Bishop of Ely

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Bishop of Ely

The Bishop
Bishop

A bishop is an ordination or consecration member of the Clergy#Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight....
of Ely
Ely

Ely is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, England. It is 14 miles north-northeast of Cambridge.Ely has been informally accounted a city by virtue of being the seat of a diocese....
is the Ordinary

Ordinary

In those hierarchically organised churches of Western Christianity which have an ecclesiastical law system, an ordinary is an officer of the church who by reason of office has ordinary power to executive the church's laws....
of the Church of England

Church of England

The Church of England is the State religion Christianity Ecclesia in England, the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the oldest among the communion's thirty-eight independent national and regional churches....
Diocese of Ely

Diocese of Ely

The Diocese of Ely is a Church of England diocese in the Province of Canterbury. It is headed by the Bishop of Ely, who sits at Ely Cathedral in Ely....
in the Province of Canterbury

Province of Canterbury

The Province of Canterbury, also called the Southern Province, is one of two ecclesiastical provinces making up the Church of England. It consists of 30 dioceses, covering roughly the southern two-thirds of England, along with the Channel Islands, the Falkland Islands, a few parishes in Wales, and the mainland of Europe....
.

The diocese roughly covers the county of Cambridgeshire

Cambridgeshire

Cambridgeshire is a Counties_of_the_United_Kingdom#England in England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the northeast, Suffolk to the east, Essex, England and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west....
(with the exception of the Soke of Peterborough

Soke of Peterborough

The Soke of Peterborough is an historic area of England that is traditionally associated with the Peterborough and Anglican Diocese of Peterborough, but considered part of Northamptonshire....
), together with a section of north-west Norfolk

Norfolk

Norfolk is a low-lying Counties of England in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and with Suffolk to the south....
and has its see

Episcopal See

An episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral....
in the City of Ely

Ely

Ely is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, England. It is 14 miles north-northeast of Cambridge.Ely has been informally accounted a city by virtue of being the seat of a diocese....
, Cambridgeshire, where the seat is located at the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity

Ely Cathedral

Ely Cathedral is the principal Church of the Diocese of Ely, in Cambridgeshire, England, and the seat of the Bishop of Ely. It is known locally as "the ship of the The Fens", because of its prominent shape that towers above the surrounding flat and watery landscape....
.

The current bishop is the Right Reverend Dr Anthony John Russell

Anthony Russell

Dr Anthony John Russell is the current Bishop of Ely in the Church of England.Russell was educated at Uppingham School, St Chad's College, Durham University and Trinity College, Oxford University of Oxford, where he earned a DPhil....
, BA, DPhil, the 68th Lord Bishop of Ely, who signs +Anthony Elien:.

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Encyclopedia

Ordinary

Church of England

Diocese of Ely

The Diocese of Ely is a Church of England diocese in the Province of Canterbury. It is headed by the Bishop of Ely, who sits at Ely Cathedral in Ely....
in the Province of Canterbury

Province of Canterbury

Cambridgeshire

Soke of Peterborough

Norfolk

Episcopal See

Ely

Ely Cathedral

Anthony Russell

History

The earliest historical notice of Ely is given by the Venerable Bede who writes (Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum
Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum

The Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum is a work in Latin by the Bede on the history of the Church in England, and of England generally; its main focus is on the conflict between Roman Catholic Church and Celtic Christianity....
, IV, xix):

"Ely is in the province of the East Angles

Kingdom of the East Angles

The Kingdom of the East Angles or Kingdom of East Anglia was one of the ancient Heptarchy. The kingdom was named after the homeland of the Angles, Angeln in northern Germany, and initially consisted of Norfolk and Suffolk, names which possibly arose during or after the Danish settling ....
, a country of about six hundred families, in the nature of an island, enclosed either with marshes or waters, and therefore it has its name from the great abundance of eels which are taken in those marshes."

This district was assigned in 649 to saint Æthelthryth

Æthelthryth

?thelthryth, or ??el?ry?, is the proper name for the popular Anglo-Saxons saint almost universally known as Etheldreda or by the pet form of Audrey ....
, daughter of Anna

Anna of East Anglia

Anna was a mid-7th century List of monarchs of East Anglia. He was the nephew of Raedwald of East Anglia, and probably the second of the sons of Eni of East Anglia, Raedwald's brother, to hold the kingdom, ruling ....
, king of the East Angles, as a dowry in her marriage with Tonbert of the South Girvii. After her second marriage to Ecgfrith of Northumbria

Ecgfrith of Northumbria

Ecgfrith was the List of monarchs of Northumbria of Northumbria from 670 until his death. He ruled over Northumbria when it was at the height of its power, but his reign ended with a disastrous defeat in which he lost his life....
, she became a nun, and in 673 returned to Ely and founded a monastery on the site of the present cathedral. As endowment she gave it her entire principality of the isle, from which subsequent Bishops of Ely derived their temporal power. Æthelthryth died in 679, and her shrine became a place of pilgrimage. In 870 the monastery was destroyed by the Danes, having already given to the Church four sainted abbesses, Saints Æthelthryth, her sister Seaxburgh

Seaxburh of Ely

Saint Seaxburh or Saint Sexburga of Ely was an Anglo-Saxons king's daughter, an Abbess and saint of the Christian Church.Seaxburh was one of four daughters of King Anna of East Anglia....
, the latter's daughter Ermenilda

Ermenilda of Ely

Saint Eormenhild is a seventh-century Anglo-Saxon saint. Later hagiography makes her the daughter of King Eorcenberht of Kent and St. Seaxburh of Ely, and wife to Wulfhere of Mercia, with whom she had a daughter, St....
, and Ermenilda's daughter Werburgh

Werburgh

Werburgh is an England saint and the patron saint of Chester.She was born at Stone, Staffordshire , and was the daughter of King Wulfhere of Mercia and his wife Ermenilda of Ely, herself daughter of the Eorcenberht of Kent....
. Probably under their rule there was a community of monks as well as a convent of nuns, but when in 970 the monastery was restored by King Edgar and Bishop Ethelwold it was a foundation for monks only.

