The Diocese of Worcester forms part 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 Britain ...
(
Anglican
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
)
Province of Canterbury
The Province of Canterbury, or less formally the Southern Province, is one of two ecclesiastical provinces which constitute the Church of England. The other is the Province of York (which consists of 12 dioceses).
Overview
The Province consist ...
in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
.
The diocese was founded around 679 by
St Theodore of Canterbury at Worcester to minister to the
kingdom of the Hwicce, one of the many
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 ...
petty-kingdoms of that time. The original borders of the diocese are believed to be based on those of that ancient kingdom.
Covering an area of it currently has
parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...
es in:
*the County of
Worcestershire
Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...
*the
Metropolitan Borough of Dudley
The Metropolitan Borough of Dudley is a metropolitan borough of West Midlands, England. It was created in 1974 following the Local Government Act 1972, through a merger of the existing Dudley County Borough with the municipal boroughs of Stour ...
*northern
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of Gl ...
*urban villages along the edge of the south-east of the Metropolitan Borough of
Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...
*the Metropolitan Borough of
Sandwell
Sandwell is a metropolitan borough of the West Midlands county in England. The borough is named after the Sandwell Priory, and spans a densely populated part of the West Midlands conurbation. According to Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, t ...
Currently the diocese has 190 parishes with 281 churches and 163 stipendiary clergy.
The diocese is divided into two
archdeacon
An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denominations, above that o ...
ries:
*the
Archdeaconry of Worcester
The Archdeacon of Worcester is a senior clergy position in the Diocese of Worcester in the Church of England. Among the archdeacon's responsibilities is the care of clergy and church buildings within the area of the Archdeaconry of Worcester.
Hi ...
*the
Archdeaconry of Dudley The Archdeacon of Dudley is one of two archdeacons in the Anglican Diocese of Worcester, England (the other being the Archdeacon of Worcester).
History
The archdeaconry of Dudley was created by Order in Council on 11 February 1921 from the Worces ...
On its creation the diocese included what is now southern and western
Warwickshire
Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...
(an area known as
Felden). On 24 January 1837 the north and east of Warwickshire (
Arden
Arden may refer to:
Places
;Australia
*Arden, an area in North Melbourne, Victoria near the Arden Street Oval
;Canada
* Arden, Ontario
;Denmark
* Arden, Denmark, a town
**Arden Municipality, a former municipality, including the town of Arden
; ...
) which formed the Archdeaconry of Coventry in the then
Diocese of Lichfield and Coventry
The Diocese of Lichfield is a Church of England diocese in the Province of Canterbury, England. The bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Chad in the city of Lichfield. The diocese covers of se ...
was transferred to the Diocese of Worcester. In 1905 an area in northern Warwickshire was split off as the
Diocese of Birmingham and in 1918 an area approximate to the rest of Warwickshire was made the
Diocese of Coventry
The Diocese of Coventry is a Church of England diocese in the Province of Canterbury. It is headed by the Bishop of Coventry, who sits at Coventry Cathedral in Coventry, and is assisted by one suffragan bishop, the Bishop of Warwick. The dioc ...
. From 1993 until 2002, the diocese operated an episcopal
area scheme
A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations.
In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdiction ...
.
Bishops
Besides the diocesan
Bishop of Worcester
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
(
John Inge
John Geoffrey Inge ( ; born 26 February 1955) is a bishop in the Church of England. He is currently the Bishop of Worcester in the Diocese of Worcester. From 2003 to 2007, he was Bishop of Huntingdon, a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of El ...
) and the
Bishop suffragan of Dudley (
Martin Gorick
Martin Charles William Gorick (born 23 June 1962) is a British Anglican bishop, who has served since 2020 as Bishop of Dudley, the sole suffragan bishop in the Church of England Diocese of Worcester. He was previously Archdeacon of Oxford in ...
; which See was created in 1974), there are four retired bishops resident in (or near) the diocese who are licensed to serve as
honorary assistant bishop
An assistant bishop in the Anglican Communion is a bishop appointed to assist a diocesan bishop.
Church of England
In the established Church of England, assistant bishops are usually retired (diocesan or suffragan) bishops – in which case they ...
s:
*2002–present:
Christopher Mayfield, retired
Bishop of Manchester
The Bishop of Manchester is the ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Manchester in the Province of York.'' Crockford's Clerical Directory 2008/2009 (100th edition)'', Church House Publishing ().
