Abstract. The Mercian diocese started in 656 and it became the Lichfield diocese at the time of Bishop Chad, c. 668 or 9. In 672 it was subdivided. From 1228 until the dissolution of the Cathedral Priory of Coventry in 1539 the diocese stretched from the Ribble in Lancashire to Edgehill in south-east Warwickshire. From 1541 until 1836, the diocese covered Staffordshire, Derbyshire, northern Shropshire and northern and eastern Warwickshire. It has lost parts of Shropshire, all of Derbyshire and areas in Birmingham/Warwickshire. Today the diocese serves a population of just over 2 million people in an area of 4,516 km2 or 1,744 miles. It has over 540 churches in 424 parishes with around 500 clergy.
The first cathedral church was probably built immediately prior to Chad becoming the 5th bishop of Mercia by King Wulfere and Bishop Wilfrid or completed when he arrived in Licetfelda in 669. Strictly the origin of the diocese started with the appointment of Diuma, the 1st bishop of Mercia around the year 656. The geographical boundaries of this undeveloped diocese would not have been determined, but could have been north of what is now Manchester, down a border in Wales not far from the western mountains or along the River Severn and having a southern border close to the Thames. The eastern boundary might have been the coast and extended to the River Humber. This was a huge diocese and the majority was uncolonized and various tribes had rudimentary beliefs. The diocese might have been the developing kingdom of Mercia determined by the rule of the Mercian kings.
By the time of the Council of Hertford, 672, there were 7 sees and Lichfield was the sixth to be formed. Canterbury and Rochester were small, London medium and Dunwich a little larger. Winchester, York and Lichfield were large and the new Archbishop, Theodore of Tarsus, wanted their subdivision.[1] He failed to divide Winchester, but managed to split Dunwich into north and south Elmham. He succeeded in reducing Mercia by allowing Lindsey (Lincolnshire) to move to York, 674. In 680, the area of Worcestershire became the diocese of Worcester and Herefordshire had a new centre at Hereford. There is evidence that new bishoprics were attempted to be formed from the southern part of Mercia. New bishoprics in Leicestershire appeared and a see was finally formed in 737. Leicester diocese became the see for the Middle Angles according to documents at the Council of Clofeshoh in 803. A new bishop of Dorchester appears to rule over Mercian territory in the Oxfordshire region, 675-85.[2] Around 674, Theodore deprived Winfrith, bishop of Lichfield, of his see and, perhaps, this was a consequence of the diocese being split in many ways.
The subdivision of Mercia into at least 7 dioceses by late 8th-century and the reign of King Offa. The see of Lichfield remained the same until Reformation and 1541. Thanks to M. Christie, Wikipedia, in Public Domain.
From 1228 until the dissolution of the Cathedral Priory of Coventry in 1539 Lichfield Cathedral and the Benedictine priory church of Coventry managed a diocese stretching from the Ribble in Lancashire to Edgehill in south-east Warwickshire. It was called 'Coventry and Lichfield' until the mid-17th century and then 'Lichfield and Coventry' until 1836. It extended from the mouth of the River Ribble in Lancashire and along the river to the Yorkshire border. It then covered Lancashire, Cheshire and Derbyshire southwards to the Derbyshire-Nottinghamshire border. It then followed the eastern and southern area of Derbyshire and the eastern side of Staffordshire and Warwickshire as far as Ratley in south Warwickshire. The boundary then moved north-westwards through Warwickshire including Leamington, Kenilworth and Solihull, but not Warwick. The boundary with Hereford diocese roughly followed the course of the River Severn through Shropshire, with island parishes (Clent, Broom, Rowley Regis, Amblecote, Old Swinford) out of the diocese. The diocese included detached parts of Flintshire, Chester and Denbighshire (Hanmer, Overton, Bangor, Iscoed, Worthenbury, Penley, Holt and Hawarden).
In summary, from 1541 until 1836, the diocese covered Staffordshire, Derbyshire, northern Shropshire and northern and eastern Warwickshire.
In 1541, the diocese of Chester was created. Parishes in south Lancashire, Cheshire, Denbighshire and Flintshire were transferred to this new diocese.
In 1837, the archdeaconry of Coventry was transferred to the diocese of Worcester. Tamworth stayed with Lichfield. In 1918, a new diocese of Coventry was created.
In 1846, the Bridgnorth deanery transferred to the diocese of Hereford.
In 1884, the archdeaconry of Derby transferred to the new diocese of Southwell.
In 1905, on the creation of the diocese of Birmingham, the rural deanery of Handsworth, including the ancient parishes of Handsworth and Harborne (Staffs, later Warks), was transferred to the new diocese.
Early in the 20th-century parts of Shropshire were transferred to Hereford and St Asaph.
Diocesan coat-of-arms and flag.
Today the diocese serves a population of just over 2 million people in an area of 4,516 km2 or 1,744 miles2. It has over 540 churches in 424 parishes with around 500 clergy. Neighbouring parishes are in groups of about a dozen within 28 deaneries. Groups of deaneries are collected into an archdeaconry, led by an Area Bishop and an Archdeacon under the care of the Diocesan Bishop.[3]
[1] F. Stenton, Anglo-Saxon England, (Oxford: 1971), 134.
[2] Bede, Historia Ecclesiastica, Book 4, chapter 23. J. McClure and R. Collins, The Ecclesiastical History of the English People. (Oxford: 2008), 211.
[3] Current website, https://www.lichfield.anglican.org/about-us/
No comments:
Post a Comment