The Bishop of Cornwall was the bishop of a diocese which existed between about 930 and 1050. Nothing is known about bishops in the post-Roman British Kingdom of Cornwall, but by the mid-ninth century Wessex was gaining control over the area, and between 833 and 870 a bishop at Dinuurrin, probably Bodmin, acknowledged the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury. There may have been another bishop at St Germans.[1] By the end of the century Cornwall was part of the diocese of Sherborne, and Asser may have been appointed the suffragan bishop of Devon and Cornwall around 890 before he became bishop of the whole diocese.[2] When he died in 909, Sherborne was divided into three dioceses, of which Devon and Cornwall were one. In Æthelstan's reign (924-939) there was a further division with the establishment of a separate Cornish diocese based at St Germans.[3] Later bishops of Cornwall were sometimes referred to as the bishops of St Germans. In 1050, the bishoprics of Crediton and of Cornwall were merged and the Episcopal see was transferred to Exeter.[4][5]

List of bishops of Cornwall

Bishops of Cornwall
From Until Incumbent Notes
between 833 and 870 before 893 Kenstec Bishop "in the Cornish race in the monastery which in the language of the British is called Dinuurrin"[6]
between July 924 and 931 bet. 946 or 953 and November 955 Conan
955 or 956 between 959 and 963 Daniel
between 959 and 963 between 981 and 990 Wulfsige Comoere
between 981 and 990 between 1002 and 1009 Ealdred
between 1002 and 1009 1011 or 1012 ? Æthelsige
1011 or 1012 between 1019 and 1027 Buruhwold
1027 20, 23 or 25 March 1046 Lyfing Also Bishop of Crediton and Bishop of Worcester
1046, possibly consecrated 19 April 1050 Leofric Also Bishop of Crediton
In 1050, Leofric transferred the united sees of Crediton and of Cornwall to Exeter.[7]
Source(s): [5]

References

  1. ^ Orme, Nicholas (2000). The Saints of Cornwall. Oxford University Press. pp. 8–9. ISBN 9780191542893.
  2. ^ Keynes, Simon (2014) [1st edition 1999]. "Asser". In Lapidge, Michael; Blair, John; Keynes, Simon; Scragg, Donald (eds.). The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon England (Second ed.). Chichester, West Sussex: Wiley Blackwell. p. 51. ISBN 978-0-470-65632-7.
  3. ^ Stenton, Frank (1971). Anglo-Saxon England (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 439. ISBN 978-0-19-821716-9.
  4. ^ Crockford's Clerical Directory, 100th edition, (2007), Church House Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7151-1030-0.
  5. ^ a b Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I., eds. (1986). Handbook of British Chronology (3rd, reprinted 2003 ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 215. ISBN 0-521-56350-X.
  6. ^ Charles-Edwards, T. M. (2013). Wales and the Britons 350–1064. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. p. 431. ISBN 978-0-19-821731-2.
  7. ^ Exeter: Ecclesiastical History Archived 1 October 2006 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved on 8 December 2008.

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