey | Translated from Exeter | |
| 1846 to 1870 | Thomas Short | Also known as Thomas Vowler Short; translated from Sodor & Man | |
| 1870 to 1889 | Joshua Hughes | Vicar of Llandovery | |
| 1889 to 1934 | Alfred Edwards | First Archbishop of Wales 1920–1934 | |
| 1934 to 1950 | William Havard | ||
| 1950 to 1971 | David Bartlett | ||
| 1971 to 1982 | Harold Charles | ||
| 1982 to June 1999 | Alwyn Rice Jones | Archbishop of Wales 1991–1999 | |
| 1999 to 2008 | John Davies | ||
| 2009 onwards | Gregory Cameron | Consecrated 4 April 2009 | |
| Source(s):[2][3] | |||
Notes
- ↑ "New Bishop of St Asaph is chosen". BBC. 2009-01-05. Retrieved 2009-01-05.
- ↑ Hardy, T. Duffus. Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae; or, a Calendar of the Principal Ecclesiastical Dignitaries in England and Wales, and of the Chief Officers in the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge from the Earliest Times to the Year MDCCXV, Corrected and Continued to the Present Time, Vol. I, "St. Asaph's". Oxford Univ. Press, 1854. Accessed 18 Feb 2013.
- ↑ "Historical successions: St Asaph". Crockford's Clerical Directory. Retrieved 22 July 2012.
References
- Haydn's Book of Dignities (1894) Joseph Haydn/Horace Ockerby, reprinted 1969
- Whitaker's Almanack 1883 to 2004 Joseph Whitaker & Sons Ltd/A&C Black, London
- http://tejones.net/religion/Bishops
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.
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