Bishop of St Asaph
{{Short description|Head of the Church in Wales diocese of St Asaph}}
{{Infobox diocese
| bishopric = St Asaph
| border = anglican
| coat = Coat of Arms of the Diocese of St Asaph.svg
| incumbent = Gregory Cameron
| province = Wales
| cathedral = St Asaph Cathedral
| diocese = St Asaph
}}
The Bishop of St Asaph heads the Church in Wales diocese of St Asaph.
The diocese covers the counties of Conwy and Flintshire, Wrexham county borough, the eastern part of Merioneth in Gwynedd and part of northern Powys. The Episcopal seat is located in the Cathedral Church of St Asaph in the city of St Asaph in Denbighshire, north Wales.
The Bishop's residence is Esgobty, St Asaph. The current bishop is Gregory Cameron, who was elected on 5 January and consecrated on 4 April 2009. He became Bishop of St Asaph in succession to John Davies, who was consecrated in October 1999 and who retired in 2008.{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7808828.stm|title=New Bishop of St Asaph is chosen |publisher=BBC|date=2009-01-05|access-date=2009-01-05}}
Early times
This diocese was supposedly founded by St Kentigern (Cyndeyrn) about the middle of the 6th century, although this is unlikely. The date often given is 583. Exiled from his see in Scotland, Kentigern is said to have founded a monastery called Llanelwy – which is the Welsh name for St Asaph – at the confluence of the rivers Clwyd and Elwy in north Wales, where after his return to Scotland he was succeeded by Asaph or Asa, who was consecrated Bishop of Llanelwy. The Diocese of Llanelwy originally largely coincided with the kingdom of Powys, together with the part of the kingdom of Gwynedd known as Gwynedd Is Conwy, but lost much territory first by the Mercian encroachment marked by Watt's dyke and again by the construction of Offa's Dyke, soon after 798. Nothing is known of the history of the diocese during the disturbed period that followed. Some historians doubt the existence of the diocese per se before the Norman period, and the bishop list and the fact that the Diocese of Bangor, in the kingdom of Gwynedd, held large tracts of land there tends to confirm this.
Middle Ages
The Domesday Book of 1086 gives scanty particulars of a few churches but is silent as to the cathedral. Early in the twelfth century Norman influence asserted itself and in 1143 Theobald, Archbishop of Canterbury, consecrated one Gilbert as Bishop of St. Asaph, but the position of his successors was very difficult and one of them, Godfrey, was driven away by poverty and the hostility of the Welsh. A return made in the middle of the thirteenth century (London, British Library, Cotton Vitellius, c. x.) shows the existence of eight rural deaneries, seventy-nine churches, and nineteen chapels. By 1291 the deaneries had been doubled in number and there were Cistercian houses at Basingwerk, Aberconwy, Strata Marcella and Valle Crucis, and a Cistercian nunnery, Llanllugan Abbey. The cathedral, which had been burnt in the wars, was rebuilt and completed in 1295. Dedicated to St Asaph, it was a plain massive structure of simple plan, and was again destroyed during the Wars of the Roses. When it was restored by Bishop Redman the palace was not rebuilt and thus the bishops continued to be nonresident, notwithstanding the fact that in the late Middle Ages the bishop had five episcopal residences, four of which were alienated under Edward VI of England. Redman was abbot of Shap Abbey and visitor for the Premonstratensian canons, and spent most of his time visiting their monasteries or his diocese; he was diligent in his duties and felt no need to be resident in the city. At the end of the fifteenth century there was a great revival of church building, as is evidenced by the churches of that date still existing in the diocese. The chief shrines in the diocese were St Winefred's Well, St Garmon in Yale, St Derfel Gadarn in Edeirnion, St Melangell at Pennant, and the Holy Cross in Strata Marcella. All these were demolished at the Reformation. At that time the diocese contained one archdeaconry, sixteen deaneries, and one hundred and twenty-one parishes.
