Coat of arms of the Archbishop of Canterbury

List of the Archbishops of Canterbury in the Cathedral

This is a list of the Archbishops of Canterbury. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the head of the established Church of England and, symbolically, of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

From the time of St. Augustine until the 16th century, the Archbishops of Canterbury were in full communion with the Bishop of Rome. During the English Reformation the church broke away from the authority of the Pope, at first temporarily and later more permanently. Since then they have been outside of the succession of the Roman Catholic Church's hierarchy and have led the independent national church.

In the Middle Ages there was considerable variation in the nomination of the Archbishop and other bishops — at various times the choice was made by the canons of Canterbury Cathedral, the King of England, or the Pope. Since the reformation, the church is explicitly a state church and the choice is legally that of the British crown; today it is made in the name of the Monarchy of the United Kingdom by the Prime Minister, from a shortlist of two selected by an ad hoc committee called the Crown Nominations Commission.

Today, the Archbishop fills four main roles:^[1]

• He is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury, which covers the east of the County of Kent and the extreme north-east of Surrey. Founded by Augustine in 597, it is the oldest bishopric in the English church.
• He is the metropolitan of the Province of Canterbury, encompassing 30 dioceses in the southern two-thirds of England. The remaining 14 dioceses in the north of England fall within the Province of York, under the aegis of the Archbishop of York. Four dioceses in Wales were under the Province of Canterbury until they were transferred to the disestablished Church in Wales in 1920.
• As "Primate of All England", he is the chief religious figure in the Church of England (the British sovereign is the "Supreme governor" of the church).
• As symbolic head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop is recognized as primus inter pares ("first among equals") of all Anglican primates.

List of Archbishops

To the Norman conquest^[2]

All beginning dates are consecration dates, unless otherwise specified. All ending dates are death dates, unless otherwise noted.

To the Reformation^[3]

All beginning dates are consecration dates, unless otherwise specified. All ending dates are death dates, unless otherwise noted.

Since the Reformation

Note 

Where the full name of an incumbent is not generally used, the name that is most commonly used is shown in bold (so, for example, Rowan Douglas Williams is usually called simply Rowan Williams).

See also

• Lists of office-holders
• Religion in the United Kingdom

References

General

• Fryde, E. B.; Greenway, D. E.; Porter, S.; Roy, I. (1996). Handbook of British Chronology, Third Edition, revised, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-56350-X. 

• Haydn's Book of Dignities (1894) Joseph Haydn/Horace Ockerby, reprinted 1969
• Whitaker's Almanack 1883 to 2004, Joseph Whitaker and Sons Ltd/A&C Black, London
• "List of the Archbishops of Canterbury" at Britannia.com, LLC
• The Archbishopric of Canterbury, from Its Foundation to the Norman Conquest, by John William Lamb", Published 1971, Faith Press

Notes

External links

• Archbishop of Canterbury website

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