LINCOLN, ANCIENT SEE OF

The largest and most populous diocese in medieval England, extending from the Humber to the Thames. An old Roman town, it may well have had a bishop in the 4th century; St. paulinus of york built a stone church and consecrated Honorius Archbishop of Canterbury there in 627. It became a see in 1072 when Remigius, Bishop of Dorchester-on-Thames, moved his headquarters to Lincoln in obedience to the policy of william i and lanfranc, of erecting sees in fortified towns. In 1086 Remigius began the cathedral, superbly situated on a steep hill; it was added to by Alexander the Magnificent (1123–48) and rebuilt by St. Hugh and his successors. It is probably the finest example of 13th-century Gothic architecture in England. Lincoln was often fortunate in her bishops. St. Hugh's example inspired a series of reforming bishops such as Hugh of Wells (1209–35), robert grosseteste, the pastoral canonist Oliver Sutton (1280–99), and the saintly John Dalderby (1300–20), while Richard Fleming (1420–31) and William atwater were among the most devoted bishops of their time. John longland was confessor to Henry VIII and advised him to seek a divorce from catharine of aragon. Religious houses in the diocese included Peterborough, Bardney, and Crowland (Benedictine); the exempt abbey of St. Albans; Louth Park and Revesby (Cistercian); and several gilbertine nunneries. Besides the cult of St. Hugh, whose shrine was in the "Angel Choir," there were popular cults of Remigius, Grosseteste, Dalderby, and "Little St. Hugh," none of whom were ever officially canonized. At the Reformation, the territory of the old diocese was divided among Lincoln, Oxford, and Peterborough.

Bibliography: Registers of: Hugh of Wells (Eng. Publications of the Lincoln Record Society 3, 6, 9; Lincoln 1912–14); Oliver Sutton (ibid. 397; Hereford 1948–); Richard of Gravesend (ibid. 20; Horncastle 1920); R. Grosseteste and H. Lexington (ibid. 11; Lincoln 1914). c.w. foster and k. major, The Registrum Antiquissimum of the Cathedral Church of Lincoln (ibid. 27– ; 1931–). a. h. thompson, ed., Visitations of Religious Houses in the Diocese of Lincoln, 1420–1449 3 v. (ibid. 7, 14, 21; Horncastle 1914–29). j. h. srawley, The Story of Lincoln Minster (London 1933). r.m. woolley, comp., Catalogue of the Manuscripts of Lincoln Cathedral Chapter Library (London 1927). k. major, "The Finances of the Dean and Chapter of Lincoln," Journal of Ecclesiatical History 5 (1954) 149–167. k. major, ed., Lincoln Minster Pamphlets (Lincoln 1948–). a. schmitt, Lexikon für Theologie und Kirche, ed. j. hofer and k. rahner (Freiburg 1957–65) 6:1061–62.

[h. farmer]