The need of an increase in the home episcopate : with some account of Henry VIII's scheme for its supply and the cause of its failure

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THE NEED

INCREASE

HOME EPISCOPATE,

WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF

HENRY VIII's SCHEME

FOR ITS SUri'LY,

AND THE CAUSE OF ITS FAILURE.

SECOND EDITION ENLARGED.

LEEDS : R. JACKSON,

1875.
Price 3d., or 2s. per doz.

A Letter from the late Rev. Chancellor Massingberd.
Dear Mr. Lewthwaite,

I quite agree with you in your learned and
able Tract on " The need of an Increase in the Home
Episcopate," and in the view you take of Henry Viiith's
Scheme for its supply. I have no doubt your former labours
in this cause have helped towards the point at which we have
now arrived, and I wish you all success in promoting further
progress.

Believe me,

Yours very sincerely,

F. C. Massingberd.
Ormsby, June 4th, 1870. •

A Letter from The Lord Bishop of Nottingham.

Collingham, 20th Sept., 1870.
Dear Mr, Lewthwaite,

I write to acknowledge the receipt of your
letter and of the accompanying proof sheets.

It would be impossible for me, as the senior of the restored
class of Bishops-Suffragan, to withhold my approval from
your excellent Pamphlet.

I feel greatly mdebted to you for the deep knowledge of
the subject which you have been at the pains to acquire,
and for the skill and care with which you have exhibited its
bearings, both moral and historical. It is impossible to
read your statement of the vast increase in our population
without admitting the necessity for an increased number of
Bishops, if the Chuixh is to contmue to be the Church of
the People.

I must express my conviction that your theory of the
signature of the Suffragans is right. I have adopted that
which I now use as an act of obedience ; but my belief is that
it is contrary to precedent, inconsistent with Statute Law,
and, — I should have added, but for the opinion of the Law
officers of the Crown, — disrespectful to the Crown as the
Fountain of Honour, and to the Law M'hich seals the titles
conferred by the Crown.

Excuse a somewhat hasty letter, and
Believe me always.

Your faithful Brother,

Hv. Mackenzie,
Bp. Suff" of Nottingham.

INCREASE OF THE HOME EPISCOPATE.

CHAPTER I.

The number of our Bishops small as compared with what
was intended at previous periods of our History —
especially so in the Province of York. — Canon of the
Synod of Hertford.

The population of England has multiplied five-fold
since tlie middle of the sixteenth century. At that
time it was one of the proposed measures of Reform-
ation to institute at least ten new Sees in addition to
the five which were then created,* besides providing
for the appointment of 26 Assistant Bishops, t all
for the requirements of the then existing population ;
yet only one See has since been added. J It is evi-
dent, then, that the increase of the H ome Episcopate
has become a matter of pressing importance to the
Church. Indeed the number of Bishops in the
Province of York has now only just attained to
the half of what were designed for it in the time of

* 31 Hen. viii. c. 9. See Collier's Eccles. Hist., Partil.
Bk. lii. pp. 49, 79 ; Bk. iv. p. 464, ed. 1852 : and below,
p. 14.

t 26 Hen. viii. o. 14, revived 1 Elizabeth, c. 1. See
below, p. 19.

X Eipon and Manchester being created, Gloucedter and
Bristol were united. 6 and 7 Gul. iv. c. 77.

St. Augustine, the first missionary to the English peo-
ple : the fulfilment of which purpose was urged as
most important by Venerable Bede in the following
century.* Moreover, it must be remembered that

* Bede's letter ^o Abp. Egbert. See extracts hereafter.

British Period.

In the ancient British Church there were three Metropo-
litans or Primates, the Archbishops of London, York, and
Caerleon, where we have now only two.

The number of Bishops in the British Church cannot now
be ascertained. Matthew of Westminster informs us that on
the first conversion of the whole of Britain in the time of
King Lucius, through the preaching of Faganus and Der-
vlanus, A.D. 185, twenty-eight Bishops were established in
so many cities of the kingdom, and were placed under three
Archbishops. He gives the names of the Metropolitan Sees,
and describes their provinces. See also Henry of Huifting-
don, p. 176, ed. Saville ; Soames' Anglo-Saxon Ch., Intro-
duction.

Seven British Bishops are recorded as present at the Con-
ference held by Augustine with the British Church. For
accounts of the names of their Sees, see Spelman's Concilia,
vol. i. pp. 27, 106. Dr. Lingard, however, supposes that
they were Chorepiscopi, of whom he believes that the suc-
cessors of S. David were in the habit of ordaining a great
number. (Anglo-Sax. Ch. Hist. vol. i. p. 70. See also,
Tract "On Suffragan Bishops," p. 13 note.)

The learned Bingham, after mentioning the recorded Sees
of the British Bishops who met Aut^ustine, proceeds, "Now
if the number of Bishops in other Provinces was answerable
to this, we may conclude there were more Bishops before
the invasion of the Saxons than there are at this day."
B. IX. c. vi. s. 19.

Saxon Period.

Pope Gregory's advice to the Missionary Augustine for
the organization of the Anglo-Saxon Church was, that he
should establish two Metropolitans, with twelve Suffragans
under each of them. (a.D. 601, Bede's I'-ccles. Hist. I. 29.)
These were besides the remaining Bishops of the British
Church, of whom Gregory had made mention in a previous
letter. (Do. i. 27.)

the Diocesans during the middle ages made great use
of assistant Bishops for the service of their much

"The Anglo-Saxon Bi-^hoprics in the time of Bede, when he
gave Abp. Egbert the advice in the text, amounted to four-
teen, at the end of the An<rlo-Saxon period their number
was fifteen, new Sees having been founded, and others
suppressed through the ravages of the Danes and other like
cause?. (Lingard's Hist. Anglo-Sax. Ch. vol. ii. pp. 87,
385. Soames' Anglo-Sax. Ch. p. 270.)

