Bishops of St. Davids

(From 915 to 1653)

Office

Holder

 

Year of
appointment and termination
Samson In 915, on account of a pestilential disease which then raged here, withdrew to Dol in Brittany, taking his pall with him, where he died; and his successors in the see, either for want of the pall, or for some other reason, were deprived of the title of Archbishop, although they still exercised the power of consecrating the Welsh bishops of Llandaf, St. Asaph, and Bangor, until the reign of Henry I., when a Norman ecclesiastic, named Bernard, not chosen by the Welsh clergy  
     
Bernard    

David Fitzgerlad De Windsor

b. ABT 1099 - d. 1176

 
Peter De Leia Prior to the preferment of this prelate, the chapter had elected Giraldus Cambrensis, as the successor of his uncle, Bishop Fitzgerald; but king Henry II, unwilling to elevate to that dignity a man of such influence and talents, refused to ratify their choice. The same body, however, on the death of Peter de Leia, again placed Giraldus at the head of a list of four persons, whom they nominated; but his election not being confirmed, the see remained vacant for six years, whilst Giraldus was endeavouring to procure his consecration to it.  
six years vacancy    
Geoffrey De Henelawe prior of Llanthony  
Iorwerth (Gervase)    
Anselm    
     
Richard De Carew d. 1280  
Thomas De Beke d. 20 Apr 1293  
David Martin    
Henry Gower Lord Chancellor of England  
John Thoresby

Lord Chancellor of England

Archbishop of York 1352 - 1373

 
Adam Houghton

Lord Chancellor of England 1377 - 1379

 
John Gilbert Lord Treasurer 1389  
Guy De Mohun Lord Treasurer 1398 and 1402  
Henry Chicheley Archbishop of Canterbury 1414 - 1443  
     
John De La Bere   1447 - 1460
     
Thomas Langton

Bishop of Salisbury 1485 - 1494

Bishop of Winchester 1493-1501

 - 1485
Hugh Pavy   1485 - 1496
John Morgan   1496 - 1504
Robert Sherborn   1505 - 1508
Edward Vaughan eighty second Bishop of St. David's, is recorded as the last who contributed materially to the embellishment of the cathedral: he built a most elegant chapel between that of St. Mary and the choir, which he dedicated to the Holy Trinity; and adorned various parts of the building with appropriate embellishments: he also erected St. Justinian's chapel, about a mile from the city, and, dying about the year 1521, was interred in his own chapel, where was formerly a brass plate inscribed to his memory 1509 - 1523
Richard Rawlings   1523 - 1536
William Barlow Bishop of St Asaph's 1536. Presided over the see thirteen years, during which, in order, as it is said, (by Brown Willis,) successively to provide for his five daughters, who were married to five bishops, he greatly impoverished it, even taking off the roof of the episcopal palace, for the sake of the lead, and thus occasioning so much damage to that magnificent structure, as to require the revenue of the bishoprick for twelve years to repair; but this object was never attempted, so that it now presents a vast pile of picturesque ruins 1536 - 1548
Robert Ferrar   1548 - 1554
Henry Morgan deprived of title 1554 - 1559
Thomas Young driven into exile in Germany, during the persecutions in the reign of Mary, but finally was made Archbishop of York  
Richard Davies Bishop of St David's 1560 - 1561 1561 - 1581
Richard Milbourne  translated to the see of Carlisle in 1621, and was accounted one of the most learned, pious, benevolent, and public spirited persons of the age 1581 - 1621
William Laud    
Roger Mainwaring   1644 - 1653
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