For more than a century the monastery flourished, and about the year 1105 Abbot Richard suggested the creation of the See of Ely, to relieve the enormous Diocese of Lincoln

Diocese of Lincoln

The Diocese of Lincoln forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England.It traces its roots in an unbroken line to the Diocese of Lindine founded in 678....
. The pope's brief erecting the new bishopric was issued 21 November 1108, and on 17 October 1109 King Henry I

Henry I of England

Henry I was the fourth son of William I the Conqueror. He succeeded his elder brother William II of England as King of England in 1100 and defeated his eldest brother, Robert Curthose, to become Duke of Normandy in 1106....
granted his charter, the first bishop being Hervé le Breton

Hervey le Breton

Hervey le Breton was a Brittany cleric who became Bishop of Bangor in Wales and later Bishop of Ely in England. Appointed to Bangor by King William II of England, when Normans were advancing into Wales, Hervey was unable to remain in his diocese when the Welsh began to drive the Normans back from their recent conquests....
, or Harvey (1109-1131), former Bishop of Bangor

Bishop of Bangor

The Bishop of Bangor is the Ordinary of the Church in Wales Diocese of Bangor.The diocese covers the counties of Anglesey, most of Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire and a small part of Montgomeryshire....
. The monastery church thus became one of the "conventual" cathedrals. Of this building the transepts and two bays of the nave already existed, and in 1170 the nave as it stands to-day (a complete and perfect specimen of late Norman work) was finished. As the bishops succeeded to the principality of St Etheldreda they enjoyed palatine power and great resources.

The Bishops of Ely frequently held high office in the State and the roll includes many names of famous statesmen, including eight Lord Chancellors and six Lord Treasurers. The Bishops of Ely spent much of their wealth on their cathedral

Ely Cathedral

Ely Cathedral is the principal Church of the Diocese of Ely, in Cambridgeshire, England, and the seat of the Bishop of Ely. It is known locally as "the ship of the The Fens", because of its prominent shape that towers above the surrounding flat and watery landscape....
, with the result that Ely can show examples of gothic architecture of many periods. They also had a London residence called Ely Place

Ely Place

Ely Place is a gated road at the southern tip of the London Borough of Camden in London, England. It is the location of the Old Mitre Tavern and is adjacent to Hatton Garden....
.

Among the bishops Geoffry Riddell (1174-1189) built the nave and began the west tower, Eustace (1198-1215) the West Porch, while Hugh de Northwold (1229-1254) rebuilt the Norman choir and John Hotham (1316-1337) rebuilt the collapsed central tower – the famous Octagon. Bishop Hugh (or Hugo) de Balsham

Hugh de Balsham

Hugh de Balsham was a medieval English bishop....
(1258-1286) founded Peterhouse

Peterhouse, Cambridge

Peterhouse is the oldest college in the University of Cambridge. It was founded in 1284 by Hugo de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Peterhouse has 284 undergraduates, 130 graduate students and 45 fellows, making it the smallest University_of_Cambridge/Colleges in Cambridge, except for certain colleges that admit only women, graduates, or mature studen...
, the first college at the University of Cambridge

University of Cambridge

The University of Cambridge , located in Cambridge, England, is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation university in the Anglosphere....
, while Bishop John Alcock (1486-1500) was the founder of Jesus College

Jesus College, Cambridge

Jesus College in the University of Cambridge was founded in 1496 on the site of a Benedictine nunnery by John Alcock , then Bishop of Ely. It has been traditionally believed that the nunnery was turned into a college because the nunnery had gained a reputation for promiscuity....
.

Bishop Goodrich was a reformer and during his episcopate the monastery was dissolved. The last bishop in communion with the see of Rome was Thomas Thirlby. Since the Reformation, notable bishops have included Lancelot Andrewes

Lancelot Andrewes

Lancelot Andrewes was an English clergyman and scholar, who held high positions in the Church of England during the reigns of Elizabeth I of England and James I of England....
, Matthew Wren

Matthew Wren

Matthew Wren was an influential English clergyman and scholar....
, Peter Gunning

Peter Gunning

Peter Gunning , was an England Cavalier church leader, Bishop of Chichester and later of Bishop of Ely....
and Simon Patrick

Simon Patrick

Simon Patrick was an English people theologian and bishop....
.

Sources

Haydn's Book of Dignities (1894) Joseph Haydn/Horace Ockerby, reprinted 1969
Whitaker's Almanack 1883 to 2004, Joseph Whitaker and Sons Ltd/A&C Black, London
Catholic Encyclopaedia, 1908