The Bishop of Lincoln is the ordinary (diocesan bishop) of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Brit ...

Diocese of Lincoln The Diocese of Lincoln forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England. The present diocese covers the ceremonial county of Lincolnshire. History The diocese traces its roots in an unbroken line to the Pre-Reformation Diocese of Leic ...

in the Province of Canterbury. The present diocese covers the county of

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

and the unitary authority areas of North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire. The bishop's seat (''

cathedra A ''cathedra'' is the raised throne of a bishop in the early Christian basilica. When used with this meaning, it may also be called the bishop's throne. With time, the related term ''cathedral'' became synonymous with the "seat", or principal ...

'') is located in the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the city of Lincoln. The

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the ''cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominations ...

was originally a minster church founded around 653 and refounded as a cathedral in 1072. Until the 1530s the bishops were in full communion with the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. The historic medieval Bishop's Palace lies immediately to the south of the cathedral in Palace Yard; managed by English Heritage, it is open to visitors. A later residence (first used by Bishop Edward King in 1885) on the same site was converted from office accommodation to reopen in 2009 as a 16-bedroom conference centre and wedding venue. It is now known as Edward King House and provides offices for the bishops, archdeacons and diocesan staff. A 14-bedroom house (Bishop's House) on Eastgate was the official residence in use from 1948 until 2011, when the bishop's office staff and home were separated, allowing the incoming bishop,

Christopher Lowson Christopher "Chris" Lowson (born 3 February 1953) is a retired British Anglican bishop. He served as Bishop of Lincoln, 2011–2021. Education and ordination Lowson was educated at Newcastle Cathedral School, Consett Grammar School and King' ...

, to live in a modern five-bedroom house. A further residence of the mediaeval Bishops of Lincoln was

Banbury Castle Banbury Castle was a medieval castle that stood near the centre of the town of Banbury, Oxfordshire. Historian John Kenyon notes that the castle is "remarkable for its early concentric shape".Kenyon, p. 68. History Banbury Castle was built in 1 ...

, built in 1135 by

Alexander of Lincoln Alexander of Lincoln (died February 1148) was a medieval English Bishop of Lincoln, a member of an important administrative and ecclesiastical family. He was the nephew of Roger of Salisbury, a Bishop of Salisbury and Chancellor of England und ...

, Bishop of Lincoln and retained by the see until 1547.

History

The

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened wit ...

dioceses of Lindsey and

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

were established when the large Diocese of Mercia was divided in the late 7th century into the bishoprics of

Lichfield Lichfield () is a cathedral city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated roughly south-east of the county town of Stafford, south-east of Rugeley, north-east of Walsall, north-west of Tamworth and south-west o ...

and

(for

Mercia la, Merciorum regnum , conventional_long_name=Kingdom of Mercia , common_name=Mercia , status=Kingdom , status_text=Independent kingdom (527–879)Client state of Wessex () , life_span=527–918 , era=Heptarchy , event_start= , date_start= , y ...

itself),

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

(for the Hwicce),

Hereford Hereford () is a cathedral city, civil parish and the county town of Herefordshire, England. It lies on the River Wye, approximately east of the border with Wales, south-west of Worcester, England, Worcester and north-west of Gloucester. ...

(for the

Magonsæte Magonsæte was a minor sub-kingdom of the greater Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia, thought to be coterminous with the Diocese of Hereford. The British territory of Pengwern was conquered by Oswiu of Northumbria in 656, while he was overlord of th ...

) and Lindsey (for the Lindisfaras). The historic Bishop of Dorchester was a

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Christian clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which means 'carry before', 'be set above or over' or 'pre ...

who administered the Diocese of Dorchester in the

period. The bishop's seat, or

, was at the cathedral in Dorchester-on-Thames in

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the north west of South East England. It is a mainly rural county, with its largest settlement being the city of Oxford. The county is a centre of research and development, primaril ...

. In the 660s the seat at Dorchester-on-Thames was abandoned, but briefly in the late 670s it was once more a bishop's seat under

Ætla Ætla, who lived in the 7th century, is believed to be one of many Bishops of Dorchester during the Anglo-Saxon period. The village of Attlebridge, Norfolk is named after him, as he is credited for the construction of a bridge ('brycg' in Old En ...

