If the parish is the basic level of the church for both popular life and for production of income, the diocese was the level at which a unit could be said to comprise a whole church. In the early centuries of the Church, when it was mostly confined to towns and cities with a concentrated population, a complete church had priests and deacons presided over by a bishop, the only cleric allowed to perform all the rites necessary to the full functioning of the Church.
Diocesan officers
While the first two of these held super-diocesan powers, they were also officers of the dioceses which they held as bishop.
Patriarch presided over a patriarchate, one of the five divisions into which the Church in the Roman Empire was divided, along with his own provincial and diocesan duties. The only patriarch in the West was the Patriarch of Rome, who was also Archbishop of the province of Rome and Bishop of the archdiocese of Rome.
Archbishop, also called metropolitan, was bishop over a province of several dioceses with an archdiocese of his own, as in the Archbishop of the province of Rome also being Bishop of the diocese of Rome.
Bishop was the church prelate presiding over a diocese, as in the Pope being the Bishop of the diocese of Rome. The bishop of a diocese was also called the ordinary.
Coadjutor was a bishop appointed to assist the ordinary when the latter was unable to fulfill all his duties because of infirmity or duties to the state, often, but not always, with the automatic right of succession should the see become vacant.
Suffragan was the name for diocesan bishops vis-à-vis their metropolitan archbishop. It was also the name for auxiliary bishops who assisted the ordinary with episcopal functions and were generally made bishop of a titular see of a no-longer or never extant diocese, such as Bishop of Elphin or Bishop of the Isle of Wight, or, before the Reformation (in the churches of the Isles) one of the former Roman cities occupied by the Islamic Empire.
Archdeacon was, in the Early Middle Ages, the bishop’s chief assistant and executive officer who supervised the diocesan clergy, examined candidates for ordination, and made visitations to rural clergy. In large dioceses spread over much territory, multiple archdeacons served the bishop, each one with his own court of first instance.
Vicar general, at least from the High Middle Ages, had charge of the diocese when the bishop was away and served as acting bishop when the see was vacant, duties which had previously belonged to the archdeacon, along with other executive duties delegated by the bishop.
Sequestrator General was, in the Church of England, the one responsible from ensuring collection of revenue due to the bishop and diocese. If there were multiple archdeaconries in a diocese, a sequestrator was appointed for each and reported to the sequestrator general. In the dioceses of York and of Lichfield, the sequestrator general also supervised the rural deans, and in some dioceses (such as Canterbury) this administrative office was combined with the judicial office of commissary general.
Chancellor (of a diocese) was the officer who advised the bishop on matters of canon and civil law, kept the episcopal seal, and supervised the diocesan chancery, its administrative office.
Canon penitentiary, also called vicar penitentiary, was the priest assigned to hear confessions of all the clergy in the diocese, whose duties could not, unlike those of other church positions in the High and Late Middle Ages, be palmed off on a surrogate.
Cathedral chapters
Besides the diocesan officers and those in his household, the officers of the diocese next in rank were those of the cathedral chapter, which formed the bishop’s advisory council, which served as the parliament in the diocese, and which elected a new bishop when the see fell vacant. Voting was restricted to the four principle persons and the major canons or prebendaries.
Cathedrals and their dioceses in the Middle Ages were governed by a chapter that could be collegiate, composed of canons secular; monastic, composed of monks; or canonical, composed of canons regular.
England: There were eight collegiate cathedrals: Chichester, Exeter, Lichfield, Lincoln, London, Salisbury, Wells, and York; seven monastic cathedrals: Canterbury, Durham, Ely, Norwich, Rochester, Winchester, and Worcester; and one canonical cathedral: Carlisle. The monastic cathedrals were all Benedictine, while the canonical cathedral at Carlisle was Arrosian Augustinian.
The chapter at the Cathedral of York Minster were Culdees until the Normans took it over when they rebuilt it after its destruction during the Harrowing of the North by William the Conqueror in 1069. The Culdess continued to exist, establishing St. Peter’s Hospital in York, later converting into Augustinian Canons Regular and renaming their facility St. Leonard’s.
Wales: All four cathedrals were collegiate: Bangor, Llandaff, St. David’s, and St. Asaph’s.
Scotland: There were ten collegiate cathedrals: Aberdeen, Brechin, Dornoch, Dunblane, Dunkeld, Elgin, Fortrose, Glasgow, Kirkwall, and Lismore; two canonical cathedrals: St. Andrews and Whithorn; and one monastic cathedral: Iona. The canons regular at St. Andrews and Dunkeld were Augustinian while those at Whithorn were Norbertine. The cathedral on Iona belonged to the Cluniac Benedictine abbey.
