Written by Helen Watt, Honorary Fellow, Department of History, University of York
On Wednesday, 25 March 2026, the enthronement or installation of the new Archbishop of Canterbury will take place in Canterbury Cathedral. This will be both a solemn and truly momentous ceremony, as the Rt Rev. and Rt Hon. Dame Sarah Mullally will be the first woman to serve as archbishop, and the 106th incumbent since St Augustine came from Rome to England in 597 as the very first Archbishop of Canterbury. In the past, the ceremony was known as the enthronement; the new archbishop will first be enthroned or installed in the Cathedral Chair (or Cathedra) as the Diocesan Bishop of the See of Canterbury, as the leading diocese in the English church, then in the Chair of St Augustine (or St Augustine Cathedra) as Primate of All England or leading cleric. The archbishop of Canterbury will swear allegiance to the King, Head of the Church of England, and is one of two archbishops in England, Canterbury and York, each with jurisdiction over their Province, consisting of several dioceses, in turn administered by a bishop. The archbishop of Canterbury takes precedence over the archbishop of York and also leads the Anglican church across the world.
Present-day enthronement or installation
This ceremony follows a lengthy process of selection and approval of Dame Sarah’s candidacy, now involving nomination by theCrown Nominations Commission and submission of her name as nominated candidate by the Prime Minister to the King, for his approval. In legal terms, the process for the appointment of an archbishop is very similar to the acts for confirmation of election of a bishop (see below). The Crown normally appoints a bishop or archbishop by congé d’élire, a licence to the dean and chapter of the relevant cathedral to elect a new bishop or archbishop, and letters missive, a document containing the name of the individual to be elected. Following receipt of which, the dean and chapter elect the new bishop within a certain time and certify the election to the Crown. Confirmation and investiture will then take place, also consecration, but this last step does not usually apply to an archbishop, as they will generally already be a consecrated bishop. The Crown then notifies the appointment of the new archbishop to the other archbishop (of York) and two or four bishops within or without the realm. The final stages of the appointment, consisting of the enthronement (as opposed to the installation of a bishop), restoration of the temporalities, the secular lands and possessions pertaining to the see, and homage to the sovereign closely match those of the final stages of appointment of a bishop. The one proviso that is different is that a new archbishop must be at least thirty years old.[1]
Full details of all stages in the present-day procedure have been posted on the website of the Church of England. After her nomination was confirmed, Dame Sarah’s formal election as archbishop took place on 25 November 2025 at Canterbury Cathedral, and this event is described on that institution’s website. Confirmation of the election followed on Wednesday, 28 January 2026 at St Paul’s Cathedral in London with a special service held there. As might be expected, news of the forthcoming installation, a final stage in her appointment, has also appeared on the website of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Where can we find details of past enthronements?
Therefore, in our times, it is very easy to discover all the steps leading up to the day on which an archbishop-elect takes on their new role. Despite access to all this information, where would we find similar details of past enthronements, as they were known historically? The answer is that we would have to search the written registers of the archbishop in the first place. In the case of the archbishops of York, this process has been greatly facilitated by the conservation and digitisation of the original parchment registers from 1225 to 1650, during the ‘Archbishops’ Registers Revealed’ Project, generously funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The York Registers are held in the diocesan archive, now at the Borthwick Institute for Archives, at the University of York. High-quality images of the original manuscripts and a searchable database of entries can be accessed here: York Archbishops’ Registers. Following this major project two further projects have indexed the registers between 1304 and 1405, and between 1576-1650, funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council and Marc Fitch Fund respectively.
Can we find details of the enthronement of Archbishops in the York Archbishops’ Registers, or elsewhere, and if so, what do they tell us?
The table below shows the scanty results of searching the indexed York archbishops’ registers for the term ‘enthronement’, with brief details of entries. Out of the eight serving fourteenth-century archbishops registers, there are only general references to the enthronement of four, and none relating to the actual event itself, so that from 1373 onwards, there is no mention of the ceremony.
| Archbishop | Reference | Date | Notes |
| Greenfield, Mr William de | Reg. 7, fol. 279r, entry 1 | 1306, 15 Jul. | Marginal note reads: ‘after the enthronement’ |
| Greenfield, Mr William de | Reg. 7, fol. 64v, entry 1 | 1306, 18 Aug. | Entry mentions provisions for the archbishop’s enthronement |
| Melton, William de | Reg. 9A, fol. 7r, entry 4 | 1318, 22 Jan. | Invitation to celebrate the enthronement |
| Melton, William de | Reg. 9A, fol. 7r, entry 5 | 1318, 22 Jan. [inferred] | Invitation to celebrate the enthronement |
| Melton, William de | Reg. 9A, fol. 7r, entry 2 | 1318, 22 Jan. | Invitation to celebrate the enthronement |
| Melton, William de | Reg. 9A, fol. 7r, entry 3 | 1318, 22 Jan. | Invitation to celebrate the enthronement |
| Melton, William de | Reg. 9A, fol. 7r, entry 6 | 1318, 27 Jan. | Letter to assist in preparations for the enthronement |
| Zouche, Mr William de la | Reg. 10, fol. 267v, entry 1 | 1342, 17 Nov. | Entry mentions works necessary for the enthronement |
| Zouche, Mr William de la | Reg. 10, fol. 267v, entry 6 | 1343, 9 Feb. | Entry mentions the archbishop’s recent enthronement |
| Thoresby, Mr John de | Reg. 11, fol. 12r, entry 7 | 1353, 8 Oct. | Entry records event after the archbishop’s enthronement |
| Neville, Mr Alexander de | – | – | |
| Arundell, Mr Thomas | – | – | |
| Waldby, Mr Robert de | – | – | Dead by 6 Jan. 1398 |
| Skirlaw, Mr Walter de | – | – | Election set aside by translation of Scrope from see of Coventry and Lichfield |
| Scrope, Mr Richard de | – | – |
If there is so little evidence, where do we look for more information?