, under Mercian control.Kirby ''Earliest English Kings'' p. 48-49 The town of Dorchester again became the seat of a bishop in around 875, when the

n Bishop of Leicester transferred his seat there. The diocese merged with that of Lindsey in 971; the bishop's seat was moved to Lincoln in 1072 and thus the Mercian Bishops of Dorchester were succeeded by the Bishops of Lincoln. The first bishops of Leicester were originally prelates who administered an Anglo-Saxon

diocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associ ...

between the 7th and 9th centuries. The bishopric fell victim to the invasion by the

Danes Danes ( da, danskere, ) are a North Germanic ethnic group and nationality native to Denmark and a modern nation identified with the country of Denmark. This connection may be ancestral, legal, historical, or cultural. Danes generally regard t ...

and the

episcopal see An episcopal see is, in a practical use of the phrase, the area of a bishop's ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Phrases concerning actions occurring within or outside an episcopal see are indicative of the geographical significance of the term, mak ...

was transferred to Dorchester-on-Thames in Oxfordshire. The dioceses of Lindsey and Leicester continued until the Danish

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

invasions and establishment of the Danelaw in the 9th century. The see of Leicester was transferred to Dorchester, now in Oxfordshire, sometime between 869 and 888. After an interruption, the see of Lindsey was resumed until it was united with the bishopric of Dorchester in the early 11th century. The diocese was the largest in England, extending from the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

to the

Humber Estuary The Humber is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England. It is formed at Trent Falls, Faxfleet, by the confluence of the tidal rivers Ouse and Trent. From there to the North Sea, it forms part of the boundary between the ...

. In 1072, Remigius de Fécamp moved the see of Dorchester to Lincoln, but the bishops of Lincoln retained significant landholdings within Oxfordshire. Because of this historic link, for a long time Banbury remained a " peculiar" of the Bishop of Lincoln. Until the 1530s the bishops were in full communion with the

. During the

English Reformation The English Reformation took place in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away from the authority of the pope and the Catholic Church. These events were part of the wider European Protestant Reformation, a religious and poli ...

they changed their allegiance back and forth between the crown and the

papacy The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

. Under

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

and Edward VI, the bishops conformed to the

, but under Mary I they adhered to the Roman Catholic Church. Since the

, the bishops and diocese of Lincoln have been part of the reformed Church of England, and the

Anglican Communion The Anglican Communion is the third largest Christian communion after the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. Founded in 1867 in London, the communion has more than 85 million members within the Church of England and other ...

. The dioceses of

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

and

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire unti ...

were created in 1541, out of parts of the

. The county of

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire ...

was transferred from Lincoln to Peterborough in 1837.

List of bishops of Lincoln

Pre-Reformation bishops

Bishops during the Reformation

Post-Reformation bishops

Assistant bishops

Among those who have served as assistant bishops of the diocese have been: *19301934 (d.): John Hine,

Archdeacon of Lincoln The Archdeacon of Lincoln is a senior ecclesiastical officer in the Diocese of Lincoln – he or she has responsibilities within his archdeaconry (the ancient Archdeaconry of Lincoln) including oversight of church buildings and some supervision, d ...

(until 1933) and former Bishop of Likoma, of Zanzibar, of Northern Rhodesia and of Grantham *19501964 (ret.): Colin Dunlop, Dean of Lincoln and former

Bishop suffragan of Jarrow The Bishop of Jarrow is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Durham, in the Province of York, England. The title takes its name after the former Anglo Saxon monastery in the town of Jarrow in Tyne and ...

Honorary assistant bishops, serving after their retirements, have included: *19681977 (d.): George Clarkson, retired Dean of Guildford and former Bishop suffragan- Archdeacon of Pontefract *19952016 (d.):

Donald Snelgrove Donald George Snelgrove (21 April 1925 – 19 May 2016) was the Suffragan Bishop of Hull from 1981 until 1994. He was educated at Queens' College, Cambridge. After World War II service with the RNVR and a period of study at Ridley Hall, Cambri ...

, retired

Bishop of Hull The Bishop of Hull is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of York, England. The suffragan bishop, along with the Bishop of Selby and the Bishop of Whitby, assists the Archbishop of York in overseeing t ...

*19952011 (d.): John Brown, retired

Bishop in Cyprus and the Gulf The Diocese of Cyprus and the Gulf is one of four dioceses in the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East, a province in the Anglican Communion. It covers Cyprus and the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq and Yemen. The bishop in Cyprus and the Gu ...

*2001–present:

David Tustin David Tustin was the Bishop suffragan of Grimsby from 1979 until 2000. He was born on 12 January 1935 and educated at Solihull School and Magdalene College, Cambridge. After a period of study at what was then Cuddesdon College (and is now kno ...

, retired

Bishop of Grimsby The Bishop of Grimsby is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln, in the Province of Canterbury, England. The title takes its name after the town of Grimsby in Lincolnshire; the See was erected ...

References

Sources

* {{Anglican Bishops & Archbishops - Great Britain Lincoln

Bishops of Lincoln The Bishop of Lincoln is the ordinary (diocesan bishop) of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury. The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of North Lincolnshire an ...

Diocese of Lincoln Religion in Lincolnshire History of Oxfordshire