The names and succession of the bishops after Saints Kentigern and Asaph are not clearly known until 1143. The last bishop in communion with Rome was Thomas Goldwell, who acceded in 1555 and was in the process of being transferred to Oxford when Queen Mary died and Elizabeth I came to the throne. Goldwell fled to the Continent and died in Rome on 13 April 1585, the last surviving member of the pre-Reformation hierarchy.
The Report of the Commissioners appointed by his Majesty to inquire into the Ecclesiastical Revenues of England and Wales (1835) found the see had an annual net income of £6,301. This made it the wealthiest diocese in Wales and the fourth richest in Britain after Canterbury, London and Winchester.The National Cyclopaedia of Useful Knowledge Vol.III, (1847), London, Charles Knight, p.362
The see continued to be part of the Church of England until the Church was disestablished in Wales in 1920, since when it has been part of the (Anglican) Church in Wales.
List of the Bishops of St Asaph
=Pre-reformation bishops=
| class="wikitable" style="width:95%;" border="1" cellpadding="2" | |
| colspan="4" style="background-color: #7F1734; color: white;" | Bishops of St Asaph | |
|---|---|
| style="background-color: #D4B1BB; width: 10%;" | From
! style="background-color: #D4B1BB; width: 10%;" | Until ! style="background-color: #D4B1BB; width: 30%;" | Incumbent ! style="background-color: #D4B1BB; width: 45%;" | Notes | |
| valign=top bgcolor="#F7F0F2"
|align=center colspan=2|6th century AD |Kentigern (Saint Mungo) |Originally Bishop of Glasgow from {{circa|540}}; founded diocese as episcopus Elvensis, Elguensis, Elveiisis, Lanelwensis | |
| valign=top bgcolor="white"
|align=center colspan=2|6th century AD | | |
| valign=top bgcolor="#F7F0F2"
|align=center colspan=2|{{circa|600}} | | |
| valign=top bgcolor="white"
|align=center colspan=2|{{circa|800}} | | |
| valign=top bgcolor="#F7F0F2"
|align=center colspan=2|{{circa|928}} | | |
| valign=top bgcolor="white"
|align=center colspan=2|{{circa|1070}} | | |
| valign=top bgcolor="#F7F0F2"
|align=center|1143 |align=center|{{circa|1151}} |See recreated as suffragan of Canterbury | |
| valign=top bgcolor="white"
|align=center|{{circa|1152}} |align=center|1154 | | |
| valign=top bgcolor="#F7F0F2"
|align=center|1154 |align=center|1155 |Died in office | |
| valign=top bgcolor="white"
|align=center|{{circa|1160}} |align=center|1165 |Left see to become abbot of Abingdon in 1165, removed from office in 1175 | |
| valign=top bgcolor="#F7F0F2"
|align=center|1175 |align=center|1181 |Canon of Pershore | |
| valign=top bgcolor="white"
|align=center|1183 |align=center|{{circa|1186}} | | |
| valign=top bgcolor="#F7F0F2"
|align=center|1186 |align=center|{{circa|1224}} | | |
| valign=top bgcolor="white"
|align=center|1225 |align=center|{{circa|1233}} | | |
| valign=top bgcolor="#F7F0F2"
|align=center|1235 |align=center|{{circa|1241}} |Hugh |Monk of the Friars | |
| valign=top bgcolor="white"
|align=center|1242 |align=center|1247 |Also known as Howel ap Ednevet | |
| valign=top bgcolor="#F7F0F2"
|align=center|1247 |align=center|1249 |vacant | | |
| valign=top bgcolor="white"
|align=center|1249 |align=center|1266 |Also known as Anian | |
| valign=top bgcolor="#F7F0F2"
|align=center|1267 |align=center|1268 | | |
| valign=top bgcolor="white"
|align=center|1268 |align=center|1293 |Also known as Anian de Schonau, prior of Rhudland | |
| valign=top bgcolor="#F7F0F2"
