The bishops of Durham were invested with temporal and spiritual powers, exercising the royal prerogatives, such as paramount property in lands, and supreme jurisdiction, both civil and military, waging war, right of forfeiture, and levying taxes. These privileges were granted, owing to the remoteness of Durham from the metropolis and its proximity to the warlike kingdom of Scotland, and allowed of justice being administered at home, thereby doing away with the obligation of the inhabitants quitting their county, and leaving it exposed to hostile invasions.
They were also excused from military service across the Tees or Tayne, on the plea that they were specially charged to keep and defend the sacred body of St. Cuthbert. Those engaged on this service were called "Haliwer folc" (Holy War folk). But in the twenty-seventh year of the reign of Henry VIII. the power of the See was much curtailed; and eventually, on the death of Bishop Van Milvert in 1836, it was deprived of all temporal jurisdictions and privileges.
Around Carileph's fine Norman church numerous additions were made from time to time, namely:
The Galilee or Western Chapel, of the Transitional Period.
The gradual change from the Norman to the Pointed style, which took place between 1154 and 1189, during Henry II.'s reign.
The Eastern Transept, or "Nine Altars."
The Western Towers, built in "The Early English Style," which was a further development of "The Transitional."
It was carried out in the reigns of Richard I. to Henry III., 1189 to 1272. It is also known as "First Pointed" or "Lancet."