Present Time.

Our present number of Bishops amounts only to twenty-
eight, inclusive of the four Welsh Sees and that of Man, all
of which were established before the coming of Augustine,
and are not included in the above reckoning.

The population of England and Wales was probably about
1,250,000, in William the Conqueror's time, and m the Reign
of Henry VIII. amounted to about 4, 000, 000. (First Report
of the Cathedral Commissioners, p. xxxviii.)

The rapidity of the increase of population has been de-
scribed as follows in the Report of the Census of 1851 : —

"The most important result which the enquiry establishes,
is the addition, in half a century^ o/Te^ Millions of people
to the British population. The increase of population in the
half of this century nearly equals the increase /« all preceding
ages ; and the addition in the last te7i years of two millions
three hundred thousand to the inhabitants of these islands
exceeds the increase in the last fifty years of the eighteenth
century." — Census of Great Britain, 1851, vol. i. p. Ixxxii.
s. 8 ; Cath. Com. First Report, p. xxix.

Thus it apjiears that, notwithstanding the manifold in-
crease of population, the English Bi&hops are fewer in
number than were intended for the population in existence
at the beginning of the seventh century, when it had not
attained to one-twelfth of its present amount.

"If parochial organization is indispensable for the well-
being ot a parish, ditjcesan organization is essential for the
well ordering of a diocese : and, in point of fact, it is an
anomaly of preposterous magnitude, that whilst ihe popula-
tion of our dioceses is increasing with a rapidity unprecedented,
whilst the number of Priests and Deacons is increasiogi —

smaller populations. The appointments of 297 or
more such assistant Bishops in England are on
record between the years a.d. 1016 and a.d. 1605,*
when the practice fell into disuse, though it had
been approved and adopted under the Reformation,
and has still the sanction of law.

It is then no disparagement to those "who now
occupy that exalted dignity, to say that it is physi-
cally impossible that the existing small number of
Bishops can adequately discharge the duties of their
function, immensely increased as these are by the
increase of population, clergy, and churches ; and
that consequently a great loss results to the Church.
How important it would be to have a spiritual head
present in our great centres of industry ! the more
needed now that their parochial unity has in many
instances been destroyed, and the power of the Rec-
tor or Vicar of the formerly united parish to bring
the ability of the more wealthy districts to the suc-
cour of the poorer, greatly diminished. Still more
would this boon be full of hope and promise, if the
Church reposed her confidence in a Bishop in whose
appointment she had been allowed her rightful and
constitutional voice.

It was the rule and custom of the primitive
Church to have a Bishop wherever there was a
municipality for the regulation of civil afijiirs ;t and
our own Synod of Hertford, held under Archbishop

though in a ratio very unequal to the wants of the case, — the
number of superior officers in this vast army is only greater
by one than it was three hundred years ago." Dr. Atlay,
(Bishop of Hereford), On Diocesan Oiganization. York
Church Congress Report, p, 12(3.

* See Tract "On Suffragan Bishops," p. 11.

+ Bingham, Grig. Eccles., bk. ix. c. 8, conclusion." S. Paul

Theodore, in the seventh century, re-enacted, as
one of the most important of the ancient Canons,
that " more Bishops should be made as the number
of believers increased."*

directed Titus to ordain Elders in Crete^'in every city;' that
is, to settle an ecclesiastical senate and government in every
place wiiere there was before a civil one ; which, from the
subsequent history of the Church, we learn, was a bishop and
his presbytery, who where conjunctly called the elders and
senate of the Chruch." lb. c. i. s, 2. See also Hooker''s Ecclea.
Pol. Bk. VII. ch. viii. 2, and the references there given in
Keble's note; Cod Just. i. 3. de Episc. et Cler. 36, p. 35 ed.
Gothofr. 1688 ; Photius, Nomocanon, p. 85, ed. Paris, 1620.
'' Let each city have its own bishop :" and S. Cyprian, Ep. ]v.
20, Oxon. Tran?., " Whereas Bishops have been already or-
dained through all provinces and through every city."

* A.D. 673. Bede, Eccles. Hist. 1. iv. c. 5. Dr. Lingard,
in opposition to the authority of Mr. Soames, (Hist, of Ang.
Sax. Ch. pp. 70 note, 270,) and of Henry "Wharton, (Anglia
Sacra, i. 424 ; see also a note on this Canon in Johnson's
Canons, ed. 1850,) thinks that this Canon was not passed.
He says, " No powers of any individual were adequate to the
government of Dioceses so extensive ; and Theodore, from the
moment of his arrival in England, had formed the design of
breaking them into smaller or more proportionate districts.
But few men can behold with pleasure the diminution of their
authority or profit : and the duty of transmitting unimpaired
to future ages the dignity which they enjoyed would furnish
the reluctant Prelates with a specious objection against the
measures of the Primate." This stricture, however, on the
possible motives which might influence the Episcopal mind, is
no sufficient argument for interpreting the Council's postpone-
ment of the consideration of the details of the measure into
the rejection of the Canon itself. It is evident, on Dr. Lin-
gard's own shewing, that the Canon was speedily acted upon.
i\lip. Theodore himself consecrated five and four Prelates
instead of one respectively, in each of the kingdoms of Mercia
and Nortliumbria : and his successor, Abp. Brithwald, divided
the kingdom of Wessex into two Sees, establishing another in
Sussex, where before there had been altogether only one.
(Lingard's Hist. Anglo. Sax. Ch. vol. i, pp. 86, 87.)

CHAPTER II.