The current bishop is David Walker w ...
and former area/suffragan
Bishop of Wolverhampton
The Bishop of Wolverhampton is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Lichfield, in the Province of Canterbury, England. The title takes its name after the city of Wolverhampton in the West Midlands; the ...
, lives in Worcester.
*2002–present:
Mark Santer
Mark Santer (born 29 December 1936) is a retired Anglican bishop. He is the father of television producer Diederick Santer.
Early life and education
Santer was educated at Marlborough College and Queens' College, Cambridge, before his ordinati ...
, a retired former diocesan
Bishop of Birmingham
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
living in Moseley in the neighbouring
Birmingham diocese.
*2005–present:
Jonathan Ruhumuliza, a Rwandan bishop, lives and works as a parish priest in Worcestershire.
*2009–present:
Michael Hooper, retired
Bishop of Ludlow
The Bishop of Ludlow was an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Hereford, which is within the Province of Canterbury, England.
The See of Ludlow was erected under the Suffragans Nomination Act 1888 by Or ...
, lives in
Eckington.
Since 1994,
alternative episcopal oversight
A provincial episcopal visitor (PEV), popularly known as a flying bishop, is a Church of England bishop assigned to minister to many of the clergy, laity and parishes who on grounds of theological conviction, "are unable to receive the ministry of ...
for parishes in the diocese which do not accept the sacramental ministry of women priests is provided by the
provincial episcopal visitor
A provincial episcopal visitor (PEV), popularly known as a flying bishop, is a Church of England bishop assigned to minister to many of the clergy, laity and parishes who on grounds of theological conviction, "are unable to receive the ministry of ...
, the
Bishop of Ebbsfleet
The Bishop of Ebbsfleet is a suffragan bishop who fulfils the role of a provincial episcopal visitor in the Church of England. From its creation in 1994 to 2022, the Bishop of Ebbsfleet served traditionist Anglo-Catholic parishes that could not ac ...
, who is licensed as an honorary assistant bishop of the diocese in order to facilitate his ministry.
History
The Diocese of Worcester, founded in 679–680, bore the title ''Episcopus Hwicciorum''. The boundaries are believed to have been roughly those of the Kingdom of the
Hwicce
Hwicce () was a tribal kingdom in Anglo-Saxon England. According to the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', the kingdom was established in 577, after the Battle of Deorham. After 628, the kingdom became a client or sub-kingdom of Mercia as a result of the ...
.
The diocese seems to have benefited in the 8th century from the support of the
kings of Mercia
The Kingdom of Mercia was a state in the English Midlands from the 6th century to the 10th century. For some two hundred years from the mid-7th century onwards it was the dominant member of the Heptarchy and consequently the most powerful of the ...
. Through royal support the bishopric was able to gradually extend its control over prominent
minsters. Initially, these were under the control of Hwiccan royals, as family property. This appears to have been gradually transferred to the control of the Bishopric, under the sponsorship of the Mercian kings, the process driven by the self-interest of the Mercian monarchy. As well as undermining local rivals, the Mercian kings also derived revenue from church lands in this period.
The church in Worcester is believed to have been founded in the late 7th century. It seems to have benefited in the 8th century from the support of the
kings of Mercia
The Kingdom of Mercia was a state in the English Midlands from the 6th century to the 10th century. For some two hundred years from the mid-7th century onwards it was the dominant member of the Heptarchy and consequently the most powerful of the ...
. Through this royal support the bishopric found itself in a position from which it was able to gradually extend its control over several of the other prominent minsters in the area during the 7th and 8th centuries. Consequently, in the 9th century, the bishopric of Worcester can be seen to be the most powerful ecclesiastical power in
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=
, ye ...
during this time. From this position the church was able to use its great wealth to buy privileges from the kings of Mercia. Later in the period it was from Mercia, in particular Worcester, that
King Alfred
Alfred the Great (alt. Ælfred 848/849 – 26 October 899) was King of the West Saxons from 871 to 886, and King of the Anglo-Saxons from 886 until his death in 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf and his first wife Osburh, who bot ...
