Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Carlisle / A Description of Its Fabric and A Brief History of the Episcopal See

by C. King Eley

CHAPTER IV

HISTORY OF THE SEE

Ecgfrith, king of Northumbria, drove the Britons away from what is now the northern part of Lancashire, and the Lake district, 670-675. Some years later he granted Carlisle with a circuit of fifteen miles to St. Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindisfarne (685-687), and his successors. In 883 Chester-le-street was chosen as the seat of the bishopric on account of the Northmen's raids on Lindisfarne, and in 995 the see was finally removed to Durham. Carlisle thus formed part of the bishopric of Durham until the death of Flambard in 1128. This bishop had greatly displeased Henry I., and in order to curb the power of the bishops of Durham he reduced the size of the diocese. Carlisle, owing to its distance from Durham, and because of the laxity of ecclesiastical supervision in the surrounding district, was chosen as the seat of a new bishopric, and, with about half of the present counties of Westmoreland and Cumberland, made independent of Durham. A further reason for the choice of Carlisle may have been the presence of the priory church begun by Walter, and finished by Henry I. William Rufus in his lifetime had definitely made the district of Carlisle part of the kingdom of England, and "Henry gave the special care of this last won possession of the English Crown to a prelate, whose name of Æthelwulf is sure proof of his English birth." Æthelwulf, the king's own confessor and prior of Carlisle, was accordingly consecrated bishop in 1133.

More than 400 years later, at the Reformation, the priory was dissolved (1547) and the cathedral re-dedicated to the Holy and Undivided Trinity.

In 1856, on the death of Bishop Percy, a large part of Westmoreland was transferred to Carlisle, and the diocese now embraces all Cumberland (except the parish of Alston), Westmoreland, and Lancashire north of the Sands.

Aldulf (or Æthelwulf) (1133-1155), Prior of St. Oswald's (Nostell); Prior of Carlisle; Confessor to Henry I. He was one of those who elected Henry Murdac, Abbot of Fountains Abbey, to the archbishopric of York, although the election displeased Stephen; and received him as his metropolitan when he came to Carlisle on a visit to David, king of Scotland, in 1148. He died in 1155.

Bernard (1203), Archbishop of Ragusa. For more than thirty years there was no appointment made to the see, perhaps because "the bishop's revenues were so small that no able and loyal person would accept thereof." It is not known how long Bernard held the bishopric.

Hugh of Beaulieu (1218-1223), Abbot of Beaulieu, Hampshire, was constituted Bishop of Carlisle by Gualo the Pope's legate. Henry III. had complained to Honorius III. that the canons had elected a bishop against his will and in opposition to the legate, and had sworn fealty to the king of Scotland, at that time the enemy alike of Henry and Honorius. So the canons were banished, and Hugh made bishop. He died at La Ferté, Burgundy, while returning from Rome.

Walter Mauclerk (1223-1246). This bishop was a favourite of King John, and was employed by him on many missions; for instance, in 1215 he was sent to Rome to support the king against the barons; and in 1228 he went on an embassy to Germany to treat for the king's marriage with Leopold of Austria's daughter. He was made treasurer of England by charter in 1232. The following year he was deprived of the office by the machinations of the Bishop of Winchester, and fined £100. Mauclerk set out to appeal to the Pope, but was stopped at Dover by command of the king. The Bishop of London, happening to witness this ill-treatment, excommunicated all those who were hindering Mauclerk, and, proceeding to the king at Hereford, renewed the sentence, in which he was supported by all the bishops there present. This had the effect of gaining permission for the release of Mauclerk, and leave to go to Flanders. In 1234 the bishop was restored to favour. He resigned the bishopric in 1246, and became a Dominican friar at Oxford. When this order of friars first came into England he had stood their friend, presenting them with land and mills. He died in 1248.

Sylvester de Everdon (1247-1255), Archdeacon of Chester; Lord High Chancellor. Sylvester was among the bishops who supported the Archbishop of Canterbury in his opposition to the king's encroachments upon the liberties of the Church, particularly in the matter of electing bishops. He was killed in 1255 by falling from his horse.