|align=center|1293 |align=center|1314 |Also known as Leolinus de Bromfield | |
| valign=top bgcolor="white"
|align=center|1315 |align=center|{{circa|1352}} |Also known as David ap Blethin; canon of St. Asaph | |
| valign=top bgcolor="#F7F0F2"
|align=center|1352 |align=center|1357 |John Trevor (I) |Also known as John Trevaur | |
| valign=top bgcolor="white"
|align=center|1357 |align=center|1375 | Also known as Leolinus ap Madoc ap Elis; dean of St. Asaph | |
| valign=top bgcolor="#F7F0F2"
|align=center|1376 |align=center|1382 |Also known as William de Spridlington; dean of St. Asaph | |
| valign=top bgcolor="white"
|align=center|1382 |align=center|1389 |Monk of Battle Abbey, licentiate of the civil law | |
| valign=top bgcolor="#F7F0F2"
|align=center|1390 |align=center|1394 |Also known as Alexander Bach; canon of St. Asaph | |
| valign=top bgcolor="white"
|align=center|1395 |align=center|1402 |John Trevor (II) |Prebendary of Hereford; deprived, possibly reinstated following David II as see not declared vacant prior to his death in 1410 | |
| valign=top bgcolor="#F7F0F2"
|align=center|1402 |align=center|{{circa|1408}} | | |
| valign=top bgcolor="white"
|align=center|1411 |align=center|{{circa|1433}} |Also known as Robert of Lancaster | |
| valign=top bgcolor="#F7F0F2"
|align=center|1433 |align=center|1444 |Also known as John Lobbe; a friar eremite; translated to Rochester | |
| valign=top bgcolor="white"
|align=center|1444 |align=center|1449 |Also known as Reginald Peacock; translated to Chichester | |
| valign=top bgcolor="#F7F0F2"
|align=center|1450 |align=center|1463 |Also known as Thomas Knight; deprived for rebellion; temporalities of the diocese to the king, the bishop of Rochester, Robert Caunton, and John Stanley before the pardoning of Thomas in 1471 | |
| valign=top bgcolor="white"
|align=center|1471 |align=center|1495 | Translated to Exeter |
| valign=top bgcolor="#F7F0F2"
|align=center|{{circa|1495}} |align=center|1500 |Also known as Michael Dyacon; the king's confessor | |
| valign=top bgcolor="white"
|align=center|1500 |align=center|1503 |Also known as David ap Yeworth; abbot of Valle Crucis | |
| valign=top bgcolor="#F7F0F2"
|align=center|{{circa|1503}} |align=center|{{circa|1513}} |Also known as David ap Owen; abbot of Aberconwy | |
| valign=top bgcolor="white"
|align=center|1513 |align=center|1518 |Also known as Edmund Brokehed | |
| valign=top bgcolor="#F7F0F2"
|align=center|1518 |align=center|1535 | |
=During the Reformation=
| class="wikitable" style="width:95%;" border="1" cellpadding="2" |
| colspan="4" style="background-color: #7F1734; color: white;" | Bishops of St Asaph |
|---|
| style="background-color: #D4B1BB; width: 10%;" | From
! style="background-color: #D4B1BB; width: 10%;" | Until ! style="background-color: #D4B1BB; width: 30%;" | Incumbent ! style="background-color: #D4B1BB; width: 45%;" | Notes |
| valign=top bgcolor="white"
|align=center|{{circa|1535}} |align=center|1536 |Prior of Haverfordwest. Translated to St David's, then Bath & Wells, then Chichester |
| valign=top bgcolor="#F7F0F2"
|align=center|1536 |align=center|1554 |Also known as Robert Warton; abbot of St. Savior's Bermondsey; translated to Hereford |
| valign=top bgcolor="white"
|align=center|1556 |align=center|{{circa|1559}} |Went into voluntary exile (as Catholic) |
=Post-Reformation=
==Bishops of the [[Church of England]]==
| class="wikitable" style="width:95%;" border="1" cellpadding="2" |
| colspan="4" style="background-color: #7F1734; color: white;" | Bishops of St Asaph |
