Follow
From History Magazine - History UK - History of England- Archbishops of Canterbury:
in the Christian church, an archbishop is a bishop of superior rank who has authority over other bishops in an ecclesiastic province or area. The Church of England is presided over by two archbishops: the archbishop of Canterbury, who is 'primate of All England', and the archbishop of York, who is 'primate of England'.
In the time of St. Augustine, around the 5th century it was intended that England would be divided into two provinces with two archbishops, one at London and one at York. Canterbury gained supremacy just prior to the Reformation in the 16th century, when it exercised the powers of papal legate throughout England.
It is the Archbishop of Canterbury who has the privilege of crowning the kings and queens of England and ranks immediately after the princes of royal blood.
The Archbishop's official residence is at Lambeth Palace, London, and second residence at the Old Palace, Canterbury.
The first Archbishop of Canterbury was Augustine. Originally prior to the Benedictine monastery of St. Andrew in Rome, he was sent to England by Pope Gregory I with the mission to convert the natives to Roman Christianity.
Landing in Ebbesfleet, Kent in 597 Augustine quickly converted his first native when he baptized Ethelbert, King of Kent along with many of his subjects. He was consecrated Bishop of the English at Arles that same year and appointed archbishop in 601, establishing his seat at Canterbury. In 603 he attempted unsuccessfully to unite the Roman and native Celtic churches at a conference on the Severn.
The following list traces the Archbishops from the time of Augustine through the Reformation, up to the present day. Their influence on the history of England and the English people is apparent for all to see.
List of the Archbishops of Canterbury
from Archbishops of Canterbury page by Peter J. Large
The year 1997 marks the 1400th anniversary of the landing of Augustine on the shores of the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Kent. Augustine was an Italian Benedictine monk, sent by Saint Gregory the Great, Bishop of Rome, to convert the English to Christianity. To mark this anniversary, there appears below a list of Augustine's successors in the See of Canterbury up to and including Rowan Williams, the present Archbishop, Primate of All England and Metropolitan.
You can find a similar list on the Archbishop of Canterbury's Home Page, but it does not give the number of succession.
- 1 Augustine 597-605
- 2 Laurentius 605-619
- 3 Mellitus 619-624
- 4 Justus 624-627
- 5 Honorius 627-653
- 6 Deusdedit 655-664
- 7 Theodore of Tarsus 668-690
- 8 Berhtuald 693-731
- 9 Taetwine 731-734
- 10 Nothelm 734-740
- 11 Cuthbert 740-758
- 12 Breogwine 759-762
- 13 Jaenberht 763-790
- 14 Aethelheard 790-803
- 15 Wulfred 803-829
- 16 Fleogild 829-830
- 17 Ceolnoth 830-870
- 18 Aethelred 870-889
- 19 Plegemund 891-923
- 20 Aethelm 923-925
- 21 Wulfelm 928-941
- 22 Odo 941-958
- 23 Aelsine 958-959
- 24 Dunstan 959-988
- 25 Aethelgar 988-989
- 26 Sigeric 990-994
- 27 Aefric 995-1005
- 28 Alphege 1006-1012
- 29 Lyfing 1013-1020
- 30 Aethelnoth 1020-1038
- 31 Eadsige 1038-1050
- 32 Robert of Jumièges 1051-1052
- 33 Stigand 1052-1070
- 34 Lanfranc 1070-1089
- 35 Anselm 1093-1109
- 36 Ralph de Turbine 1114-1122
- 37 William de Corbeuil 1123-1136
- 38 Theobald 1139-1161
- 39 Thomas Becket 1162-1170
- 40 Richard 1174-1184
- 41 Baldwin 1185-1190
- 42 Reginald Fitz-Jocelin 1191
- 43 Hubert Walter 1193-1205
- 44 Stephen Langton 1207-1228
- 45 Richard Wethershed 1229-1231
- 46 Edmund Rich (de Abbendon) 1233-1240
- 47 Boniface of Savoy 1240-1270
- 48 Robert Kilwardby 1273-1278
- 49 John Peckham 1279-1292
- 50 Robert Winchelsea 1293-1313
- 51 Walter Reynolds 1313-1372
- 52 Simon de Meopham 1327-1333
- 53 John Stratford 133-1348
- 54 John de Ufford 1348-1349
- 55 Thomas Bradwardin 1349
- 56 Simon Islip 1349-1366
- 57 Simon Langham 1366-1368
- 58 William Wittlesey 1368-1374
- 59 Simon Sudbury 1375-1381
- 60 William Courtenay 1381-1396
- 61 Thomas Arundel 1396-1414
- 62 Henry Chicheley 1414-1443
- 63 John Stafford 1443-1452
- 64 John Kemp 1452-1454
- 65 Thomas Bourchier 1454-1486
- 66 John Morton 1486-1500
- 67 Henry Deane 1501-1503
- 68 William Warham 1503-1532
- 69 Thomas Cranmer 1533-1556
- 70 Reginald Pole 1556-1558
- 71 Matthew Parker 1559-1575
- 72 Edmund Grindal 1575-1583
- 73 John Whitgift 1583-1604
- 73 Richard Bancroft 1604-1610
- 73 George Abbot 1611-1633
- 76 William Laud 1633-1645
- See vacant 1645-1660
- 77 William Juxon 1660-1663
- 78 Gilbert Sheldon 1663-1677
- 79 William Sancroft 1678-1691
- 80 John Tillotson 1691-1694
- 81 Thomas Tenison 1694-1715
- 82 William Wake 1716-1737
- 83 John Potter 1737-1747
- 84 Thomas Herring 1747-1757
- 85 Matthew Hutton 1757-1758
- 86 Thomas Ecker 1758-1768
- 87 Frederick Cornwallis 1768-1783
- 88 John Moore 1783-1805
- 89 Charles Manners-Sutton 1805-1828
- 90 William Howley 1828-1848
- 91 John Bird Sumner 1848-1862
- 92 Charles Thomas Longley 1862-1868
- 93 Archibald Campbell Tait 1868-1882
- 94 Edward White Benson 1882-1896
- 95 Frederick Temple 1896-1902
- 96 Randall Davidson 1903-1928
- 97 Cosmo Gordon Lang 1928-1942
- 98 William Temple 1942-1944
- 99 Geoffrey Francis Fisher 1945-1961
- 100 Arthur Michael Ramsey 1961-1974
- 101 Frederick Donald Coggan 1974-1980
- 102 Robert Alexander Kennedy Runcie 1980-1991
- 103 George Leonard Carey 1991-2002
- 104 Rowan Douglas Williams 2002-2012
- 105 Justin Welby 2013-