Eight of the cathedrals in Scotland began with chapters of Columban monks later replaced with Culdees, some chapters of which lasted well into the High Middle Ages.
Until 1297, St. Andrews had a chapter of Augustinian canons regular existing alongside a rival chapter of Culdees, until the first absorbed the second.
The Culdees at Dunkeld became secular canons who existed for nearly two centuries alongside a chapter of Augustinian canons which later relocated to merge into Inchcolm Abbey.
The cathedral chapter of Brechin were Culdees until 1372, when they finally became secular canons.
Isle of Mann: Its sole Cathedral of Pell was always collegiate.
Ireland: Thirty of its cathedrals were collegiate: Achonry, Annaghdown, Ardagh, Ardfert, Armagh, Cashel, Clogher, Clonfert, Clonmacnoise, Cloyne, Cork, Derry, Elphin, Emly, Ferns, Killala, Killaloe, Kildare, Kilfenora, Kilmaduagh, Kilmore (called Breifne or Tirbriuin until 1454), Leighlin, Lismore, Ossory, Raphoe, Ross, St. Patrick’s Dublin, and Tuam; one was canonical: Christ Church Dublin; one was monastic: Down; and two had no chapter of any kind, substituting the community of the clergy meeting under the archdeacon: Meath and Connor (as well as Breifne/Tirbriuin until moving to Kilmore in 1454). Christ Church Dublin’s canons regular were Augustinian, and Downpatrick’s monks were Benedictine.
Of all Ireland’s dioceses, Ardfert alone had two archdeacons, one of Aghadoe and one of Ardfert. In Ireland, archdeacons were part of the cathedral chapter, ranking just below the dean, and some Irish chapters included an archpriest.
In the province of Tuam, the title chancellor in its cathedral chapters was replaced with provost.
Dublin was unique in having two cathedrals, both founded with chapters of secular canons. St. Patrick’s remained so, while Christ Church converted to a priory of Augustinian Canons Regular.
As noted above, the cathedral at Armagh was hybrid, with the four principal persons and a chapter of Culdees.
Secular cathedral chapters
In secular chapters, there were four “principal persons”: the dean, the precentor, the chancellor (who was often also the subdean), and the treasurer. In Ireland, the archdeacon was considered part of the cathedral chapter along with his other duties.
The secular chapter at the Cathedral of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Lincoln included a dean, a precentor, a chancellor (formerly ‘master of schools’) and subdean, a treasurer, eight archdeacons, fifty-eight prebendaries (major canons), four priest-vicars, eight lay-vicars (professional singers), an organist, seven poor clerks, eight choristers, two sacristans, two clerks of the vestry, a sub-chanter (deputy, a sub-chancellor (or vice-chancellor), a president (or provost) of the canons, a headmaster of the grammar school, a porter, a clock-keeper, two keepers of the church, four vergers, four bell-ringers, a clerk of the common chamber, a chapter clerk, and an auditor of causes who was also warden of the altar of St. Peter.
That is without counting the vicars residential (or minor canons) for each of the fifty-eight prebendaries (fifteen of whom held chantries in addition to their stipend or portion) and the thirty-three additional chantry chaplains for the other twenty chantries at the cathedral (counting the high altar, there were twenty-eight altars in medieval Lincoln Cathedral, with seventeen of the auxiliary altars having their own chapels).
Nor does it consider the Bishop of Lincoln and his personal staff at the Bishop’s Palace and the staff relating to other than liturgical and clerical duties, such as cleaners, housekeepers, cooking staff, etc.
Of course, as the third largest in all of Western Europe in the Late Middle Ages, Lincoln Cathedral was by far the largest cathedral in the British Isles; but this list gives an idea of the size and scale of a cathedral college (often called a chapter in daily speech).
York Minster Cathedral’s secular chapter included the four principals, thirty-six secular canons, thirty-six vicars choral, twenty-plus cantarists, six deacons, five thurifers, seven choristers, three sacrists, and two vergers.
The chapter of the Cathedral of St. Mungo in Glasgow included a dean, a precentor, a chancellor, a treasurer, a subdean (in this case a separate individual), two archdeacons, a subchanter, a sacrist, twenty-six prebendaries, a chaplain for each of thirty auxiliary altars (twenty-two at the ground level, eight in the crypt), plus an additional ten chantry priests, vicars residential for each of the twenty-six prebendaries, and probably other officers not included in contemporary lists.