|---|
| style="background-color: #D4B1BB; width: 10%;" | From
! style="background-color: #D4B1BB; width: 10%;" | Until ! style="background-color: #D4B1BB; width: 30%;" | Incumbent ! style="background-color: #D4B1BB; width: 45%;" | Notes |
| valign=top bgcolor="#F7F0F2"
|align=center|1560 |align=center|1561 |Translated to St David's |
| valign=top bgcolor="white"
|align=center|1561 |align=center|1573 | |
| valign=top bgcolor="#F7F0F2"
|align=center|1573 |align=center|1600 | |
| valign=top bgcolor="white"
|align=center|1601 |align=center|1604 |Translator of the Bible into Welsh. Translated from Llandaff |
| valign=top bgcolor="#F7F0F2"
|align=center|1604 |align=center|1623 |Dean of Bangor |
| valign=top bgcolor="white"
|align=center|1624 |align=center|1629 |Prebendary of Worcester |
| valign=top bgcolor="#F7F0F2"
|align=center|1629 |align=center|1646 |Archdeacon of St Asaph; deprived of the see when episcopacy was abolished by Parliament on 9 October 1646; died 1651 |
| valign=top bgcolor="white"
|align=center|1646 |align=center|1660 |colspan=2| The see was abolished during the Commonwealth and the Protectorate.{{cite web |last=Plant |first=David |year=2002 |url=http://bcw-project.org/church-and-state/sects-and-factions/episcopalians |title=Episcopalians |website=BCW Project |access-date=25 April 2021 }}{{cite journal |last=King |first=Peter |date=July 1968 |title=The Episcopate during the Civil Wars, 1642-1649 |journal=The English Historical Review |volume= 83 |issue= 328 |pages=523–537 |publisher=Oxford University Press |jstor=564164 |doi=10.1093/ehr/lxxxiii.cccxxviii.523}} |
| valign=top bgcolor="#F7F0F2"
|align=center|1660 |align=center|1666 |Archdeacon of St Asaph |
| valign=top bgcolor="white"
|align=center|1667 |align=center|1670 |Dean of Bristol |
| valign=top bgcolor="#F7F0F2"
|align=center|1670 |align=center|1680 |Translated from Sodor & Man |
| valign=top bgcolor="white"
|align=center|1680 |align=center|1692 |Dean of Bangor; translated to Lichfield & Coventry, then Worcester |
| valign=top bgcolor="#F7F0F2"
|align=center|1692 |align=center|1703 |Translated from Cloyne, Ireland |
| valign=top bgcolor="white"
|align=center|1703 |align=center|1704 |Dean of Canterbury; translated to Bath & Wells |
| valign=top bgcolor="#F7F0F2"
|align=center|1704 |align=center|1708 |Archdeacon of Colchester |
| valign=top bgcolor="white"
|align=center|1708 |align=center|1714 |Canon of Windsor; translated to Ely |
| valign=top bgcolor="#F7F0F2"
|align=center|1714 |align=center|1727 |Principal of Jesus College, Oxford; translated to Bath & Wells |
| valign=top bgcolor="white"
|align=center|1727 |align=center|1731 |Dean of Worcester and of St Paul's in London; translated to Chichester |
| valign=top bgcolor="#F7F0F2"
|align=center|1732 |align=center|1735 |Canon of Christ Church, Oxford |
| valign=top bgcolor="white"
|align=center|1736 |align=center|1743 |Dean of Wells; translated to Worcester |
| valign=top bgcolor="#F7F0F2"
|align=center|1743 |align=center|1744 |Dean of Peterborough; elected in Nov. but translated to Lincoln in Jan. before consecration |
| valign=top bgcolor="white"
|align=center|1744 |align=center|1748 |Archdeacon of Canterbury; translated to Norwich |
| valign=top bgcolor="#F7F0F2"
|align=center|1748 |align=center|1761 |Prebendary of Westminster; translated to Salisbury |
| valign=top bgcolor="white"
|align=center|1761 |align=center|1769 |Translated from Llandaff |
