HE ii. 3, etc. N. P. Brooks, The Early History of the Church of Canterbury: Christ Church from 597 to 1066 (Leicester, 1984). Richard Gem, ed., St Augustine's Abbey Canterbury (London, 1997). Richard Gameson, Saint Augustine of Canterbury (Canterbury, 1997).

See of the Magonsætan. Location of the see in the seventh and eighth centuries is uncertain; at Hereford or at ?Ledbury, in Herefordshire. In 731 Bede described Bishop Walhstod as 'bishop of the people who dwell west of the river Severn' (HE v.23). Putta and his successors are designated bishops 'Uuestor E[lih]' in the episcopal lists; Wulfheard describes himself as bishop of the church of Hereford (EP 4). Cult of St Æthelberht at Hereford. William of Malmesbury, GP, pp. 00-0. Sims-Williams, Religion and Literature , pp. 50-1 (cult of Æthelberht); Barlow, English Church 1000-1066 , pp. 217-18; Hereford 1079-1234 , ed. Julia Barrow, English Episcopal Acta 7 (Oxford, 1993).

MERCIANS AND MIDDLE ANGLES <Complex history of episcopal care for the 'Mercian' people. Following the death of Penda (655), King Oswiu took charge of his kingdom (655-8): Diuma was consecrated 'bishop of the Middle Angles and of the Mercians', by Bishop Finan [of Lindisfarne], 'since a shortage of bishops made it necessary for one bishop to be set over both peoples' (HE iii.21). Succeeded by Ceollach. Trumhere. Bede, HE iii.24: 'The first bishop in the kingdom of the Mercians, and of Lindsey and of the Middle Angles, was Diuma', then Ceollach, then Trumhere; bishops during the reign of King Wulfhere were Trumhere, Jaruman, Chad, and Winfrith. Location of the earliest bishops. Establishment of Chad at Lichfield (VSWilfridi, ch. 15; HE iv.3). Winfrith, deposed by Archbishop Theodore (HE iv.3, 6). Seaxwulf (HE iv.6).> <The compiler of EpLists, in the late eighth or early ninth century, had a particular notion of the history of the see. After the death of Bishop Seaxwulf (c. 690), the diocese of the Mercians was divided into five sees: Lichfield (for the Mercians); Leicester (for the Middle Angles); an unknown location (for Lindsey); Worcester (for the Hwicce); and Hereford (for the 'westerners', i. e. the Magonsætan). The first bishop of Lichfield in this dispensation was Headda. In truth, elements of the scheme may have been established before Seaxwulf's death.> <EpLists (18).> <For the establishment of the Mercian bishoprics; see Haddan and Stubbs, iii.127-30; S. Keynes, The Councils of Clofesho , p. 32, n, 134.

For earliest bishops, see under the Mercians. EpLists (13). Bailey, on church in Leicestershire and its region. Searle, pp. 142-5. D. P. Kirby, 'The Saxon Bishops of Leicester, Lindsey (Syddensis) and Dorchester', Leics. Archaeol. and Hist. Soc. Trans . 41 (1965-6), 1-8. S. Keynes, The Councils of Clofesho (1994), p. 32, n. 134.

For the earliest bishops of the Mercians, see under Mercians. EpLists (14). An episcopal see was established at Lichfield by Chad (HE iv.3). Searle, pp. 128&endash;41.

Naturally 'Mercian', but for a short while under Northumbrian control (VSWilfridi, ch. 20; HE iv.12), before reversion to Mercia (HE iv.21). For earliest bishops, see under Mercians, and Lichfield. Eadhæd was Northumbrian, and retired to Ripon when Lindsey was recovered by King Æthelred of Mercia. Eadhæd, Æthelwine, Edgar and Cyneberht are named by Bede, HE iv.12. Alwig, Aldwulf, Ceolwulf and Eadwulf are added in EpLists1 [Vesp. B. vi], and Beorhtred is added to them in EpLists2 [CCCC 183]. In some later EpLists, Leofwine, Ælfnoth and Æscwig (bishops of Dorchester), et al., are regarded as bishops of Lindsey. Ref.: S. Foot, in book on Lindsey.

A South Saxon called Damian became bishop of Rochester c. 660 (HE iii.20). Eappa at Selsey in time of plague (HE iv.14). In the earliest (ninth-century) recension of episcopal lists, the first bishop of Selsey was Eadberht (cf. Bede); Wilfrid was regarded as the first bishop of Selsey in the tenth-century 'Dunstan' recension, and its progeny. The 'Dunstan' recension passed from Guthheard (860s) to Alfred (940s), and from Alfred to Eadhelm (960s) and Æthelgar (980s); the gap in the coverage of the late ninth and early tenth centuries may reflect no more than a failure of information, but the apparent 'omission' of Brihthelm (mid-950s) is conceivably more significant. The 'Winchester' version of the 'Dunstan' recension, represented by CCCC 173, Otho B. xi, and Stowe 944, inserted Beornheah and Wulfhun between Guthheard and Alfred.

Located at Ramsbury. Bishops styled 'Coruinensis ecclesiae episcopus' to 993; 'Wiltunensis ecclesiae episcopus' after 993. Keynes, Diplomas of King Æthelred , p. 119 n. 115. Barlow, English Church , pp. 220-1.

HE v. 18; Goscelin, Vita S. Wlsini (ed. Talbot); WM, GP ii.79-82 (ed. Hamilton, pp. 175-81). Episcopal list (Aldhelm to Æthelric) added in the 'Pontifical of St Dunstan' ('Sherborne Pontifical'). D. P. Kirby, 'Notes on the Saxon Bishops of Sherborne', Proc. of the Dorset Nat. Hist. and Archaeol. Soc . 87 (1965), 213-22; Barlow, English Church 1000-1066 , pp. 222-5; Charters of Sherborne , ed. M. A. O'Donovan, Anglo-Saxon Charters 3 (Oxford, 1988).

The diocese of Wells was created c. 909, when, following the death of Bishop Asser, the former diocese of Sherborne was divided into three parts: Sherborne (for Dorset), Wells (for Somerset), and Crediton (for Devon). <See J. Armitage Robinson, 'The Saxon Bishops of Wells'; Bath and Wells 1061-1205 , ed. F.M.R. Ramsey, English Episcopal Acta 10 (Oxford, 1995); etc.> For the garbled episcopal list in BL Stowe 944, f. 17r, see The Liber Vitae of the New Minster and Hyde Abbey, Winchester , ed. S. Keynes, EEMF 26 (Copenhagen, 1966), pp. 85-6. <Episcopal list in CCCC 140.