The Cathedral of St. Patrick in Armagh was technically secular, with the standard four principal persons, but the remainder of its stalls were filled by the last surviving Irish chapter of Culdees. These twelve and their prior formed a chapter within a chapter until the Reformation, upon which its sitting prior became precentor and its individual monks vicars choral.
For comparison, Durham Cathedral’s monastic priory included sixty-nine Benedictine monks, making it the largest Benedictine establishment in medieval England. And Carlisle Cathedral’s Augustinian canonry counted twenty-three members at the time of the Dissolution in 1540.
Officers of a secular cathedral
The four principales personae, principal persons, of a secular cathedral chapter included the dean, the precentor (provost in the Province of Tuam), the chancellor, and the treasurer. Many of the positions in secular cathedral chapters also occupied places in the hierarchy of collegiate churches.
Dean was the head of the chapter and chief priest of a secular cathedral; the title was the same as that of dean of Christianity or rural dean, though the office was different.
Prior was the head of a monastic or canonical cathedral chapter.
Subdean was the substitute for the dean when the latter was away, often, as at Lincoln, the same person as the chancellor, but otherwise not one of the principal persons.
Precentor (also called a Cantor) was the chief deputy of the dean as well as being director of all the music and ritual in the various services.
Succentor, or subchanter, was the substitute for the precentor when the latter was away; not one of the principal persons.
Chancellor (of a secular cathedral or collegiate church) was principal of the grammar school, though the daily routine duties for this were almost always delegated to another priest as headmaster (as at Lincoln), as well as supervising the chancery and archives of the corporation.
Vice-chancellor, or sub-chancellor, was the substitute for the chancellor when the latter was away; not one of the principal persons.
Treasurer was cathedral chapter or secular college officer responsible for the treasury as well as the sacred vessels instruments, vestments, and everything else in the chancel.
Sacristan performed the routine daily duties maintenance of the sacred vessels, insturments, etc. of the cathedral or collegiate church chancel. He also served as substitute for the treasurer when the latter was away, though he was not one of the principal persons; the case of cathderals were there were more than one sacrist, this function belonged to the most senior.
Archdeacons, whether one or more, were all voting members of the cathedral chapter, though explicitly one of the four principal officers thereof only in Ireland.
Secular canons, also called major canons and prebendaries, were the priests who held a prebend and were voting members of the chapter or college. In theory, secular canons lived together in one house, but without adhering to a monastic rule. The office was so-called to distinguish it from canon regular. Each was required to provide a vicar for daily performance at Masses and canonical hours and to ensure parish of his prebend was served by a vicar or curate.
The major canons were divided into canons residentiary, who chose to live at and work in the cathedral for most of the year, and non-residentiary canons, who chose ostensibly to live in and serve the parish of their prebend, although as time progressed most of these were canons in name only but retaining their vote (unless given to a proxy).
Vicars choral were the stipendary substitutes for the prebendary canons for celebrating daily Masses and singing canonical hours. They could be priests, deacons, subdeacons, and laymen with specific numbers of each, as at Lichfield Cathedral, though the majority of chapters and colleges only had priest-vicars and lay vicars, as in the cases of Lincoln Cathedral and the Collegiate Church of St. Giles in Edinburgh.
Vicars residential (also known as vicars stallari, minor canons, vicars of the choir, and chaplains of the choir) were substitutes for the prebendary canons at regular cathedral and collegiate church services (canonical hours and the daily Masses of the church) who were members of the major orders (priest, deacon, subdeacon). They were not voting members of the cathedral chapter. Also called senior vicars.
Lay vicars or lay clerks were adult laymen paid to sing in a cathedral or collegiate church, usually in one of the minor orders, i.e., acolyte, exorcist, lector, porter. Also called junior vicars.
Vicars procuratores were the designated proxies of the prebendaries for voting purposes when the latter were absent from major chapter meetings, often but not always one of the four principales personae, or else one of the canons residentiary.
President (provost) of canons (vicars) managed the revenues and administered the business of the chapter.
Cathedral clerk maintained the cemetery.
Auditor of causes presided over the adjudication of matters of discipline and crimes deemed within the jurisdiction of the dean and chapter.
Archiacolutus was the chief acolyte; in the case of a cathedral or collegiate church, this was always a priest, usually one of the canons.
Verger, also called master of the fabric, looked after the interior and fabrics of the cathedral or church under the treasurer and the sacristan, and was also responsible for keeping order during the services. His symbol of office was the verge.
