The Bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

 of Leicester

Leicester

Leicester is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England, and the county town of Leicestershire. The city lies on the River Soar and at the edge of the National Forest...

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 execute the church's laws...

 of the Church of England

Church of England

The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

 Diocese of Leicester

Diocese of Leicester

The Diocese of Leicester is a Church of England diocese based in Leicester and including the current county of Leicestershire. The cathedral is Leicester Cathedral, where the Bishop of Leicester has his seat....

 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...

.

The first bishops of Leicester were originally prelate

Prelate

A prelate is a high-ranking member of the clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin prælatus, the past participle of præferre, which means "carry before", "be set above or over" or "prefer"; hence, a prelate is one set over others.-Related...

s who administered an Anglo-Saxon

Anglo-Saxons

Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...

 diocese

Diocese

A diocese is the district or see under the supervision of a bishop. It is divided into parishes.An archdiocese is more significant than a diocese. An archdiocese is presided over by an archbishop whose see may have or had importance due to size or historical significance...

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

Danelaw

The Danelaw, as recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle , is a historical name given to the part of England in which the laws of the "Danes" held sway and dominated those of the Anglo-Saxons. It is contrasted with "West Saxon law" and "Mercian law". The term has been extended by modern historians to...

 and the episcopal see

Episcopal See

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

 was transferred to Dorchester.

After a thousand years the episcopal

Episcopal polity

Episcopal polity is a form of church governance that is hierarchical in structure with the chief authority over a local Christian church resting in a bishop...

 title was resurrected as a suffragan see within the diocese of Peterborough. The suffragan Bishop of Leicester assisted the diocesan Bishop of Peterborough

Bishop of Peterborough

The Bishop of Peterborough is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Peterborough in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers the counties of Northamptonshire, Rutland and the Soke of Peterborough in Cambridgeshire...

 in overseeing the diocese. Through reorganisation within the Church of England

Church of England

The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

, the Diocese of Leicester

Diocese of Leicester

The Diocese of Leicester is a Church of England diocese based in Leicester and including the current county of Leicestershire. The cathedral is Leicester Cathedral, where the Bishop of Leicester has his seat....

 was refounded in 1927, and St Martin's Church became Leicester Cathedral

Leicester Cathedral

Leicester Cathedral, or the Cathedral Church of St Martin, Leicester is a Church of England cathedral in the English city of Leicester, and the seat of the Bishop of Leicester...

. The present bishop's residence is Bishop's Lodge, Springfield Road, Leicester.

Anglo-Saxon Bishops of Leicester

Anglo-Saxon Bishops of Leicester
No.	Incumbent	From	Until	Notes
1	Cuthwine Cuthwine of Leicester Cuthwine was a medieval Bishop of Leicester.He was consecrated in 679. He died about 691.-References:* Powicke, F. Maurice and E. B. Fryde Handbook of British Chronology 2nd. ed. London:Royal Historical Society 1961...	679	c.691
2	Wilfrid Wilfrid Wilfrid was an English bishop and saint. Born a Northumbrian noble, he entered religious life as a teenager and studied at Lindisfarne, at Canterbury, in Gaul, and at Rome; he returned to Northumbria in about 660, and became the abbot of a newly founded monastery at Ripon...	692	705	Translated from York Archbishop of York The Archbishop of York is a high-ranking cleric in the Church of England, second only to the Archbishop of Canterbury. He is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and metropolitan of the Province of York, which covers the northern portion of England as well as the Isle of Man... ; later transferred to Hexham Bishop of Hexham The Bishop of Hexham was an episcopal title which took its name after the market town of Hexham in Northumberland, England. The title was first used by the Anglo-Saxons in the 7th and 9th centuries, and then by the Roman Catholic Church in the 19th century....
3	Headda	709	c.716/727	also Bishop of Lichfield Bishop of Lichfield The Bishop of Lichfield is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Lichfield in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers 4,516 km² of the counties of Staffordshire, Shropshire, Warwickshire and West Midlands. The bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral Church of the Blessed...
4	Aldwine	c.716/727	737	also Bishop of Lichfield
5	Torhthelm Torhthelm Torhthelm was a medieval Bishop of Leicester.He was consecrated in 737. He died in 764.-References:* Powicke, F. Maurice and E. B. Fryde Handbook of British Chronology 2nd. ed. London:Royal Historical Society 1961-External links:*...	737	764
6	Eadbeorht Eadbeorht of Leicester Eadbeorht was a medieval Bishop of Leicester. He was consecrated in 764. He died between 781 and 785.-References:* Powicke, F. Maurice and E. B. Fryde Handbook of British Chronology 2nd. ed. London:Royal Historical Society 1961...	764	c.781/785
7	Unwona Unwona Unwona was a medieval Bishop of Leicester.He was consecrated between 781 and 785. He died between 801 and 803.-References:* Powicke, F. Maurice and E. B. Fryde Handbook of British Chronology 2nd. ed. London:Royal Historical Society 1961...	c.781/785	c.801/803
8	Wernbeorht Wernbeorht Wernbeorht was a medieval Bishop of Leicester.He was consecrated between 801 and 803. He died between 814 and 816.-References:...	c.801/803	c.814/816
9	Hræthhun Hræthhun Hræthhun Bishop of Leicester, died 839 or 840.He was consecrated bishop between 814 and 816. He was styled Abbot of Abingdon in a charter dated 811. This charter was found to be a forgery, however, , and so Kelly excluded him from the list of abbots.- References :* Kelly, S. E. 2000. Charters of...	c.814/816	839 or 840
10	Ealdred Ealdred of Leicester -References:* Powicke, F. Maurice and E. B. Fryde Handbook of British Chronology 2nd. ed. London:Royal Historical Society 1961-External links:*...	839 or 840	c.840/844
11	Ceobred Ceobred Ceobred was a medieval Bishop of Leicester.He was consecrated between 839 and 840. He died between 869 and 888. In 844, he gave land at Pangbourne on the Thames River to Berhtwulf, king of Mercia, in return for a grant of liberties for some monasteries.-References:* Powicke, F. Maurice and E. B....	c.840/844	c.869/888
In the late 9th century, the episcopal see Episcopal See An episcopal see is, in the original sense, the official seat of a bishop. This seat, which is also referred to as the bishop's cathedra, is placed in the bishop's principal church, which is therefore called the bishop's cathedral...  of Leicester was moved to Dorchester

