Bishop Lee, who had failed in his efforts to save the cathedral church of Coventry, also exerted himself on behalf of the shrine of St. Chad, and succeeded so well that, though the shrine was rifled of its jewels and precious metals, they were granted to the uses of the cathedral, instead of finding their way into the coffers of the king. The ashes of the saint were stolen by one of the prebendaries. Soon after, the collegiate churches were confiscated, and the diocese, like other dioceses, found itself stripped of all its finest churches. The royal chapels of Stafford, Shrewsbury, Chester, Bridgenorth, Derby, and Penkridge all went; and throughout the country, for want of the endowments which had been confiscated, churches and chapels were falling into ruin.
Henry seems to have had ideas of using some of the money thus obtained for ecclesiastical purposes, but his own needs did not permit him to do much. The bishopric of Shrewsbury, which he had planned, came to nothing, though a suffragan with that title was appointed; but at Chester the abbey of St. Werburgh became a cathedral church when, in 1541, the see of Chester was founded, and Cheshire and Lancashire were taken from Lichfield to form the new diocese.
Richard Sampson (1543-1553), dean of the cathedral, succeeded Lee as bishop, and died early in Mary's reign. His successor, Ralph Bane (1554-1558), lighted the fires in the diocese, and many perished at his hands. He was a bishop after Mary's heart, and sat with Tonstall and Bonner in the inquisitions which disgraced the reign. He resigned on the advent of Elizabeth. And then another kind of persecution commenced; this time it was the Papists who suffered, and many were done to death in the diocese.
Following Bane came Thomas Bentham (1560-1579), and William Overton (1580-1609); then George Abbott was bishop in 1609, and in one year was promoted to Canterbury, where he preceded Laud, whose life-long opponent he was. Then came Richard Neill (1610-1614), who was dean of Westminster as well, and earned an ignoble reputation by burning a Papist named Wightman, at Lichfield. He was consecrated to Rochester in 1608, and translated successively to Lichfield, 1610; Lincoln, 1614; Durham, 1617; Winchester, 1628; and York, 1632. John Overall (1614-1618) wrote that part of the "Church Catechism" which explains the sacraments; he afterwards went to Norwich. Thomas Morton (1619-1632) came from Chester; he was one of the most learned bishops of the time, and a noted advocate of the Church of England principles.
Robert Wright (1632-1644) was a supporter of Laud; under him the cathedral service became again something like that of the time of Bishop Patteshull. He was one of the twelve bishops who were impeached by the Long Parliament in 1641, and, though an old man, pleaded his cause at the bar of the House of Commons. He was still bishop when the Civil War broke out; and during the famous siege of Lichfield he was shut up in his castle at Eccleshall, where he died while it was being defended against the Parliamentarians. His successor, Accepted Frewen, president of Magdalen College, Oxford, was appointed by the king, and consecrated in the chapel of his college; but, having neither cathedral, revenues, nor power, he retired into Kent, until in 1660 he became Archbishop of York.
John Hacket (1661-1671) was appointed to the see by Charles II., and decided that its title should be altered from "Coventry and Lichfield" to "Lichfield and Coventry"; partly, no doubt, because the cathedral was here, and partly because in the late troubles Lichfield had been loyal to the Crown, and Coventry had not. His great work was the restoration of the cathedral from its ruins, and the re-organisation of the diocese. He had had a distinguished record, and was one of the sub-committee in 1640 appointed to try and settle the vexed questions in the Church, and as such he made an eloquent speech at the bar of the House of Commons. Later he continued the use of the liturgy in his church of St. Andrew, Holborn, after it had been forbidden, and when the officer and soldiers were sent to arrest him and ordered him to desist on pain of instant death, he answered: "Soldier, I am doing my duty, do you do yours," and continued the service. Surely a man pre-eminently fitted for the work of re-organisation he was to do at Lichfield; and the king got the credit from the clergy of having the old "apostolic spirit of discerning," so greatly was he to their minds. He must have been a wit too, for, when the bishopric was offered to him, he remarked that he would rather that in future times people should ask why Dr Hacket was not a bishop, than why he was. He is also said to have entreated the gentleman who had declared that hell was paved with bishops' skulls to tread lightly over his.
Hacket's dean cannot have confirmed the clergy in their opinion of Charles, whose appointment to the post he had purchased; so bad was he that the bishop excommunicated him, and the sentence was even read in the cathedral while he was there, but he heeded it not. The chapter loathed him, but apparently the king's feelings were different, for at Hacket's death he was appointed to succeed him. So Thomas Wood (1671-1692) became bishop, and was the worst the see ever had: he lived much away from the diocese. Lancelot Addison, the father of the famous Joseph Addison, was dean in his time. William III., staying a night at the deanery, was attracted to the genial essayist early; and we may imagine that he must have been greatly influenced by that part of his life spent within the cathedral close.
The next bishop was William Lloyd (1692-1699): he came from St. Asaph, and went to Worcester. While bishop of St. Asaph he was one of the seven bishops who were sent to the Tower in 1688. John Hough (1699-1717) came next; he also had crossed the path of James II., for he had been elected President of Magdalen over the head of James's nominee, but James had proved the stronger at the time, and he was ejected, only to be reinstated by the frightened king soon after. At the Revolution he was made bishop of Oxford, whence he was translated hither; he afterwards refused the primacy.
The next two bishops—Edward Chandler (1717-1730) and Richard Smallbroke (1730-1749)—were distinguished defenders of Christianity against the infidelity of the time. Their controversial writings are numerous and well known.
The next bishop, Frederick Cornwallis (1749-1768), afterwards became Archbishop of Canterbury. Then came John Egerton (1768-1771), from Bangor, and went to Durham; Brownlow North (1771-1774), who was translated to Worcester, and thence to Winchester; Richard Hurd (1774-1781), who also went to Worcester; James Cornwallis (1781-1824), and Henry Ryder (1824-1836), who came from Gloucester. He succeeded in founding many new churches and immensely increasing the membership of the Church in the diocese. His successor, Samuel Butler (1836-1843), went on with this work. It was in his time that the archdeaconry of Coventry was taken from the diocese and added to Worcester. The title of the see now becomes Lichfield only; Coventry, which at one time held the premier place in the title, and then the second, now slips out altogether.