began to recruit priests and monks with whom to rebuild the church in
Wessex
la, Regnum Occidentalium Saxonum
, conventional_long_name = Kingdom of the West Saxons
, common_name = Wessex
, image_map = Southern British Isles 9th century.svg
, map_caption = S ...
during the 880s (Asser, ch. 77). It has been argued that these priests brought with them a new attitude towards the church's place within society and its relationship with the monarchy. Consequently, from the bishopric of Worcester there developed a new ecclesiastical ideology that would become the accepted
Anglo-Saxon church
In the seventh century the pagan Anglo-Saxons were converted to Christianity ( ang, Crīstendōm) mainly by missionaries sent from Rome. Irish missionaries from Iona, who were proponents of Celtic Christianity, were influential in the conversion ...
.
The chaos of the period 900–1060 led to the loss of ecclesiastical lands, through leases and loss of records. Leases were often made for three lifetimes, but tended to become permanent arrangements. The result was that by Domesday, some 45% of the Diocese's church lands were held under leases.
Bishop Roger and Thomas Becket
Bishop
Roger
Roger is a given name, usually masculine, and a surname. The given name is derived from the Old French personal names ' and '. These names are of Germanic origin, derived from the elements ', ''χrōþi'' ("fame", "renown", "honour") and ', ' ( ...
attempted to support
Thomas Becket
Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), was an English nobleman who served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then ...
in his dispute with
Henry II over the independence of the Church. He wrote to the King to intercede on behalf of Becket after his exile, which provoked Henry to instruct him to keep away from Becket in his exile. Roger ignored the instruction, and was in turn exiled. He remained in exile, despite attempts by the Pope to reconcile him with Henry, and eventually was sent to Rome by the King after Becket's murder to attempt to convince the Pope that he was not involved.
The diocese and the medieval Jewry
Worcester had a small
Jewish population
As of 2020, the world's "core" Jewish population (those identifying as Jews above all else) was estimated at 15 million, 0.2% of the 8 billion worldwide population. This number rises to 18 million with the addition of the "connected" Jewish pop ...
by the late 12th century. It was one of a number of places allowed to keep records of debts, in an official locked chest known as an archa. (An archa or arca (plural archae/arcae) was a municipal chest in which deeds were preserved.) Jewish life probably centred around what is now Copenhagen Street.
The diocese was notably hostile to the Jewish community in Worcester.
Peter of Blois
Peter of Blois ( la, Petrus Blesensis; French: ''Pierre de Blois''; ) was a French cleric, theologian, poet and diplomat. He is particularly noted for his corpus of Latin letters.
Early life and education
Peter of Blois was born about 1130. Ear ...
was commissioned by a Bishop of Worcester, probably
John of Coutances
John of Coutances was a medieval Bishop of Worcester.
John was a nephew of Walter of Coutances, Bishop of Lincoln and was treasurer of the diocese of Lisieux before his uncle appointed him Archdeacon of Oxford sometime before December 1184. He ...
, to write a significant anti-Judaic treatise ''Against the Perfidy of Jews'' around 1190.
William de Blois, as Bishop of Worcester, imposed particularly strict rules on Jews within the diocese in 1219. As elsewhere in England, Jews were officially compelled to wear square white badges, supposedly representing tabulae. In most places, this requirement was relinquished as long as fines were paid. In addition to enforcing the church laws on wearing badges, Blois tried to impose additional restrictions on
usury
Usury () is the practice of making unethical or immoral monetary loans that unfairly enrich the lender. The term may be used in a moral sense—condemning taking advantage of others' misfortunes—or in a legal sense, where an interest rate is ch ...
, and wrote to Pope Gregory in 1229 to ask for better enforcement and further, harsher measures. In response, the papacy demanded that Christians be prevented from working in Jewish homes, "lest temporal profit be preferred to the zeal of Christ", and enforcement of the wearing of badges.
Dissolution and Reformation
The priory came to an end with
King 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 disag ...
's
Dissolution of the Monasteries. Shortly beforehand, in 1535, the prior
William More resigned, and was replaced by
Henry Holbeach
Henry Holbeach ( – 2 August 1551) was an English clergyman who served as the last Prior and first Dean of Worcester, a suffragan bishop, and diocesan bishop of two Church of England dioceses.
