Ely: Bishops and Diocese, 1109-2009 (review)

This collection of essays celebrates the ninth centenary of the foundation of the Diocese of Ely. The editor and eight other contributors have examined in detail the lives and careers of a succession of fifty-four bishops, from Hervey to Anthony Russell, in chronological order. Peter Meadows has assembled some of the leading scholars among contemporary historians in the field of English ecclesiastical history, including Nicholas Vincent for the thirteenth century, Felicity Heal for the late-fifteenth to the mid-sixteenth century, Ian Atherton for the period between 1559 and 1667, and Frances Knight for the years 1864 to 1957. Other competent contributions in the medieval period are provided by Nicholas Karn (the twelfth century); Benjamin Thompson (the fourteenth century); Peter Meadows (the fifteenth century); and, in the post-Reformation era, by Evelyn Lord (1667 to 1748),Peter Meadows (1748 to 1864), and Brian Watchorn (1959 to 2009). As one of the smallest and also wealthiest among English dioceses through much of its history, Ely had the additional attraction of the presence of Cambridge and the University of Cambridge within its bounds. Furthermore, it was relatively close to London, the seat of government and the royal court. An impressive number of Ely bishops have been academics as well as graduates, some (like Hugh de Balsham) instrumental in the foundation of colleges and others serving as heads of colleges. Eight Ely bishops served as royal chancellors, Thomas Goodrich in 1552 being the last, and four went on to occupy the archiepiscopal see of Canterbury before 1500. Details of episcopal oversight of diocesan administration are to be found in the series of registers that provide the record of the bishops' official acts, of which the earliest surviving example is that of Simon de Montacute (1338-1445). The severance of ties with Rome and the papacy in the 1530s was followed by a lengthy period of tension and uncertainty during which the English church struggled to forge its own distinctive identity among the churches stemming from the European Reformation. In this development, as the authors make clear, Ely bishops played a significant role: the moderate Lancelot Andrewes (1609-19) advocating compliance with the sacramental rites and ceremony laid down by the Book of Common Prayer, whereas his successor, Nicholas Felton (1619-26), preached Calvinistic Puritanism, and Matthew Wren (1638-67) survived the Commonwealth years imprisoned in the Tower of London. Among more recent diocesans, Harold Browne (1864-73) is credited with drawing clergy and laity together to share responsibility for the maintenance and well-being of their parish church and surrounding community.

The final chapters deal with diocesan and parish activities and organizations, missionary endeavor at home and abroad, and the increasing financial problems brought on by contemporary economic constraints and the shortage of clerical manpower. Although the chapters succeed one another in chronological order, most of the individual chapters are thematically structured, the text constantly moving backward and forward in time with few references to dates. Even a diligent reader is apt to lose both the sequence of events and the underlying thread of continuity. This difficulty, which is aggravated by the sheer quantity of information provided, could have been remedied by some pruning of insignificant, if not irrelevant, details. It would have been helpful to have included for reference an appendix that included a list of the bishops together with the dates of their tenure of office. There is an impressive selection of both color and black-and-white plates, for which the editor is to be commended.