ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY 



slip in the enrolment of the grant the name of Chester was omitted '" from the 

 designation of the dean and chapter, so that the grant runs as follows : ' Dedi- 

 mus et concessimus ac per praesentes damus et concedimus decano et capitulo 

 ecclesiae cathedralis Christi et beatae Mariae Virginis per nos dudum erectis 

 omnia ilia maneria,' &c. The omission proved of serious consequence, for 

 under Edward VI the grant was impugned and the lands under a compulsory 

 conveyance passed to Sir Richard Cotton, comptroller of the household, 

 charged only with a fee-farm rent to the dean and chapter. The fee-farm 

 rent of course remained stationary, whilst the lands themselves have increased 

 in value. The practical result was to deprive the dean and chapter of the 

 endowment intended for them by Henry VIII, 



At the time of the foundation of the new see of Chester both the arch- 

 deaconries within its limits were held by Dr. William Knight, a well-known 

 ecclesiastic and statesman, frequently employed by Henry VIII as his ambas- 

 sador abroad. The licence for Knight's election as bishop of Bath and 

 Wells was issued on 9 April, 1541 ; he was confirmed on 19 May and con- 

 secrated on the 29th. He had previously, by a deed dated 10 February, 

 I 541,"*' resigned the archdeaconry of Richmond, while the other archdeaconry 

 he resigned by a charter dated 20 May, 1541.^'° The jurisdictions hitherto 

 appertaining to these archdeaconries were vested thenceforth in the bishop of 

 Chester, who was empowered to delegate to the future archdeacons such and 

 so much jurisdiction as he should please. As a consequence these dignitaries 

 were henceforth shorn of that extensive and almost independent jurisdiction 

 which had hitherto distinguished them. Under the terms of this authoriza- 

 tion the first bishop, John Bird, kept the archidiaconal powers of Chester 

 and Richmond in his own hands, and did not during his episcopate appoint 

 any archdeacons. His successor, George Coates, did, it is true, appoint to 

 each archdeaconry — at what exact date is not known, but probably in 1554 

 — and from that time onwards the succession of the archdeacons is 

 unbroken, though the dates of some of them are not clear. But none of 

 these officials possessed any jurisdiction, that anciently appertaining to their 

 dignity being exercised by the bishop through his vicar-general or chan- 

 cellor for the diocese generally, or by the bishop's commissary for the arch- 

 deaconry of Richmond in particular."" The arrangement by which the new 

 see was placed within the province of Canterbury did not endure for long. 

 By an Act of 1541-2"^ the bishoprics of Chester and Man were severed 

 from the southern province and annexed to that of York. 



So much for the merely formative results of the first Reformation 

 period. But that period, using the term in the widest sense, had a more 



'^ That the omission was a slip is proved by the fact that in the margin of the entry on the roll it is 

 clearly stated that the grant was to the dean and chapter of Chester : ' Decano et Capitulo ecclesie cathedralis 

 Cestrensis.' 



""' Confirmed on 8 Mar. by a charter of Edward, archbishop of York. 



"' Confirmed by a charter of Rowland, bishop of Coventry and Lichfield, dated 24 May, and by a 

 charter of the dean and chapter of Coventry and Lichfield dated 26 May. 



'" As to this latter a misconception seems to exist. The letters patent of 4 Aug. 1 541 erecting the 

 bishopric contain a proviso of reservation of the metropolitical and archiepiscopal prerogative within the see of 

 Chester as usual and proper in other dioceses. This has been magnified by Whitaker {Richmondshire, i, 34) 

 into a special reservation intended to exclude the quasi-independent jurisdiction and liberties of the ancient 

 archdeacons of Richmond. There is no justification for this view. The clause is quite the usual proviso 

 clause, with no special import, and the name of Richmond is not even mentioned. 



'»' 33 Hen. VIII, cap. 31. 



2 41 6 