Poor clerk was an unbeneficed priest at a cathedral chapter or collegiate church for whom provisions were made by bishop and chapter or by the monastery, usually in the form of a stipend. Later “poor clerk” was also a stage from chorister to the priesthood at a cathedral or collegiate church, generally referring to someone in the minor orders who had the same duties as a parish clerk.
Secondaries were clerks in the late medieval period whose main function of was to assist the chantry chaplains with their daily Masses. Called poor clerks at Lincoln, they were usually chosen from among the choristers of a cathedral, often as a step on the ladder to the priesthood.
Choristers were boys employed to sing in the choir at canonical hours and daily Masses, in the Late Middle Ages becoming the first step on the path to the priesthood.
Canon predicant was a priest hired specifically as a preacher because of his extent and depth of knowledge, effective writing, and/or locquacious speaking ability, usually not one of the major canons and almost always exempt from ordinary duties at the cathedral or collegiate church.
Cantarists, commonly known as chantry chaplains and in Scotland as altar-thanes, were the designated chaplains of an endowed chantry.
Bedesmen were almsmen employed to pray for the quick and the dead, attend daily service, ring the bells, and sweep the church, mostly at cathedrals and collegiate churches. Bedeswomen were their female counterpart. To cite a few examples: the Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas in Biggar, Lanarkshire, listed eight bedesmen as part of its college; Trinity Collegiate Church and Hospital called for appointment of thirteen bedesmen; and St. Katharine’s Hospital in London included ten bedeswomen.
Collegiate churches
Closely akin in structure to secular cathedral chapters were secular colleges of parish churches which had become large and/or important enough to warrant such. Approval of collegiate status lay with Rome alone, though recommendations came from monarchs.
England had by far the most at eighty-six, twenty-seven of which were formed from groups of chantries and some of which had survived from the early days of the Anglo-Saxon church where they originated as minsters. Scotland had fourty-four, one of which was very short-lived. Ireland had three. Wales had one.
The proper technical Latin term for these was praepostura, from which was derived the English term provostry, so-called from the office of provost, the most common term for the head of a secular college.
Howden was the English term for a secular college of priests, most often used in Scotland and northern England.
Almost all larger parish churches in the Late Middle Ages housed numerous chantries whose priests might be organised into a college even though the parish church itself might not have been legally appropriated for collegiate use nor appropriated the benefices of other parishes to its priests.
Prebendaries at secular colleges were canons just like in cathedral chapters whose incomes were based on a prebend, an endowment derived from a parish whose benefice was appropriated for that purpose.
Portioners at secular colleges were canons whose income from prebends and/or other endowments was pooled so that a distinct and mostly equitable income could be provided to each canon.
Fellows at secular colleges were canons with incomes based on individual chantry endowments.
Provost was the usual title of the head of a secular college in both England and Scotland.
Dean was the title of the head of a secular college in dozens of cases in England; in Scotland at St. Bega’s in Dunbar, St. Triduana’s in Restalrig, and at Coldingham Priory during its brief existence as a collegiate church 1472-1488; and in Ireland at St. Peter & St. Paul’s in Kilmallock, Co. Limerick.
Warden was another rare title of the head of a secular college, as at St. Nicholas Church in Galway City post-1485 and St. Mary’s in Youghal; five English churches: St. Boniface in Bunbury, Cheshire; St. Mary, St. Denys, and St. George in Manchester; St. Mary’s in Ottery Mary, Devon; St. John the Baptist in Shottesbrook; and one in Wales: St. Peter’s in Ruthin.
Archpriest was a very rare title of the head of a secular college, and differs from the early use of the title. It is found as such at St. Andrew’s in Bere Ferrers, Devon, and at St Michael Penkevil in Cornwall. At the Collegiate Church of St. Bega in Dunbar, Scotland, it was the title of the second in rank to the dean.
Master was the title for the head of the majority of chantry colleges in England, as well as for most hospitals.
Rector was used by just two heads of collegiate churches, Chumleigh, Devon, and Lowthorpe, Yorkshire.
Prior was the title for the heads of All Saints’ Collegiate Church in Bristol and St. John the Baptist’s Collegiate Church in Corstorphine.
The other officers and positions at collegiate churches were much the same as those at secular cathedrals, except that there were not as many of those officers in the colleges.
