Bishops of Winchester (From 984 to 1632) |
The diocese of Winchester is one of the oldest and most important in England. During the middle ages it was one of the wealthiest English sees, and its bishops have included a number of politically prominent Englishmen.
In addition to those listed below, Saint Swithun was Bishop during the 9th century.
Office Holder |
|
Year
of appointment and termination |
Aelfheah II | 984-1006 | |
Cenwulf | 1006 | |
Aethelwold II | 1006-1012 | |
Aelfsige II | 1012-1032 | |
Aelfwine | 1032-1047 | |
Stigand | 1047-1070 | |
Walkelin | 1070-1098 | |
William Giffard | 1100-1129 | |
Henry of Blois | 1129-1171 | |
Richard of Ilchester | 1173-1188 | |
Godfrey de Lucy | 1189-1204 | |
Peter des Roches | 1205-1238 | |
William Raleigh | 1240-1250 | |
Aymer de Valence | 1250-1260 | |
John Gervais | 1262-1268 | |
Nicholas of Ely | 1268-1280 | |
John of Pontoise | 1282-1304 | |
Henry Woodlock | 1305-1316 | |
John Sandale | 1316-1319 | |
Rigaud of Assier | 1319-1323 | |
John de Stratford | 1323-1333 | |
Adam Orleton | 1333-1345 | |
William Edendon | 1345-1366 | |
William of Wykeham | 1366-1404 | |
Henry Beaufort | 1404-1447 | |
William Waynflete | a student in Wykeham's colleges at Winchester and Oxford, was first master of Winchester College, then made provost of Eton in 1443, and in 1447 succeeded Beaufort in the bishopric of Winchester. From 1449 to 1459, like his predecessor, he held the chancellor's seal, and during the Wars of the Roses was a firm adherent of Henry VI. His death took place in 1486. He founded Magdalen College, Oxford, and possibly influenced Henry in his endowment of King's College, Cambridge, and Eton. Waynfleete appears to have been a man of great piety and learning, and, as Milman observes, his actions, in advancing non-monastic institutions, reveal a sagacious fore-knowledge of the coming changes in the temporal power of the church, and were planned to maintain its supremacy in ways better adapted to the new spirit which soon after his death caused the downfall of the religios houses | 1447-1486 |
Peter Courtenay | 1487-1492 | |
Thomas Langton | 1493-1501 | |
Richard Fox | 1501-1528 | |
Thomas Wolsey | 1529-1530 | |
Stephen Gardiner | deprived of title | 1531-1551 |
John Ponet | once Cranmer's chaplain, held his see. As the author of "On Politique Power" (1558), where he pleads that "it is lawful to kill a tyrant," and uses some very immoderate language, Poynet may be remembered, but as an ecclesiastic he has left only a discreditable record in his short term of office. He died in 1556 in Germany, whither he had retired on the Roman Catholic revival | 1551-1553 |
Stephen Gardiner | restored to title | 1553-1555 |
John White | deprived of title | 1556-1559 |
Robert Horne | 1560-1580 | |
John Watson | formerly a Doctor of Medicine, only held the see for three years | 1580-1584 |
Thomas Cooper | 1584-1594 | |
William Wickham | 1594-1595 | |
William Day | 1595-1596 | |
Thomas Bilson | 1597-1616 | |
James Montague | 1616-1618 | |
Lancelot Andrews | 1618-1626 | |
Richard Neile | 1627-1632 |
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