The number of our Bishops small indeed as compared with
those of the Trimitive Church.— The large size of
modern Dioceses a great stumbling block to the Puri-
tans.— Promise of King Charles II. in his letter from
Breda to provide a sufficient number of Suffragan
Bishops. — Statistics— of Foreign Countries— Colonial —
and Home Dioceses— and Towns.— New Sees proposed
by Henry VIII., and how they failed — by the Cathedral
Commission — Henry viii.'s Suffragan Titles.

It has been shown that the existing number of our
Bishops is lamentably small as compared with what
was proposed at previous periods of our history.
We shall arrive at a like result if we examine the
arrangements of the primitive Church, or of other
nations of Christendom at the present day.

It appears that in Asia-Minor and North Africa,
which were perhaps three or four times as large as
England and Wales, there were respectively about
40U and 460 Sees. Ancient Egypt, Libya, and
Pentapolis, which probably never contained a popu-
lation approaching to ours, had upwards of 100
Episcopal Sees. And to refer the argument to
Apostolic times, the Seven Churches of Asia, to the
Angels or Bishops* of which St. John wrote the

* S. August. Ep. cxlii. : "Sub Angeli nomine divina voce
\2i[idi^\.y\r propositus Ecelesice f and S. Ambrose in i Cor. xi. :
*' Angelos jfi'/z'jr^/r'j' dicit ;" cf. S.Jerome in I Cor. xi. See
also Hooker, vii. v. 2 ; Abp. Bramhall, Works, ii. 69 ; iii.
470 ; and Archdeacon Wordsworth, Westminster Abbey Occa-
sional Serm. No. xxxvi. p. 59, whence this note is borrowe<I,

Apocalyptic Epistles, were all in the region of Pro-
consular Asia, a district a little larger than our
Yorkshire and Lancashire ; yet these were metro-
politan cities, having, it is probable, other lesser
Sees around them. Such appear in the records of
the Church in succeeding times, as at Magnesia,
Tralles, and many other places.*

It seems to have been the method of the Church
in later ages, on first planting the Gospel in new
countries, to establish comparatively few Sees, with
the intention that they should be multiplied as the
number of believers increased.t But in our own
country, unhappily, this purpose has not been
carried out ; for, although in the early times of the
Anglo-Saxon Church there was a small increase in
the number of Sees, and again in the sixteenth cen-
tury, yet altogether, inclusive of the See of Man-
chester, they have not yet reached the number that
was designed for her in her missionary condition at
the beginning of the seventh century. J

* Bingham, B. ix. c. 2, 3, Ussher's Dis. on Procons. Asia.
See also Archdeacon Wordsworth as above, p. 61. There
were more than fifty Episcopal Sees in the district of Pio-
consular Asia in the eighth century.

+ See Bingham, ix. ii, 4.

J Very different from this intention appears to have been
the motive which ruled in this matter in the Norman times,
during which Mie Sees of Ely and Carlisle alone were founded.
The Abbot of Ely wishing to get his wealthy house made a
Bishop's See, urged the need of subdivision of the enormous
Diocese of Lincoln, and suggested the suitableness of his
Abbey Church for a Cathedral, &c. He obtained his pur-
pose on the following terms, that the Abbey of Ely should
hand over several manors to the See of Lincoln ; in consider-
ation of which the Bishops of Lincoln were bound to present
yearly to the king a rich gown, furred with ermine, of the
▼alue, some say, of one hundred pounds, others, one bun-

8

If tills intention of the Church had been faithfully
carried out, and by these divinely appointed " joints
and bands nourishment had been duly ministered
and the body knit together," might we not believe
that it would have so *' increased with the increase
of God," * that England would have been saved
from many of her sorrows ?t We know that the
objection of the Puritans in the seventeenth century
was to Prelacy (by which they understood high
dignity with little regard to duty), rather than to
Episcopal superintendence ;% and the Protestants of
the Continent, who, in the difficulties of the Reform-
ation, were unwillingly separated from Episcopal
government, felt the large extent of northern dio-
ceses (so far beyond the power of efficient superin-
tendence) to be a great obstacle to their seeking its
restoration. §

dred marks. The good Bishop St. Hup^h, got rid of this
tax by paying a sura down. (Giraldus Cambrensis, Anglia
Sac. vol. IT. pp. 417, 419. Kichardus Eliensis, Angl. Sac.
vol. I. p. 678.)

* Col. ii. 19. Eph. iv. 16.

+ Dr. Heylin says, speaking of the times of the Rebellion,
that "had confirmation been as diligently practised by
the Bishops as it was piously and religiously retained by
them, it would have much conduced to their safe standing
in the Church, and procured a greater veneration for their
persons also." See his "Introduction to the Life of Abp.
Laud," p. 10, And Dr. Brett believed that by the cessation
of the appointment of Suffragan Bishops the Church has in
a great measure been deprived of the benefit of Confirmation
for that the neglect began about the same time. See Brett's
"Suffragan Bishops," p. 5.

X See Hardwick, Ch. Hist. Ref. p. 154, and notes ; Collier,
vol. vi. p. 502 ; Russell's Church in Scotland, I. 331 ; Beza
in Respons. ad Tract de Ministr. Evang. Gradibus, cap. i.
Abp. Usher's "Reduction of Episcopacy," and Bp. Stilling-
fleet's " Eirenicon," also bear witness to this.

