Who were the Prince Bishops Age s 11

Who were the Prince Bishops? Age s 11 -1 8 Often referred to as the Land of the Prince Bishops, County Durham was, for almost 800 years, home to these unique and influential figures. The origins of the Prince Bishops can be traced back to William the Conqueror and the aftermath of the Battle of Hastings in 1066. While the south of England was brought under Norman control relatively quickly, this was considerably more difficult in the North, due in part to its distance from William’s base in the South East, as well as the hostile attitude of the local people. Northern Rebellion In 1068, William provided the excuse the people of the North needed to rebel. Needing to repay his supporters for their part in the conquest, he levied a land tax from the local people, causing them to rise against him. While this attempt was initially unsuccessful, William was determined to bring the North under control. In 1069, a Norman noble named Robert de Comines led a group of 700 knights into the city of Durham to crush the rebels. However, most of the people of Durham (including the rebel leaders) had heard that the Normans were coming and had fled into the hills. Those that remained were imprisoned or executed and the Norman knights decided to spend the night in the now nearly empty city. Confident in their victory, William’s forces did not expect the people of Durham to return. The residents’ decision to flee Durham had been a trap: they returned in the night, killing the commander Robert de Comines and defeating his Norman knights, forcing them to retreat. Spurred on by their victory, the rebels then marched as far as York, before they were stopped by bad weather. Although this rebellion was unsuccessful, it clearly had a profound effect on William the Conqueror, as he took drastic action in the hopes of gaining control of the North once and for all. The Harrying of the North Marching through County Durham, William’s army took their revenge, destroying everyone and everything in their path. Villagers were killed, houses were burned down and crops and livestock were taken or destroyed, along with the tools needed to replant them. Those who had survived, hiding in the hills while William and his army marched through the county, were then subject to famine and disease during the winter of 1069 -1070, caused by the lack of food and the number of bodies lying in the open. Historians estimate that this event, known today as the “Harrying of the North”, killed around 75% of the population of Yorkshire and the North East. One of our best historical sources for the Harrying of the North is Orderic Vitalis, a monk

"Nowhere else had William shown such cruelty. Shamefully he succumbed to this vice, for he made no effort to restrain his fury and punished the innocent and the guilty. In his anger he commanded that all crops and herds, chattels and food of every kind should be bought together and burned to ashes with consuming fire, so that the whole region north of the Humber might be stripped of all means of sustenance. In consequence so serious a scarcity was felt in England, and so terrible a famine fell upon the humble and defenceless populace, that more than 100, 000 Christian folk of both sexes, young and old alike, perished of hunger". c. 1120 s, Orderic Vitalis Following the Harrying, William the Conqueror appointed the first non-English Bishop of Durham, William Walcher in 1071. There had been Saxon Bishops of Durham since around the year 1000, who had acted as Church leaders in much the same way as modern bishops do today. The appointment of William Walcher coincided with the death of Æthelwine, the last Saxon Bishop of Durham. Æthelwine had been outlawed after the death of Robert de Comines, who was sheltering in Bishop Æthelwine’s house when he was killed. The first “Prince Bishop” William Walcher is generally thought to be the first of Durham’s “Prince Bishops”, as he was allowed to buy a position as Earl of Northumberland after the Saxon Earl, a man named Waltheof, was beheaded for rebelling against the king in 1075. This is the first time that a man in the role of Bishop also held political and military (or secular) powers, as well as religious authority. In fact, once he became Earl of Northumberland as well as Bishop of Durham, William Walcher was essentially the only person in control of the North East, reporting directly to the King. Bishop Walcher was able to govern relatively effectively for a short while following this appointment, until he was killed by Northumbrian rebels 1080. While Bishop Walcher had initially maintained relations with the people of Northumberland since becoming Earl, his refusal to help them retaliate after they were raided by the king of Scotland caused them to rebel. He was killed while attempting to make peace with them in a church in “Gotes Head” (modern-day Gateshead); the rebels set fire to the church and massacred Bishop Walcher and his knights as they tried to escape. Although the next Bishop of Durham, William of St Calais, did not become the Earl of Northumberland after Bishop Walcher’s death, he seems to have retained much of his secular authority, likely in an attempt to prevent further rebellions and increase the King’s authority over the local population. In 1091, it appears that William the Conqueror’s son, the new King William Rufus, agreed that the Bishop of Durham would retain some of the Earl of Northumberland’s powers, while there is also evidence that the Bishops of Durham were also allowed to mint coins from around this time. Interestingly, the Medieval Chronicler Symeon of Durham tells us William of St Calais was chosen to become Bishop of Durham because he had experience “in the management of areas of difficulty”. As an experienced and trusted royal administrator, this suggests the king clearly saw the position of Bishop as Durham as

The Prince Bishops’ Role and Legacy During the medieval period, no one would have referred to the Bishop of Durham as a “Prince Bishop”. The term was never used at the time and the position was never formally created. Instead, the powers given to William Walcher seem simply to have been used as a model for those who followed him, with the position gradually becoming more “official” over the centuries. In tandem with this, the Prince Bishops also accumulated wealth and property. By 1128, this included a manor house in Bishop Auckland, which eventually became the Bishops’ main residence. In 1308, this was transformed into “Auckland Castle” due to the addition of fortifications by Bishop Antony Bek. Further additions and remodels ordered by subsequent bishops (as well as an unfortunate incident in which the medieval chapel was blown up during the Interregnum period after the English Civil War), eventually transformed the building and its grounds into the site we recognise today. The power of the Prince Bishops was at its height during the medieval period; at this time, they had a wide range of rights and responsibilities. These included: • • The ability to mint coins. This was a royal privilege, granted by the king to William St Calais. The Durham Mint remained in existence until 1541. The authority to levy taxes from the local people The power hold their own parliaments and make laws The right to raise armies in order to protect the North In total, the role of the Prince Bishop existed for almost 800 years, until the death of Bishop Van Mildert in 1836. For much of their history, the Prince Bishops of Durham were some of the most powerful people in the land, often second only to the monarch themselves. By the nineteenth century however, social and political changes meant that the position was no longer required. As a result, the power of the Prince Bishops was removed by the Durham (County Palatine) Act of Parliament (1836). Nevertheless, the Bishops of Durham have continued to maintain their role in the Church of England, with the current Bishop still being the third most important figure in the church today. While the modern Bishop of Durham no longer lives in Auckland Castle, he still has offices in the building, continuing their long legacy.

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