Suffragan Bishops of Leicester

Suffragan Bishops of Leicester
No.	Incumbent	From	Until	Notes
1	Francis Thicknesse	1888	1903	(c.1829-1921). Formerly Archdeacon of Northampton
2	Lewis Clayton Lewis Clayton Lewis Clayton was an Anglican bishop, the second suffragan Bishop of Leicester from 1903 until 1913.Lewis Clayton was educated at King's College School and Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He was ordained in 1861 and his first post was as a Curate at Holy Trinity, Halstead...	1903	1913
3	Norman Lang	1913	1927
In 1927, Leicester became a diocesan see

Diocesan Bishops of Leicester

Bishops of Leicester
No.	Incumbent	From	Until	Notes
1	Cyril Bardsley	1927	1940	Translated from Peterborough Bishop of Peterborough The Bishop of Peterborough is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Peterborough in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers the counties of Northamptonshire, Rutland and the Soke of Peterborough in Cambridgeshire...
2	Guy Smith Guy Smith (bishop) Guy Vernon Smith MC was an Anglican bishop in the mid 20th century.Smith was educated at Winchester and New College, Oxford. Ordained in 1907 he began his ministry with a curacy at Romford and was then chaplain to Arthur Winnington-Ingram, the Bishop of London, before World War I service as a...	1940	1953	Translated from Willesden Bishop of Willesden The Bishop of Willesden is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of London, in the Province of Canterbury, England. The title takes its name after Willesden, an area of the London Borough of Brent....
3	Ronald Williams	1953	1979
4	Richard Rutt	1979	1991	Translated from St Germans Bishop of St Germans The Bishop of St Germans is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Truro, in the Province of Canterbury, England.... . Converted to Roman Catholicism in 1995.
5	Dr Tom Butler	1991	1999	Translated from Willesden Bishop of Willesden The Bishop of Willesden is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of London, in the Province of Canterbury, England. The title takes its name after Willesden, an area of the London Borough of Brent.... ; later moved to Southwark Bishop of Southwark (Anglican) The Bishop of Southwark is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Southwark in the Province of Canterbury.Until 1877, Southwark had been part of the Diocese of Winchester when it was transferred to the Diocese of Rochester...
6	Tim Stevens Tim Stevens Timothy John "Tim" Stevens is a British Anglican bishop. He is the current Bishop of Leicester.Born in Ilford, Essex, the son of Ralph Stevens and Ursula Plowman, he was educated in Chigwell School and Selwyn College, Cambridge, where he received a Bachelor of Arts in classics in 1968 and a...	1999	present	Translated from Dunwich Bishop of Dunwich (Anglican) The Bishop of Dunwich is an episcopal title which was first used by an Anglo-Saxon bishop between the 7th and 9th centuries and is currently used by a suffragan bishop who assists a diocesan bishop. The title takes its name after Dunwich in the English county of Suffolk, which has now largely been...

External links

• Crockford's Clerical Directory - Listings