§ The learned Binyham, speaking of "the long wished

9

Again, if the promise of the Crowu at the Restor-
ation to " appoint such a number of Suffragan
Bishops in every Diocese as shall be sufficient"'^ had
been duly fulfilled, who can say that much, of the
ungodliness and irreligious division, over which we
now so deeply mourn, might not have been stayed 1
And how shall the Church now brace herself for
her mighty task amidst the teeming population of
the nineteenth century, but by squaring her arrange-
ments to the apostolic pattern, as shewn in the
history of the Primitive Church, and by an adequate,
efficient, and regulated Episcopate, giving energy
and compactness to her work? Here, at least, is
a point on which Churchmen are not indisposed to
meet the wishes of the Puritans.

for union of all the Churches of the Reformation in the
same form of Episcopal government agreeable to the model
and practice of the Primitive Church," says, that "one
great objection against the present diocesan episcopacy, and
that which to many may look the most plausible, is drawn
from the vast extent and greatness of most of the northern
Dioceses of the world, which mattes it so extremely difficult
for one man to discharge all the offices of the Episcopal
function," and he gives this as an especial reason why he
has so fully entered upon the consideration of the smaller
type of primitive dioceses, that " VVhenever any of the
foreign Churches of the Protestant Communion shall think
fit to reassume the ancient Episcopal form of government,
they may, both with honour and ease, frame to themselves
such a model of small dioceses as will not much exceed the
extent of one of their classes, nor much alter its form, and
yet be agreeable to the model of the lesser sort of dioceses
in the Primitive Church." Antiq. Christ. Ch., Vol. ill.
Book IX. chap viii. The Conclusion.
* King Charles ii's Letter from Breda.

\-

The Episcopal Provision in England and "Wales as
compared with that of Continental countries is given
in the following table : —

Kingdom.

1. England & Wales

2. France

3. Austria

4. Denmark

5. Belgium

6. Spain

7. Portugal §

8. Italyll

Population.

No. of
Bishops

Average Po-
pulation to
each Bishop.

Excess
against
England.

20,228,497*

27

749.203

38,067,094

86

442,640

306,563

32,375,003

70t

462,500

286.703

1.608.095

8

201,011

548,192

4,893,021

6*

815.503

16,301,851

79

206,352

536,674

3,584,677

17

210,863

532,163

21,703,710

24311

89,315

659,888

* For number of population and of Bishops, see Martin's
"Statesman's Year Book," (1869), pp. 11, 23, 35, 40, 52,
57, 68, 89, 326, 338, 376, 382, 435, 444.

The Isle of Man and the Channel Islands (pop. 145, 674)
are here omitted, as in Martin's Tables. It is evident that
the See of Man does not affect Episcopal arrangements for
the main-land.

+ 70 Roman Catholic Bi.shops. There are also 19 Bishops
of various Greek communions.

% Belgium has also 3 Vicars General for the Archbishop,
and 2 for each Bishop.

§ * ' The Portuguese Church is under the special jurisdiction
of a 'Patriarch,' with extensive powers, two Archbishops,
and fourteen Bishops. The Patriarch of Lisbon is always a
Cardinal, and, to some extent, independent of the Holy See
of Rome." Martin, as above.

II Exclusive of the Papal States.

TI 243 Dioceses. In case of old age or infirmity the Bishop
nominates also a Coadjutor to discharge the Episcopal duties
in his stead. lb. p. 327.

11

" We transcribe the following paragraphs from a
report of a recent Commission in France, on the
subject of Episcopal Sees : —

* La France compte ^ pen pres un eveque ou
archeveque pour 400,000 ames de population catho-

' lique.

* La Baviere a huit sieges pour 3,000,000 de
' catholiques, c' est-^-dire un siege pour 375,000

* catholiques.

' L' Autriche a soixante-dix-huit ^veques ou arch-
' eveques non compris trois prelats des rites Armeni-

* en et Rutene, Grec-uni, en Gallicie, pour 28,000,000

* de catholiques Romains, c'est-a-dire un siege pour
358,000 ames.

' L'Irlande compte vingt-neuf dioceses pour
« 6,500,000 catholiques, ce qui fait 224,000 ames

* environ dans chaque diocese.

' L'Espagne a cinquante neufsiegespour 12,000,000

* d'ames, c'est-a-dire un siege pour 203,000 ames, et

* sou concordat recent n'aurait pour resultat que la
' reduction insignifiante du nombre des sieges a

* cinquante-six.

' La Portugal a vingt-deux sieges episcopaux ou

* metropolitains pour 2,500,000 catholiques, c'est-
' a-dire un siege pour 113,000 ames.

' Les Etats Sardea ont quarante dioceses pour
' 4,600,000 ames, c'est-a-dire que chaque diocese
' compte a peu pres 110,000 ames.

* Les Deux-Siciles ont quatre-vingts sieges pour

* 8,500,000 ames, c'est-a-dire un siege pour 106,000

* ames.'

Sweden, with about 3,000,000 souls, has 13 Sees.
Free Greece, with a population of less than
1,000,000, has 24 Episcopal Sees.

The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United

12

States of America has about 1,800 Clergy, and 32
Episcopal Sees.*

The Benefices in England and Wales are 11,728.*
The number of Clergy about 18,000."

" The erection of Episcopal Sees in the British
Colonies in recent years, has in each case been fol-
lowed, in a remarkable manner, by a large increase
of Clergy and Churches in the Colonies,"t as may be
seen from the following Table : —

Foundation
of See.

1841

1842
1842
1842
1842
1845
1845
1847

1847

1847
1847
1849
1849
1850
1852

See.

Number of Clergy.

New Zealand ...

now subdivided into

six dioceses

Antitrua

Guiana

Tasmania

Gibraltar

Columbo

Fredericton

Capetown

now subdivided into
four dioceses.

Newcastle

now subdivided.

Melbourne

Adelaide

Rupert's Land..

Victoria

Montreal

Sierra Leone ...

Before founda-

1st July,

tion of See.