| valign=top bgcolor="#F7F0F2"
|align=center|1769 |align=center|1788 |Translated from Llandaff |
| valign=top bgcolor="white"
|align=center|1789 |align=center|1790 |Also known as Samuel Halifax; translated from Gloucester |
| valign=top bgcolor="#F7F0F2"
|align=center|1790 |align=center|1802 |Translated from Norwich |
| valign=top bgcolor="white"
|align=center|1802 |align=center|1806 |Translated from Rochester |
| valign=top bgcolor="#F7F0F2"
|align=center|1806 |align=center|1815 |Translated from Bangor |
| valign=top bgcolor="white"
|align=center|1815 |align=center|1830 |Translated from Hereford |
| valign=top bgcolor="#F7F0F2"
|align=center|1830 |align=center|1846 |Translated from Exeter |
| valign=top bgcolor="white"
|align=center|1846 |align=center|1870 |Translated from Sodor & Man |
| valign=top bgcolor="#F7F0F2"
|align=center|1870 |align=center|1889 |Vicar of Llandovery |
| valign=top bgcolor="white"
|align=center|1889 |align=center|1920 |Church in Wales disestablished 1920 |
==Bishops of the disestablished [[Church in Wales]]==
| class="wikitable" style="width:95%;" border="1" cellpadding="2"
! colspan="4" style="background-color: #7F1734; color: white;"|Bishops of St Asaph | |
| valign=center
! style="background-color:#D4B1BB" width="10%"|From ! style="background-color:#D4B1BB" width="10%"|Until ! style="background-color:#D4B1BB" width="30%"|Incumbent ! style="background-color:#D4B1BB" width="45%"|Notes | |
| valign=top bgcolor="white"
|align=center|1920 |align=center|1934 |First Archbishop of Wales 1920–1934 | |
| valign=top bgcolor="#F7F0F2"
|align=center|1934 |align=center|1950 | | |
| valign=top bgcolor="white"
|align=center|1950 |align=center|1971 | | |
| valign=top bgcolor="#F7F0F2"
|align=center|1971 |align=center|1981 | | |
| valign=top bgcolor="white"
|align=center|1981 |align=center|1999 |Archbishop of Wales 1991–1999 | |
| valign=top bgcolor="#F7F0F2"
|align=center|1999 |align=center|2008 | |
| valign=top bgcolor="white"
|align=center|2009 |align=center|incumbent |Consecrated 4 April 2009 | |
| valign=top
|align=center colspan="4"| Source(s):Hardy, T. Duffus. Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae; or, a Calendar of the Principal Ecclesiastical Dignitaries in England and Wales, and of the Chief Officers in the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge from the Earliest Times to the Year MDCCXV, Corrected and Continued to the Present Time, Vol. I, "St. Asaph's". Oxford Univ. Press, 1854. Accessed 18 Feb 2013.{{cite web |url=http://www.crockford.org.uk/listing.asp?id=908 |title=Historical successions: St Asaph |work=Crockford's Clerical Directory |access-date=22 July 2012}} |
Assistant bishops
Among those who have served as assistant bishops of the diocese have been:
- 1993–1996: Huw Jones, later Bishop of St Davids
Notes
{{Reflist}}
References
- Haydn's Book of Dignities (1894), Joseph Haydn/Horace Ockerby, reprinted 1969
- Whitaker's Almanack, 1883 to 2004, Joseph Whitaker & Sons Ltd/A&C Black, London
- https://web.archive.org/web/20050320015243/http://tejones.net/religion/Bishops/
{{Catholic|wstitle=Ancient Diocese of Saint Asaph}}
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{{Bishops of St Asaph}}
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{{Anglican Bishops & Archbishops - Great Britain}}
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{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}
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