Bishop of Durham

{{Short description|Diocesan bishop in the Church of England}}{{Use British English|date=June 2016}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2016}} {{Redirect|Bishop of Lindisfarne|the modern titular see|Roman Catholic Bishop of Lindisfarne}} {{Infobox diocese | bishopric = Durham | border = Anglican | coat = Angl-Ebor-Durham-Arms.svg | coat_caption = Arms of the Diocese of Durham: ''Azure, a cross Or between four lions rampant Argent'' | incumbent = ''vacant'' ''acting: the Rt Revd Frank White''<ref>{{cite web |title=Bishop of Durham |url=https://durhamdiocese.org/about-us/leadership/bishop-of-durham/ |website=Diocese of Durham |access-date=20 April 2026 |quote=It has been announced that the next Bishop of Durham is to be the Ven Rick Simpson. The Rt Revd Frank White is currently the Acting Bishop of Durham.}}</ref>  | province = York  | established = 635 (at Lindisfarne) 995 (translation to Durham) | cathedral = Durham Cathedral (since 995) St Mary and St Cuthbert, Chester-le-Street (882–995) Lindisfarne (635–875) | first_incumbent = Aidan Aldhun (first bishop of Durham) | diocese = Durham  }} The '''bishop of Durham''' is head of the diocese of Durham in the province of York. The diocese is one of the oldest in England and its bishop is a member of the House of Lords. Paul Butler was the most recent bishop of Durham until his retirement in February 2024.

The bishop is officially styled ''The Right Reverend (First Name), by Divine Providence Lord Bishop of Durham'', but this full title is rarely used. In signatures, the bishop's family name is replaced by ''Dunelm'', from the Latin name for Durham (the Latinised form of Old English ''Dunholm''). In the past, bishops of Durham varied their signatures between ''Dunelm'' and the French ''Duresm''. Prior to 1836 the bishop had significant temporal powers over the liberty of Durham and later the county palatine of Durham. The bishop, with the bishop of Bath and Wells, escorts the sovereign at the coronation.

Durham Castle was a residence of the bishops from its construction in the 11th century until 1832, when it was given to the University of Durham to use as a college. Auckland Castle then became the bishops' main residence until July 2012, when it was sold to the Auckland Castle Trust. The bishop continues to have offices there.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.durham.anglican.org/news-and-events/news-article.aspx?id=314 |title=Positive Developments at Auckland Castle |access-date=18 August 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aucklandcastle.org/our-plans/ |title=Our Plans |access-date=18 August 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120927025103/http://www.aucklandcastle.org/our-plans/ |archive-date=27 September 2012 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

== History ==

The '''Bishop of Lindisfarne''' is an episcopal title which takes its name after the tidal island of Lindisfarne, which lies just off the northeast coast of Northumberland, England. The title was first used by the Anglo-Saxons between the 7th and 10th centuries. In the reign of Æthelstan (924–939) Wigred, thought by Simon Keynes to have been Bishop of Chester-le-Street, attested royal charters.<ref>Keynes, Atlas, Table XXXVII</ref> According to George Molyneaux, the church of St Cuthbert "was in all probability the greatest landholder between the Tees and the Tyne".{{sfn|Molyneaux|2015|p=30}} Traditionally, following the chronology of the twelfth-century writer Symeon of Durham, historians have believed that the body of St Cuthbert and centre of the diocese lay at Chester-le-Street from the ninth century until 995, but recent research has suggested that the bishops may have been based at Norham on the River Tweed until after 1013.{{sfn|Woolf|2018|pp=232-33}}{{sfn|McGuigan|2022|pp=121-62}} The title of "bishop of Lindisfarne" is now used by the Catholic Church for a titular see (there is also a Catholic titular see of Cuncacestre, the Latin form of Chester-le-Street).

thumb|225px|The Anglo-Saxon dioceses before 925

The Anglo-Saxon bishops of Lindisfarne were ordinaries of several early medieval episcopal sees (and dioceses) in Northumbria and pre-Conquest England. The first such see was founded at Lindisfarne in 635 by Saint Aidan.<ref>{{Catholic|no-icon=1|prescript=|wstitle=Ancient Diocese and Monastery of Lindisfarne}}</ref>