1867.

12

105

25

33

23

34

]9

47

30

5&

22

56

30

56

14

1

118

17

48

3

113

1 4

38

; 5

2G

10

25

45

92

15

47

* The present numbers, as given in Parker's Diocesan
Calendars (1869) are 2,G60, (Bishops) 44, and 12,628 respec-
tively ; and two new Sees have just been authorised by the
General Convention.

t Extract from the First Report of the Cathedral Com-
missioners, (1854) p. xli.

13

Dioceses in England and Wales,
Arranged according to population in 1861.

London B

Manchester... E
Winchester ...B

Chester D

Lichfield B

Kipon E

Exeter B

8 York B

9 Durham B

10 Worcester ...B

11 Rochester ...B

12 Norwich B

13 Lincoln B

14 Glouc.&Bris. D

15 Oxford D

16 PeterboroughD

17 Ely C

18 Canterbury ...B

20 Bath & WellsB

22 Salisbury B

23 Chichester ...B

24 Carlisle C

26 Hereford B

19 S. David's ...A

21 Llandafr A

25 S. Asaph ...A

27 Bangor A

28 Sodor & ManA

Population
in )8G1.

'Area in Acres

2,291,584

1,6«7,720

1,267,794

1,248,416

1,221,404

1,167,288

953,763

930,216

858,095

857,775

855,409

743,000

706,02.'>

568,574

515,083

486.977

480,716

474,603

422,527

377,377

363.735

266,591

232,401

432,689

421,336

246,337

195,390

52,469

246,125

845,904
1,573,252

968,312
1,740,607
1,567,793
2,530,780
2,261,493
1,906,835
1,037,451
1,535,450
1,994,525
2,302,814
1,000,503
1,385,779
1,240,327
1,357,765

914,170
1,043,059
1,309,617

934,851
1,563,728

986,244
2,272,790

797,864
1,067,583

985,946

180,000

Bene-

Cu-

fices.

rates.

487

654

397

220

608

413

370

228

625

254

448

186

709

201

595

235

245

160

442

219

657

240

908

253

798

232

459

192

630

340

581

191

529

191

370

179

176

482

478

200

Sll

281

272

55

358

108

411

116

230

89

185

65

130

53

31

14

N.B. The population stated in the foregoing Table

Bangor '27

Bath and Wells .. iO

Canterbury 18

Carlisle 21

Chester 4

Chichester 23

Durham 9

Ely 17

Exeter 7

Glouces. and Bris. l-t

Hereford 26

Lichfield 5

Lincoln 12

Llandaff 21

London 1

Manchester '?

Norwicli 11

Oxford 15

Peterborough lb'

Ripon 6

Rochester 13

S. Asiph 2.">

S. David's J9

Salisbury ••.. 22

i^O'loT and Man .. 28

Winchester .3

\\ orcester 10

V ork 8

A. Founded before the Saxon Conquest.— B. In Saxon times,— C. In the
reign of Henry I.— D. Henry VIII.— E. William IV.

14

is derived from the official Census which was made
eight years ago, (March, 1861), consequently a large
addition mu^t now be made to it, in order to form
an estimate of the population of each diocese at the
present time.*

Additional Sees were proposed by King Hen. viii.t
for

Abbeys, &c., from which Bishoprics
were to be eudowed.

Essex Waltham.

Hertford S. All)aiis.

13 If J T," ji \ ( Dunstable.

Eedfordshire, and ) J xr i

JDuckinghamshire ) ] V\ \

Middlesex Westminster.:}:

Leicester, and Rutland Leicester.

T 1 • \ Fountains, and the Arch-

Liancasnire k , c -o- \ j

( deaconry of liichmond.

Suffolk Bury.

Stafford and Salop Shrewsbury.

j Wei beck.

Nottingham and Derby I Worksop,

( Thurgarton.
( Launceston.

Cornwall \ Bodmin.

( Wardreth.§

But when the Religious Houses were suppressed,

* The figures in the Table are taken from Parker's Dioce-
san Kalendars,

t A rough draft, under the King's own hand, is preserved
in the Cotton Library, Cleop. iv. See Collier, Eccles. Hist.
Vol. V. p. 49 ; " Henry Viiith's Scheme of Bishoprics," Lon-
don, Knight, 1838.

X A See was created at Westminster a.d. 1541 ; but sup-
pressed A.D. 1552. See above p. 1 ref?. Its lands having
been for the most part alienated, the remainder were
applied to the repairing of S. Paul's Cathedral. Hence arose
the proverb "robbing Peter to pay Paul."

§ A See was also proposed at Colchester in Henry viiith's
Scheme of Bishopricks.

15

Henry found other uses for their money.* This ap-

* It is to be observed that according to Henry viiith's
Scheme of Bishoprics, the original of which is preserved in
the Augmentation Office, not only were these Sees to be
endowed from the spoils of the Abbeys, but also ample pro-
vision was to be made in each case for complete Collegiate
foundations, inchiding Dean, Prebendaries, Minor Canons,
Schoolmasters, Free Scholars, Singing men and Choristers,
and a number of inferior ofl&cers ; and also, in most instances
endowments were specified f>r Preachers, for Readers or
Professors of Latin, of Greek, of Hebrew, of Divinity,
and of other Faculties. Exhibitions were to be founded for
Divinity Students at Oxford and Cambridge, Bedesmen and
Alms for distribution were to be provided, &c., &c. Several
similar Colleges were also to be endowed throughout the
country in the place of Abbeys where it was not yet pro-
posed to establish Bishopricks.

The f)llowing is the Preamble of the "Act of Parliament
for erecting new Bishopricks at the suppression of the Ab-
beys," preserved in King Henry viiith's own band in the
British Museum. Bib. Cott. Cltop. E. iv. fol, 305.

