Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1541-1857. Vol XII, Exeter Diocese

The series Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae traces the personnel of the English cathedral clergy from the Norman Conquest of 1066 to the later nineteenth century. Cathedral positions were often used either to reward individuals of outstanding merit or to support important servants of church and/or state. Accordingly, many of the individuals catalogued here were significant in the leadership and administration of church and state, were active members of the universities, were prominent in authorship and scholarly endeavour, and so forth. The Fasti enables users to trace networks of patronage, competition and collegiality among these most prominent members of the English church. It is also useful in interpreting historical documents. For example: In an archive, one might find an undated letter from the archdeacon of this place to the dean of that cathedral, obliquely referring to comments made by a certain bishop in the House of Lords. By looking up the individuals concerned, the range of dates when the individuals held these offices enables approximate dating of the letter and gives the document, perhaps otherwise uninterpretable, enough historical context that it can contribute to our knowledge. This volume follows the clergy of Exeter Cathedral from the Reformation to the later nineteenth century, and is based on over 50,000 pages of unpublished manuscript material.