From the 7th century onwards, in addition to their spiritual authority, the bishops of Lindisfarne, and then Durham, also acted as the civil ruler of the region as the lord of the liberty of Durham, with local authority equal to that of the king. The bishop appointed all local officials and maintained his own court. After the Norman Conquest, this power was retained by the bishop and was eventually recognised with the designation of the region as the County Palatine of Durham. As holder of this office, the bishop was both the earl of the county and bishop of the diocese. Though the term 'prince-bishop' has become a common way of describing the role of the bishop prior to 1836, the term was unknown in medieval England.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Bishopric of Durham in the Late Middle Ages|url=https://archive.org/details/bishopricdurhaml00lidd|url-access=limited|last=Liddy|first=Christian D.|publisher=The Boydell Press|year=2008|isbn=978-1-84383-377-2|location=Woodbridge|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bishopricdurhaml00lidd/page/n14 2]|quote=The term 'prince-bishop' did not exist in medieval England. It is a literal translation of the German compound Fürstbischof.}}</ref>

A UNESCO site describes the role of the bishops as a "buffer state between England and Scotland":<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.durhamworldheritagesite.com/history/prince-bishops |title=The Prince Bishops of Durham |date=11 July 2011 |publisher=Durham World Heritage Site |access-date=5 November 2019 }}</ref>

<blockquote>From 1075, the bishop of Durham became a prince-bishop, with the right to raise an army, mint his own coins, and levy taxes. As long as he remained loyal to the king of England, he could govern as a virtually autonomous ruler, reaping the revenue from his territory, but also remaining mindful of his role of protecting England's northern frontier.</blockquote>

A 1788 report adds that the bishops had the authority to appoint judges and barons and to offer pardons.<ref>{{cite book |last=Drummond Liddy |first=Christian |title=The Bishopric of Durham in the Late Middle Ages |year=2008 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R6ZbDEhf86sC&q=durham+bishops+princes&pg=PA2 |publisher=Boydell |page=1 |isbn=978-1843833772}}</ref>

Except for a brief period of suppression during the English Civil War, the bishopric retained this temporal power until it was abolished by the Durham (County Palatine) Act 1836 (6 & 7 Will. 4. c. 19) with the powers returned to the Crown.<ref>{{cite book |date=1836 |title=The Statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eFk0AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA130 |publisher=His Majesty's Statute and Law Printers|page=130}}</ref> A shadow of the former temporal power can be seen in the bishop's coat of arms, which contains a coronet as well as a mitre and crossed crozier and sword. The bishop of Durham also continued to hold a seat in the House of Lords; that has continued to this day by virtue of the ecclesiastical office.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.parliament.uk/biographies/lords/the-lord-bishop-of-durham/4312|title=The Lord Bishop of Durham|publisher=Parliament of the United Kingdom|access-date=5 November 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.parliament.uk/site-information/glossary/lords-spiritual-and-temporal/|title=Lords Spiritual and Temporal|publisher=Parliament of the United Kingdom|access-date=5 November 2019}}</ref>

==List of bishops==

===Early medieval bishops=== {| class="wikitable" style="width:95%;" |- ! colspan="4" style="background-color: #7F1734; color: white;" | Bishops of Lindisfarne |- ! style="background-color: #D4B1BB; width: 8%;" | From ! style="background-color: #D4B1BB; width: 8%;" | Until ! style="background-color: #D4B1BB; width: 25%;" | Incumbent ! style="background-color: #D4B1BB; width: 54%;" | Notes

|- valign="top" style="background-color: white;" | colspan="4" | In 664 the diocese was merged to York by Wilfrid (who succeeded Tuda following his death), leaving one large diocese in the large northern Kingdom of Northumbria.

|- valign="top" style="background-color: #F7F0F2;" | colspan="4" | The diocese was reinstated in 678 by Theodore of Tarsus, Archbishop of Canterbury following Wilfrid's banishment from Northumbria by King Ecgfrith. Its new seat was initially (at least in part) at Hexham (until a new diocese was created there in 680).