"For as rauche as it is nott unknowne the slowghfal and
ungodly lyfif whyche hath bene usid amonst all thos sort
whyche have borne the name off" religius folke, and to the
inttnte that hensforthe nienv off them myght be tornyd to
better use as heraflFter shall folow werby God's worde mysht
the better be sett forthe, cyldren broght up in lernyng,
clerces nuryshyd in the universites, olde s'vantes decayd to
have lyfyuig, allmes housyg for pour folke to be sustaynyd
in, Reders of grece ebrew and latyne to have good stypende,
dayly almes to be mynystrate, mendying off hyght wayse,
exhybission for mynysters off the chyrche. It is thowght
therfore unto the kyngs hyghtnes most expedient and neces-
sary that mo bysshopprycys, collegyall' and cathedralle
chyrchys, shulbe establyshyd insted of thes forsayd relyijyus
hou«ys, wtin the fondasion werofi" thes other tytylles affore
rehersyd shalbe stablysyd." — See "Hen. vmth's Scheme of
Bishopricks." as above, p. 75.

The plea of providing for education was largely used to
obtain the nation's consent to the spoliation of the Religious
Houses. But notwithstanding all these fair promises and the

16

pears to have been the only reason why these Bishop-
rics were not established at that time,

pains which were taken to secure a packed majority of the
King's Servants in the House of Commons, it appears that
threats also were Kecessary to obtain the passing of some
of these Bills of confiscation. lb, pp. xii, 96, et seq.

The result, however, was that little was done f )r educa-
tion ill the time of Henry Villth ; and many of the Free
Schools (for each Abbey appeals to have supported one such
at least for the benefit of the surrounding neighbourhood,
(See Fuller's Ch. Hist. Bk. vi. Sec, ii. 4.) failed for lack of
funds. Some small payments were made in this behalf in
the reign of Edward vi. lb. pp. xiii, xiv.

However good may have been tJie intentions of the Crown
in this matter, it is sufficiently evident how they miscarried.
The original Ledgers of the Court of Augmentation, now
remaining in the Augmentation OflBce, exhibit the appro-
priation of the Church Revenues seized by Henry viii.
Amongst a few pensions to former Abbots, averaging about
£100. a year, and several annuities and payments to cour-
tiers and officers of State, appear the following chief entries.
The King's Majesty, Delivered to his Grace's own hands for
his secret affairs as by his Grace's \yarrant ... £1,000

iJitto 2,000

Ditto 13,333

iJitto 2,000

Ditto 1,000

Ditto 1,000

Ditto 1,000

For expenses of the Kind's household ... 6,000
Ditto from Feb. 1 to March 17, in the

XXXVII year of his reign ... ... 4,000

For the war against France ... 31,111

Ditto 2,000 •

For war service ... ... ... ... \,47I

For butter and cheese for \he same ... 1,000

Towards payment of the King's debt in

Flanders ... ... ... ... 7,500

SiC, &.C.,
and this at a time when it appears by the same accounts that
£100 purchased 3,000 flitches of bacon (for war service), in-
cluding, as is probable, large commission expenses, when
money was flowing bo plentifully, lb. pp. 81 — 96,

17

It must not however be supposed that the idea of
Indeed it would seem from the following summary table,

CO

a,

•s^

rt O <N

<N t>. CO

;o >« t>-

-^ o eo (N ro >0
Oi «> -* O OJ t^

4t e

00 o »«

■* t^ ec n^

a,—

o CO ta oo (N o t>.
a> (o <=> i^ -* t^ (7-1

O — < o CO

« ■* o

CO CO t^ CO t^

o (M <r>

(>< OS CO

fO O <M 0» i-i

^S

«> •? a,

S 2 BO a^ ss s a g'^ £§ s § ^ §5^:1 e

68— 1 ^ HH Q. Q. W

dl'^PN^'

18
founding Cathedrals out of Abbeys originated with

taken from the above named ledgers of the Court of Aug-
mentation, that the payments under all other heads were
insignificant as compared with those made siniply by the
King's warrant. See "Henry viiith's Scheme of Bishop-
rics," p. 80.

Such entries as the following tell of more than their mere
charge upon the funds of the Ecclesiastical Commission of
that day.

To Edward Northe and his servants for taking the
surrenders of the late Monasteries of Waltham
in Essex, Christ Church in Canterbury and
Rochester in Kent, and for watching, weighing
and carrying of all the plate and jewels of the
said late Monastery of Christ Church, from Can-
terbury to the King's Court, and from thence
to the master of the jewel house, &c. ... ... 15 0 0

To John Puncherdon for removing lead at S.

Alban's and Waltham 1 18 0

To Robert Goche for carriage of lead to the sea-
side 200 0 0

To James Rainolde for melting lead and for riding

to S. Alban's to survey the lead .. ... 9 13 1

To William Wilson and Christ. Draye for melting

of the King's lead and bells of Tynterne ... 8 0 0

To John Greshame for carriage of certain lead out

of the North parts to London 300 0 0

To James Leche for his pains in searching for
jewels at S. David's shrine in Wales ... ..40 0 0

&c., &c.
The following items are curious.

For hay to feed the King's deer ... ... ...6 6 0

For cages for the King's fouls ... ... ...400

For the conveyance of the Egipsions out of the

Realm 20 0 0

&c., &c.
Here then is small encouragement to acquiescing in

Bcheraes of spoliation from a hope that the funds may be

better applied. 'No wonder that to " Play Hal and Tommy

(Cromwell)" has passed into a proverb signifying no mercy.