Life
Born as Henry Rands (or Randes) in Holbeach ...
. More had a reputation for fine living, although his standards seem in line with other senior ecclesiasts of the time. However, there certainly were problems with the administration of the priory, including divisions within the community.
The Protestant
Hugh Latimer
Hugh Latimer ( – 16 October 1555) was a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, and Bishop of Worcester during the Reformation, and later Church of England chaplain to King Edward VI. In 1555 under the Catholic Queen Mary I he was burned at the s ...
was bishop from 1535, and preached for reform and iconoclasm. He resigned as bishop in 1539, as a result of a theological turn by
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 ...
towards Roman Catholicism, in the
Six Articles.
John Bell, a moderate reformer, was bishop from 1539 to 1543, during the period of the Priory's dissolution.
In the early 16th century, Worcester had around 40 monks. This declined slightly in the years immediately before 1540, as recruitment seems to have halted. There were 35 Benedictine monks plus the
Prior
Prior (or prioress) is an ecclesiastical title for a superior in some religious orders. The word is derived from the Latin for "earlier" or "first". Its earlier generic usage referred to any monastic superior. In abbeys, a prior would be l ...
Holbeach at the time of dissolution, probably 16 January 1540; eleven were immediately given pensions, while the remainder became secular canons in the new Royal College. Holbeach was re-appointed as the first dean. A further five former monks were pensioned from the college in July 1540.
The former monastic library of Worcester contained a considerable number of manuscripts which are, among other libraries, now scattered over
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
, London (
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...
), Oxford
Bodleian
The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford, and is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. It derives its name from its founder, Sir Thomas Bodley. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second- ...
, and the Cathedral library at Worcester of today.
Remains of the Priory dating from the 12th and 13th centuries can still be seen.
John Bell's successor as bishop,
Nicholas Heath
Nicholas Heath (c. 1501–1578) was the last Roman Catholic Archbishop of York and Lord Chancellor. He previously served as Bishop of Worcester.
Life
Heath was born in London and graduated BA at Oxford in 1519. He then migrated to Christ's ...
, was religiously much more conservative and Catholic.
Having been divided from the Worcester diocese in 1541, the
Diocese of Gloucester
The Diocese of Gloucester is a Church of England diocese based in Gloucester, covering the non-metropolitan county of Gloucestershire. The cathedral is Gloucester Cathedral and the bishop is the Bishop of Gloucester. It is part of the Province ...
was briefly dissolved and returned to Worcester
again on 20 May 1552 —
John Hooper was translated from Gloucester and called "Bishop of Worcester and Gloucester" (or Gloucester and Worcester) until his own deprivation by Queen Mary in 1554. Worcester and Gloucester were re-divided again at that point.
Worcester Archive
The Charters of Worcester are one of the key sources for historians studying the period and are a major reason for information about the early Anglo-Saxon church. The charters exist within the Worcester archive which is itself the largest Anglo-Saxon archive of its kind. It contains many texts, ranging from late 7th to the 11th centuries, providing a significant and continuous history of the church. The archive takes physical form in two distinct cartularies. The first one, Cartulary A (Cotton Tiberius A xiii), contains in it the majority of the charters that make up the archive. It is from these that there develops a coherent picture of land ownership and societal responsibilities during the Anglo-Saxon period and beyond. A prominent example of this is No. 95 of Cartulary A which shows the 8th-century king of Mercia, Ceolwulf II, granting the bishopric of Worcester exemption from royal dues in exchange for money. This example shows not just the dues and power of the king himself but also the wealth and power of the church, the sophisticated system of bartering and exchange that existed at the time and also the legal system of recording important transactions.
References
Sources
*
*
*
*''Worcester Cathedral'' (official guidebook), Scala Publishers Ltd. (2004)
*
*R.K. Morris, ed. '' Medieval Art and Architecture at Worcester Cathedral'', 1978
*
*
*
*
Jewish history
*
*
*
*
External links
Diocesan websiteChurch of England Statistics 2002
{{DEFAULTSORT:Anglican Diocese Of Worcester
7th-century establishments in England
679 establishments
Christianity in Worcester, England
Christianity in Worcestershire
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 ...
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 ...
Geography of Worcester, England