|- valign="top" style="background-color: #F7F0F2;" | style="text-align: center;" | 740 | style="text-align: center;" | 780 | Cynewulf | |- valign="top" style="background-color: white;" | style="text-align: center;" | 780 | style="text-align: center;" | 803 | Higbald | Viking raid 793 |- valign="top" style="background-color: #F7F0F2;" | style="text-align: center;" | 803 | style="text-align: center;" | 821 | Egbert | |- valign="top" style="background-color: white;" | style="text-align: center;" | 821 | style="text-align: center;" | 830 | Heathwred | |- valign="top" style="background-color: #F7F0F2;" | style="text-align: center;" | 830 | style="text-align: center;" | 845 | Ecgred | |- valign="top" style="background-color: white;" | style="text-align: center;" | 845 | style="text-align: center;" | 854 | Eanbert | |- valign="top" style="background-color: #F7F0F2;" | style="text-align: center;" | 854 | style="text-align: center;" | ''875'' | Eardulf | |- valign="top" style="background-color: #F7F0F2;" | style="text-align: center;" | ''883'' | style="text-align: center;" | 889 | Eardulf | |- valign="top" style="background-color: white;" | style="text-align: center;" | 900 | style="text-align: center;" | {{circa}} 915 | Cutheard | |- valign="top" style="background-color: #F7F0F2;" | style="text-align: center;" | {{circa|915}} | style="text-align: center;" | {{circa|925}} | Tilred | |- valign="top" style="background-color: white;" | style="text-align: center;" | {{circa|925}} | style="text-align: center;" | maybe 942? | Wilgred | |- valign="top" style="background-color: #F7F0F2;" | style="text-align: center;" | maybe 942? | style="text-align: center;" | unknown | Uchtred | |- valign="top" style="background-color: white;" | colspan="2" style="text-align: center;" | unknown, expelled after 6 months | Sexhelm | |- valign="top" style="background-color: #F7F0F2;" | style="text-align: center;" | before 946 | style="text-align: center;" | maybe 968? | Aldred | |- valign="top" style="background-color: white;" | style="text-align: center;" | maybe 968? | style="text-align: center;" | maybe 968? | Ælfsige | Called "Bishop of St Cuthbert".

|- valign="top" style="background-color: white;" | colspan="4" | In 995, the King had paid the Danegeld to the Danish and Norwegian Kings and peace was restored. According to the legend, Aldhun was on his way to reestablish the see at Lindisfarne when he received a divine vision that the body of St Cuthbert should be laid to rest in Durham.

|- valign="top" style="background-color: #F7F0F2;" | align="center" colspan="4" | Source(s):{{sfn|Fryde|Greenway|Porter|Roy|2003|pp=214–215 and 219}}

|- ! colspan="4" style="background-color: #7F1734; color: white;" | Bishops of Durham |- ! style="background-color: #D4B1BB; width: 8%;" | From ! style="background-color: #D4B1BB; width: 8%;" | Until ! style="background-color: #D4B1BB; width: 25%;" | Incumbent ! style="background-color: #D4B1BB; width: 54%;" | Notes

|- valign="top" style="background-color: white;" | style="text-align: center;" | ''995'' | style="text-align: center;" | 1018 | Aldhun | |- valign="top" style="background-color: #F7F0F2;" | style="text-align: center;" | 1021 | style="text-align: center;" | 1041 | Edmund | |- valign="top" style="background-color: white;" | style="text-align: center;" | 1041 | style="text-align: center;" | 1042 | Eadred | |- valign="top" style="background-color: #F7F0F2;" | style="text-align: center;" | 1042 | style="text-align: center;" | 1056 | Æthelric | |- valign="top" style="background-color: white;" | style="text-align: center;" | 1056 | style="text-align: center;" | 1071 | Æthelwine | |- valign="top" style="background-color: #F7F0F2;" |align=center colspan="4"| Source(s):<ref name=crockfordsweb822>{{cite web|url=http://www.crockford.org.uk/listing.asp?id=822 |title=Historical successions: Durham (including precussor offices) |work=Crockford's Clerical Directory |access-date=17 July 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150619090637/https://www.crockford.org.uk/listing.asp?id=822 |archive-date=19 June 2015 }}</ref> |}

===Post Norman conquest bishops=== {| class="wikitable" style="width:95%;" |- ! colspan="4" style="background-color: #7F1734; color: white;" | Bishops of Durham |- ! style="background-color: #D4B1BB; width: 8%;" | From ! style="background-color: #D4B1BB; width: 8%;" | Until ! style="background-color: #D4B1BB; width: 25%;" | Incumbent ! style="background-color: #D4B1BB; width: 54%;" | Notes

|- valign="top" style="background-color: #F7F0F2;" | style="text-align: center;" | 1311 | style="text-align: center;" | 1316 | Richard Kellaw | {{anchor|Henry de Stamford}}In the ensuing vacancy, Thomas de Charlton, John Walwayn and John de Kynardesley were nominated by Edward II, Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford and Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster respectively, but the chapter elected Henry de Stamford OSB on 6 November 1316. That election was never confirmed, but quashed by Pope John XXII on 10 December.

|- valign="top" style="background-color: white;" |align=center colspan="4"| Source(s):<ref name="crockfordsweb822"/> |}