19

Henry viii., or with that phase of the Reformation
with which his name has been associated. It appears
that the need had been some while felt, and this very-
method for its supply had already been suggested by
Cardinal Wolsey, and received the sanction of Eccle-
siastical authority.*

The following are the

Additional Sees suggested by the Cathedeal
c0mmiss10neks.+

Newcastle, or Hexham for Northumberland.

Liverpool Part of Lancashire.

( Brecknock,
Brecon < Radnor, and

( Cardigan.

Derby The County of Derby.

Perhaps a See besides Lichfield County of Stafford.

Southwell Nottinghamshire.

Ipswich, or Bury St. Edmunds Suffolk.
Bristol restored

Chelmsford or Colchester Herts and part of Essex.

S. Columb Major Cornwall.

Bath
Westminster

* " Prid. Idus. Nov, 1528. A bull was granted to the
Cardinals Wolsey and Campeius to enquire about Abbeys to
be suppressed in order to be made Cathedrals. {Rymer,
vol. xiv. p. 274.) A new bull was granted to the same per-
sons 4 Cal. Jun., 1529, with farther powers relating to the
new Cathedrals, (lb. p. 292) ; for some of the Dioceses were
thought too large, and wanted much (as it was said) to be
reduced that the bishops might the better discharge their
of&ces." — Tanner's Notitia Monastica, Preface, p. xxii., 2nd
edition.

t Third Report, (1855), p. xli.

20

The following are the places fixed by the Act 26
Hen. VIII. chap. 14 for titles of Assistant Bishops,
scheduled to shew their position with respect to
existing Dioceses.*

DIOCESES. SUFFRAGAN TITLES.

London

(Guildford.

Winchester

... < Southampton.

( Isle of Wight.

St. Asaph

...

Bangor

...

Bath and Wells ...

{ Taunton.
••' ( Bridgwater.

Bristol

... Bristol.

Chichester

...

St. David's

.'.'.' Pereth.

( Bedford.

Ely

... < Cambridge.

( Huntingdon.

Exeter

... S. Germans, Com.

Gloucester

... Gloucester.

Hereford

...

Lichfield

. . . Shrewsbury.

Lincoln '"'

Grantham.
"* Nottingham.

Norwich

Thetford.
**' ( Ipswich.

Oxford

...

Peterborough

... Leicester.

Kochester

... Colchester.

( Shaftesbury.

Salisbury

... } Molton.

( Marlborough.

Worcester

...

York, Abp

... Hull.

Durham

... Berwick.

Carlisle

... Penrith.

Chester

Manchester

■'■

Bipon

...

* It may be well here to call attention to the fact, that

by the Act it is only requisite

that the Suffragan Title should

bo taken from within the Province to which the Diocesan

n

It must however be remembered that the use of
Assistant Bishops (called in this Act by the special
name of Suffragans) did not originate with the Act.
They had been known in this Church from time
immemorial, * and both in the Preamble and in the
Act itself they are spoken of as having " been
accustomed to be had within this Realm." The
object of the Act was rather, as its Title t and
Preamble J import, to regulate an already existing
institution. In the previous year the King had
caused an Act§ to be passed, giving him power
over the appointment of Diocesan Bishops by sub-
jecting the Chapters to the severe penalties of prae-
munire, if they did not elect his nominee ; and by
this Act he merely extended his legislation to the
Assistant or Suffragan Bishops. He hereby trans-
ferred to himself the powers which had been before

belongs, and not necessarily from the Diocese itself. Else
Loudon, which moi-e than any other Diocese is suitable to
be admiuistered by Assistant Bishops as a permanent
arrangement, would be unable to benefit by the Act, having
now no Suflfragan Title within its boundaries by reason of
their recent alteration.

* See Tract "On Suflfragau Bishops," pp. 9-13.

+ " By whom Sufiragans should be nominated and
elected."

Ij: The Pke amble. *' Albeit that sithen the beginning of
this present Parliament, good and honourable Ordinances
and Statutes have been made and established for Elections,
Presentations, Consecrations, and investing of Archbishops
and Bishops of this Realm, and in all other the King's
dominions, with all ceremonies appertaining to the same, as
by sundry Statutes thereof made more at large is specified ;
yet nevertheless no provision hitherto hath been made for
Sufiragans, "which have been accustomed to be had iviihin this
Realm, for the more speedy administration of the Sacraments
and other good, wholesome and devout things, and laudable
ceremonies, to the increase of God's honour, and for the
commodity of good and devout people. Be it therefore
enacted, &c."

§ 25 Henry viii., cap. 20.

22

exercised by the Pope in their appointment ; * and,

* A letter of Longland/ Bishop of Lincoln, A.D, 1529, to
Pope Clement VII., requesting a Suffragan Bishop : —

" Sanctissimo simul ac beatissimo Patii et Domino sum-
ruoque pontifici, suus liumillimus atque addictissimus
Johannes, Dei summS, benignitate, et ipsius gratis, Lincol-
niensis epus, felicitatem in Domino sempiternam, et subjec-
tionem omnimodam tant' sanctitati debitam, usque ad pedum
oscula beatorum. Quoniam, pater sanctissime, nra diocesia
longe lateque diffunditur, adeo quidem ut cum per ejus ampli-
tudinem, turn per varias insuper causas rationabiles, justas
et graves, sepissime nobis emergentes, (Longland was at this
time confessor to the king) sic interesse non posaumus et

ofl&cio fungi, ut onera singula huic eccliae nre consueta et
debita sufficienter et plene perimplere valeamus, et vra

sanctitas aplTca sua maxima benignitate ad supplicacionem
episcoporum in consimili negotio consuevit viros aliquot de
quorum vita et honestate eidem sanctitati constare poterit,
in Coepiscopos atque suffraganeos ex causis ejuscemodi justia
et legitimis promovere, non diffisus sum humiliter, suppli-
canter, et ex intimis praecordiis beatissime vre sanctitati
venerabilem et religiosum virum Thomam Halam, priorem
domils sive prioratus de Newstede juxta Stanfordiam, ordinis
sancti Augustini Lincoln' diocesis, moribus et sacrarum.

