Roman There was a bishop in
Eboracum (
Roman York) from very early times; during the Middle Ages, it was thought to have been one of the dioceses established by the
legendary King Lucius. Bishops of York are known to have been present at the councils of
Arles (
Eborius) and
Nicaea (unnamed). However, this early Christian community was later
destroyed by the pagan Anglo-Saxons and there is no direct succession from these bishops to the post-Augustinian ones.
Middle Ages The
Catholic diocese was refounded by
Paulinus (a member of
Augustine's mission) in the 7th century. Notable among these early bishops is
Wilfrid. These early bishops of York acted as diocesan rather than archdiocesan prelates until the time of
Ecgbert of York, who received the
pallium from
Pope Gregory III in 735 and established metropolitan rights in the north. Until the Danish invasion the archbishops of Canterbury occasionally exercised authority, and it was not until the
Norman Conquest that the archbishops of York asserted their complete independence. At the time of the Norman invasion York had jurisdiction over
Worcester,
Lichfield, and
Lincoln, as well as claiming the dioceses in the Northern Isles and
Scotland which were in fact independent. But the first three sees just mentioned were taken from York in 1072. In 1154 the suffragan sees of the
Isle of Man and
Orkney were transferred to the Norwegian
archbishop of Nidaros (today's Trondheim), and in 1188 York finally accepted it had no authority over all of the Scottish dioceses except
Whithorn, so that only the dioceses of
Whithorn,
Durham, and
Carlisle remained to the archbishops as suffragan sees. Of these, Durham was practically independent, for the
palatine bishops of that see were little short of sovereigns in their own jurisdiction. Sodor and Man were returned to York during the 14th century, to compensate for the loss of Whithorn to the Scottish Church. Several of the archbishops of York held the ministerial office of
Lord Chancellor of England and played some parts in affairs of state. As
Peter Heylyn (1600–1662) wrote: "This see has yielded to the Church eight saints, to the Church of Rome three cardinals, to the realm of England twelve Lord Chancellors and two
Lord Treasurers, and to the north of England two
Lord Presidents." The bishopric's role was also complicated by
continued conflict over primacy with the see of Canterbury.
English Reformation At the time of the
English Reformation, York possessed three suffragan sees, Durham, Carlisle, and Sodor and Man, to which during the brief space of
Queen Mary I's reign (1553–1558) may be added the Diocese of Chester, founded by
Henry VIII, but subsequently recognised by the Pope. Until the mid 1530s (and from 1553 to 1558) the bishops and archbishops were Catholics in communion with the
pope in Rome. This is no longer the case, as the archbishop of York, together with the rest of the
Church of England, is a member of the
Anglican Communion.
Walter de Grey purchased
York Place as his London residence, which after the fall of
Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, was renamed the
Palace of Whitehall. ==Styles and privileges==