===Post-Reformation bishops=== {| class="wikitable" style="width:95%;" |- ! colspan="4" style="background-color: #7F1734; color: white;" | Bishops of Durham |- ! style="background-color: #D4B1BB; width: 8%;" | From ! style="background-color: #D4B1BB; width: 8%;" | Until ! style="background-color: #D4B1BB; width: 25%;" | Incumbent ! style="background-color: #D4B1BB; width: 54%;" | Notes

|- valign="top" style="background-color: #F7F0F2;" | style="text-align: center;" | 1530 | style="text-align: center;" | 1552 | 60px Cuthbert Tunstall | |- |1552 |1554 | colspan="2" |The diocese was abolished under Edward VI and restored after Mary I became queen.<ref>{{Cite ODNB |title=Tunstal [Tunstall], Cuthbert |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-27817 |access-date=2023-06-17 |date=2004 |language=en |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/27817 }}</ref> |- |1554 |1559 |60px Cuthbert Tunstall |Deprived in 1559, when he refused to take the Oath of Supremacy after the accession of Elizabeth I. Died on 18 November that year.<ref>{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle= Tunstall, Cuthbert |volume = 27 |last= |first= |author-link= |page=410 |short=1}}</ref> |- valign="top" style="background-color: white;" | style="text-align: center;" | 1561 | style="text-align: center;" | 1576 | 60px James Pilkington | |- valign="top" style="background-color: #F7F0F2;" | style="text-align: center;" | 1577 | style="text-align: center;" | 1587 | 60px Richard Barnes | Translated from Carlisle.

|- valign=top bgcolor="white" | align=center | 1646 | align=center | 1660 | colspan=2| The diocese was abolished during the Commonwealth and the Protectorate.<ref>{{cite web |last=Plant |first=David |year=2002 |url=http://bcw-project.org/church-and-state/sects-and-factions/episcopalians |title=Episcopalians |website=BCW Project |access-date=25 April 2021 |archive-date=13 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131113164355/http://bcw-project.org/church-and-state/sects-and-factions/episcopalians |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=King |first=Peter |date=July 1968 |title=The Episcopate during the Civil Wars, 1642-1649 |journal=The English Historical Review |volume= 83 |issue= 328 |pages=523–537 |publisher=Oxford University Press |jstor=564164 |doi=10.1093/ehr/lxxxiii.cccxxviii.523}}</ref>

|- valign="top" style="background-color: #F7F0F2;" |align=center colspan="4"| Source(s):<ref name="crockfordsweb822"/> |}

===Late modern bishops (since 1836)=== {| class="wikitable" style="width:95%;" |- ! colspan="4" style="background-color: #7F1734; color: white;" | Bishops of Durham |- ! style="background-color: #D4B1BB; width: 8%;" | From ! style="background-color: #D4B1BB; width: 8%;" | Until ! style="background-color: #D4B1BB; width: 25%;" | Incumbent ! style="background-color: #D4B1BB; width: 54%;" | Notes

|- valign="top" style="background-color: #F7F0F2;" | style="text-align: center;" | 2011 | style="text-align: center;" | 2013 | 60px Justin Welby | Translated to Canterbury.<ref>[http://durham.anglican.org/news-and-events/news-article.aspx?id=193 Diocese of Durham – New Bishop Announced]</ref> |- valign="top" style="background-color: white;" | style="text-align: center;" | 2014 | style="text-align: center;" | 2024 | 60px Paul Butler | Previously Bishop of Southwell and Nottingham;<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/10950516.Election_of_Paul_Butler_as_74th_Bishop_of_Durham_confirmed_in_service/|title=Election of Paul Butler as 74th Bishop of Durham confirmed in service|date=20 January 2014 |access-date=20 January 2014}}</ref> confirmed 20 January 2014;<ref name="but-dun">[http://www.archbishopofyork.org/articles.php/3035/bishop-of-durham-election-confirmed Archbishop of York – Bishop of Durham Election Confirmed] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304042752/http://www.archbishopofyork.org/articles.php/3035/bishop-of-durham-election-confirmed |date=4 March 2016 }} (Accessed 20 January 2014)</ref> retired 29 February 2024.<ref>{{cite web |website=Diocese of Durham |title=Bishop Paul announces plans to retire |date=14 July 2023 |url=https://www.durhamdiocese.org/diocesan-news/bishop-paul-announces-plans-to-retire.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231011194425/https://www.durhamdiocese.org/diocesan-news/bishop-paul-announces-plans-to-retire.php |archive-date=11 October 2023 |access-date=11 October 2023 }}</ref> |- valign="top" | style="text-align: center;" |2026 | style="text-align: center;" | |Rick Simpson |{{As of|2026}}, Bishop-elect. |- valign="top" style="background-color: F7F0F2;" |align=center colspan="4"| Source(s):<ref name="crockfordsweb822"/> |}