Irarum scientia preditum ac pollentem comendatissimum
facere, humiliter et devote supplicans, quatenus eundem
Thomam priorem in suffraganeum et Coepiscopum ex vra
gratia singulari promovere dignetur vestra sanctitas, ut in
causis premissis ceterisque circa pastoralem curam infra
diocesim meam et alibi exercendis, in exonerationem con-
sciencie mee, mihi suffragari possit. Sique vestra sanctitas
premissa humilime postulata concesserit, mihique jam in
hac necessitate subvenerit, rem Deo gratam ecclse Lincoln
pernecessariam atque utilem, et mihi imprimis optatam,
atque acceptissimam faciet. Et ego quantas possum vestre
sanctitati gratias habiturus sum, et fideliter ac semper ora-
turuK, ut ipsa vestra sanctitas diutissime felicissime vivat,
atque ecclesie claves inter Christi fideles in pace custodiat
et felicissime gubernet. Dat' in aedibus meis Holburnensibus
juxta Londinum, tertiis idibus Maias." Extract from Bishop
Longland's Memoranda. See Lewis' Essay, p. 35, in
Bibliotheca Topographica Britannica, vol. vi.

23

forasmuch as the Church of England was thenceforth
to be self-contained, he names these twenty-six
towns as Sees of Bishops-Suffragan, instead of the
foreign titles which the Pope had been accustomed
to give them, chiefly taken from the Greek Church.
The statement of that most accurate historian and
antiquary, Henry Wharton, that he could " exhibit
a perfect succession of Suffragan Bishops in almost
all the Dioceses of England for about two hundred
years before the Keformation," * coupled with the
evidence which exists, that there were more than one
Suffragan at a time in some dioceses, t lead us to
the conclusion that the provision of the Act was not
for any greater number of Suffragans than were at
the time accustomed, and that it is therefore not
to be regarded as any part of the scheme of that
day for supplying the acknowledged need of more
Episcopal service, but only as a provision for the
continuance of the accustomed assistance. J

* App. to Strype's Life of Cranmer, p. 1044.

+ See Tract "On SufFiagau Bishops," p. 12, note.

X The Bishops are called in the Act ' ' Suffragans of this
Eealm," and the places "the Sees of Bishops Suffragan." The
Act reciuirea that a Diocesan shall present two names to the
Crown, which may appoint one of them to one of these
titles, "so it be within the Province whereof the Bishop
that doth name him is." The Suffragans shall " have such
capacity, power, and authority, honour, pre-eminence, and
reputation, in as large and ample manner in and concerning
the execution of such commission as by any of the said
Archbishops or Bishops within their Dioceses shall be given
to the said Suffragans, as to Suffragans of this Eealm here-
tofore hath been accustomed." They shall only have and
execute " such profits, jurisdiction, power, and authority,
as shall be licensed and limited for them to take, do, and
execute by any Archbishop or Bishop of this Realm within
their Diocese, to whom they shall be Suffragans by their
Commission under their Seals. And every Archbishop and

24

We may now rejoice that this method of assist-
ance is being restored to the English Church, and
hope that it will shortly be in use to the full extent
for which the Act provides. We must however
remember that this is only the measure in which
the Church is deficient in this respect as compared
with the days of the Eeformation : nor was this the
method to which the Church then looked for the
supply of her additional needs, (how much more
now increased by a fivefold increase of population.').
Moreover the Act 26 Hen. VIII. chap. 14 unamended,
ojQFers little relief to the Northern Province, in which
the population has chiefly accumulated, but where
from its very diff'erent condition at that time, there
are now only three of the Sufiragan Titles appointed
by the Act ; Nottinghamshire having recently been
transferred to the Southern Province ; and the Act
requiring that the Suffragan Title should be one of
those named within the Province.

Bishop of this Realm, for their own peculiar Diocese, may
and shall give such commission and commissions to every
such Bishop Sufeagan, as shall be so consecrate by autho-
rity of this Act, as hath been accustomed for Suffragans
heretofore to have, or else such commission as by them shall
be thought requisite, reasonable, and convenient. And no
such Suffragan shall use any jurisdiction ordinary, or Epis-
copal power, otherwise, nor longer time, than shall be
limited by such commission to him to be given, as is afore-
said, upon pain to incur into the pains, losses, forfeitures,
and penalties mentioned in the statutes of provisions made
in the fifteenth year of King Richard the Second."

The text of the Act is not here given m txtenso, as it is
easily accessible, not only in the general collections of
Statutes, but also in Brett's "Suffragan Bishops," p. 35,
and in the York Church Congress Report, p. 34:7.

See also Tracts "On Suffragan Bishops," and on *'The
Act 26 Hen. viii. c. xiv. applied."

It is evident from existing documents that these Suffra-
gans signed by their titles. For more on this subject, see
*'0u Sufl5:agan Bishops."

SUGGESTIONS ON THE BEST METHOD FOR
THE INCREASE, AND ON SUFFRAGAN
BISHOPS."

Second Edition Enlarged, Price Is. 6d. per dozen.

THE ACT 26, CHAP. 14, APPLIED, OR HOW
TO OBTAIN MORE BISHOPS."

Second Edition, 9d. per dozen.

STYLE AND SIGNATURE OF SUFFRAGAN
BISHOPS."

.,W:

'i\:

mm