St. Giles’ Collegiate Church, Edinburgh
The original Church of St. Giles was a daughter of the nearby 8th century church dedicated to St. Cuthbert. In 1124, it became the chapel of St. Giles’ Hospital of the Order of Brother and Soldiers of the Hospital of the Lepers of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem, commonly known as the Lazarists or the Knights of St. Lazarus. It was an outreach of the Lazarist foundation at Harehope, Northumberland, just north of Eglingham.
The Lazarists were a hospitaller order founded at the establishment of the Kingdom of Jerusalem after the First Crusade; its military wing came much later and was always a minor component, one shed after the fall of Acre, the last territory of the Kingdom of Jerusalem in Palestine, in 1291.
During the Second Scottish War for Independence (1332-1357), Lazarists of the Hospital of St. Giles were sympathetic to, if not outright supportive of (however relunctantly, mostly because the headquarters of their order in the Isles was at Burton Lazars in Leicestershire), the English cause, so David II seized the hospital and expelled the Lazarists in 1341.
In 1376, David II gave the hospital, its chapel, and its grounds to his son John, later to become Robert III in 1390. As such, he gave St. Giles to the Abbey of Scone (Augustinian Canons Regular) in 1393, but the transfer never completed. His son James I made it a hostel for pilgrims, also to serve as parish church for Edinburgh.
St. Giles’ achieved collegiate status in 1467, with the Town Council of Edinburgh holding its patronage (advowson), in much the same arrangement later followed for the Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas in Galway City. The town council met by that time in the Old Tolbooth, the pretorium in which the Scottish Parliament also met.
In 1470, St. Giles’ was exempted from the authority of the provincial See of St. Andrews (whose incumbent was elevated to archbishop in 1472). From 1633 to 1690, St. Giles’ served as the cathedral of the short-lived Diocese of Edinburgh, which was based on the former Archdeaconry of Lothian.
The college of St. Giles’ included a provost, a sacristan, a minister of the choir, a perpetual vicar for the parish (who was also subprovost), a parish clerk (under the sacristan), a beadle (under the minister of the choir), sixteen prebendary canons, four choristers, sixteen vicars stallari, and approximately seventy-two chantry chaplains.
Other collegiate churches in Scotland
To demonstrate other organizations of other, smaller, collegiate churches.
The Collegiate Church of St. Bega in Dunbar, the first collegiate church in all of Scotland established in 1342, was headed by a dean, with an archpriest as his deputy, plus eight prebendary canons. Already a plebania with several dependent chapels at the time of its incorporation, its patronage belonged to the Earl of March.
The Collegiate Church of St. John the Baptist in Corstorphine, a satellite village of Edinburgh, founded in 1429, was an example of a chantry college in Scotland, with a chapter headed by a provost including eight chantry chaplains and 2 choristers.
The Collegiate Church of St. Nicholas in Biggar, Lanarkshire, the last collegiate church in Scotland in 1545, included a provost, eight prebendary canons (one of whom was sacristan and one who was chaplain of the nuns), four choristers, six poor nuns, and eight bedesmen. In addition to their spiritual duties, the nuns ran an attached hospital.
Hospital collegiate churches
In the Middle Ages, all hospitals were Church-run, often by religious orders such as the Lazarites, the Augustinians, the Order of St. John, etc., but others had their own specially-dedicated monks, nuns, or other clerks.
The Royal Hospital of St. Katharine by the Tower of London as originally founded in 1147 was attached to nearby Augustinian Priory of the Holy Trinity. Its initial charter came from Queen Matilda, wife of Henry I. In 1273, it was rechartered by Queen Eleanor, first wife of Edward I, as an independent foundation with a chapter of a master, three priest-brothers, three sisters, six poor clerks, and ten bedeswomen, plus (later) two chantry chaplains. It was quite unique in that its founding charter gave equal voting rights to the sisters vis-à-vis the brothers. In 1442, it became designated a collegiate church, but without change of personnel billets, probably possible since none of its regular clergy were members of major orders.
Trinity College Church and Hospital, Edinburgh, was founded in
1460 by Mary of Guelders (Queen Consort of James II and Regent for James III)
on the basis of the Hospital of the Holy Trinity in Soltray (Soutra),
Midlothian, a collapsed Augustinian establishment. Its college included a provost (also rector
of Soltray), eight prebendaries (one of whom was master of the Hospital of the
Holy Trinity and another sacristan), two clerks or choristers, and a perpetual
vicar of Soltray. There were no vicars
choral as the provost and prebendaries were all required to be residential. The hospitallers on-site in Soltray included
both men and women.