==Assistant bishops== Among those who have served as assistant bishops of the diocese have been: *1889–1902 (ret.): Daniel Sandford, Rector of Boldon and coadjutor bishop; former Bishop of Tasmania<ref>{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/sandford-daniel-fox-4535|title = Australian Dictionary of Biography|chapter = Sandford, Daniel Fox (1831–1906)|publisher = National Centre of Biography, Australian National University}}</ref> *1904–1906: Noel Hodges, former Bishop of Travancore and Cochin (later Assistant Bishop of Ely and of St Albans)<ref>{{Who's Who |id=U197942 |title=Hodges, Edward Noel}}</ref> *1970–1975: Kenneth Skelton, Rector of Bishopwearmouth and former Bishop of Matabeleland (became Bishop of Lichfield)<ref>{{Who's Who |id=U35057 |title=Skelton, Kenneth John Fraser}}</ref> ==References== {{reflist}}

==Sources== {{refbegin|30em}} * {{cite book |editor1-last=Fryde |editor1-first=E. B. |editor2-last=Greenway |editor2-first=D. E. |editor3-last=Porter |editor3-first=S. |editor4-last=Roy |editor4-first=I. |title=Handbook of British Chronology |edition=3rd |date=2003 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |orig-year=1986 |isbn=0-521-56350-X }} * {{cite web|url=http://www.kemble.asnc.cam.ac.uk/sites/default/files/files/XXXVII_%20Athelstan%20Bishops%20etc.pdf|first=Simon|last=Keynes|title=Table XXXVII: Attestations of ecclesiastics during the reign of King Æthelstan|publisher=Kemble: The Anglo-Saxon Charters Website|access-date=18 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150721220329/http://www.kemble.asnc.cam.ac.uk/sites/default/files/files/XXXVII_%20Athelstan%20Bishops%20etc.pdf|archive-date=21 July 2015|url-status=dead}} * {{cite book |last=Molyneaux|first=George|title=The Formation of the English Kingdom in the Tenth Century|year=2015|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-871791-1}} * {{cite book |editor1-last=Fryde |editor1-first=E. B. |editor2-last=Greenway |editor2-first=D. E. |editor3-last=Porter |editor3-first=S. |editor4-last=Roy |editor4-first=I. |title=Handbook of British Chronology |edition=3rd, reprinted 2003 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |year=1986 |isbn=0-521-56350-X |pages=216, 241–243}} * {{Cite book |last1=Greenway |first1=D. E. |year=1971 |chapter-url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=33859 |chapter=Bishops of Durham |title=Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1066–1300: Volume 2: Monastic Cathedrals (Northern and Southern Provinces) |publisher=British History Online |pages=29–32}} * {{Cite book |last1=Jones |first1=B. |year=1963 |chapter-url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=32559 |chapter=Bishops of Durham |title=Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1300–1541: Volume 6: Northern Province (York, Carlise and Durham) |publisher=British History Online |pages=107–109}} * {{Cite book |last1=Horn |first1=J. M. |last2=Smith |first2=D. M. |last3=Mussett |first3=P. |year=2004 |chapter-url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=35852 |chapter=Bishops of Durham |title=Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1541–1857: Volume 11: Carlisle, Chester, Durham, Manchester, Ripon, and Sodor and Man Dioceses |publisher=British History Online |pages=73–77}} * {{citation |last=McGuigan |first=Neil | title= Cuthbert's Body and the Origins of the Diocese of Durham |journal=Anglo-Saxon England |volume=48 |pages=121–162 |year=2022 |issn=0263-6751 |doi=10.1017/S0263675121000053|s2cid=252995619 }} * {{Citation | last = Woolf | first = Alex | author-link = Alex Woolf | contribution = The Diocese of Lindisfarne: Organization and Pastoral Care | editor-last = McGuigan | editor-first = Neil | editor2-last = Woolf | editor2-first = Alex | title = The Battle of Carham: A Thousand Years On | pages = 231–39 | year = 2018 | place = Edinburgh | publisher = John Donald | language = en | isbn= 978-1910900246}} {{refend}}

==External links== *[https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05211a.htm Catholic Encyclopedia]

Category:Bishops of Durham Durham Bishops of Durham Category:Bishops of Lindisfarne Category:History of Northumberland Category:History of Durham, England