For the archbishops of York, a further search could be made in the Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1300-1541[2] resulting in the details below.
| Name | Dates | Date of Enthronement | Source | Notes |
| Greenfield, Mr William de | 1304-1315 | – | – | |
| Melton, William de | 1316-1340 | 1318, 26 Feb. | II, pp. 415-16 | |
| Zouche, Mr William de la | 1340-1352 | 1342, 8 Dec. | BL, Cotton Vittellius, A.ii, ff. 112, 122 | |
| Thoresby, Mr John de | 1352-1373 | 1354, 8 Sep. | II, p. 420 | In error for 1353? (see the table above). |
| Neville, Mr Alexander de | 1373-1388 | 1374, 18 Dec. | II, p. 422 | |
| Arundell, Mr Thomas | 1388-1396 | 1389, 25 Mar. | II, p. 425 | |
| Waldby, Mr Robert de | 1396-1397 or 8 | – | – | Dead by 6 Jan. 1398 |
| Skirlaw, Mr Walter de | [1398] | – | – | Election set aside by translation of Scrope from see of Coventry and Lichfield |
| Scrope, Mr Richard de | 1398-1405 | – | – |
The main source for the new information is taken from The Historians of the Church of York and its Archbishops, ed. J. Raine, Rolls Series 72, 3 vols (London, 1879-1894), Volume II, relying on details from the following chronicles:
- Chronica Pontificum Ecclesiae Eboracensis, Pars Prima, Auctore Anonymo, p. 312.
- Chronica Pontificum Ecclesiae Eboracensis, Pars Secunda, Continuatio Chronicae de Vitis Archiepiscoporum Eboracensium per Thomam Stubbs, Dominicanum, ut fertur, Conscripta, p. 388.
- Chronica Pontificum Ecclesiae Eboracensis, Pars Tertia, Auctore Anonymo, p. 422.
There are now entries for two more of the archbishops although the date given for Thoresby may be in error, as shown by an entry in the York Archbishops’ Registers noted above. Despite providing exact dates of enthronement for five archbishops, details for others in the early and late fourteenth century are still wanting.
Can we compare such details with similar information from Fasti for the enthronement of Archbishops of Canterbury?[3]
The table below shows dates of enthronements for six of the ten fourteenth-century serving archbishops, but no other sources except the registers are given. Again, entries are wanting for the later fourteenth century.
| Name | Dates | Date of Enthronement | Source | Notes |
| Reynolds, Walter | 1313-1327 | 1314, 17 Feb. | Reg. Reynolds, f. 4 | |
| Meopham, Mr Simon de | 1327-1333 | 1329, 22 Jan. | Reg. Q., f. 134 | |
| Stratford, Mr John de | 1333-1348 | 1332, 9 Oct. | Reg. Q., f. 201 | |
| Bradwardine, Mr Thomas de | [1348] | – | – | Elected, but set aside by provision of Offord |
| Offord, Mr John de | 1348-1349 | – | – | Died before consecration |
| Bradwardine, Mr Thomas de | 1349 | – | – | Died a few days after restoration of temporalities |
| Islip, Mr Simon | 1349-1366 | – | – | |
| Edington, William de | [1366] | – | – | Refused archbishopric |
| Langham, Simon | 1366-1368 | 1367, 25 Mar. | Reg. Langham, p. 115 | |
| Wittlesey, Mr William | 1368-1374 | 1369, 17 Jun. | Reg. Wittlesey, f. 76 | |
| Langham, Simon | [1374] | – | – | Second election |
| Sudbury, Mr Simon de | 1375-1381 | 1376, 6 Apr. | Reg. Sudbury, f. 13 | |
| Courtenay, Mr. William | 1381-1396 | – | – | |
| Arundell, Mr Thomas | 1396-1397 | – | – | |
| Walden, Roger de | 1397-1399 | – | – | |
| Arundell, Mr Thomas | 1399-1414 | – | – | Archbishopric restored |
The Pallium
One explanation for the scarcity of recording of enthronement of an archbishop might be that medieval archbishops received their authority directly from the Pope, symbolised in the pallium, a Y-shaped ecclesiastical vestment, still seen in the coat of arms of the diocese of Canterbury. The archbishop’s authority was not confirmed until he had received this vestment from the Pope and professed obedience to him. Therefore, it might be possible that consistent recording of the bestowal of the pallium was of great importance and perhaps more important that consistent recording of the enthronement.
To test this theory, a further search of the registers and the Fasti was made and the results for the archbishops of York appear below.
| Name | Date | Source | Notes |
| Greenfield, Mr William de | 1304, 23 Dec. | CCR 1302-1307, p. 313 | Royal permission for archbishop-elect to go to Roman Curia |
| Greenfield, Mr William de | 1306, 8 Feb. | CPL II 7 | Papal confirmation of election |
| Melton, William de | 1317, 28 Sep. | CPL II 165 | Papal confirmation of election |
| Melton, William de | n.d., ?1317 | CPL II 165 | Pallium assigned |
| Zouche, Mr William de la | – | – | |
| Thoresby, Mr John de | 1352, Nov. | Reg. 11, fol. 1v, entry 1 | Notarial instrument for the proctors seeking the pallium from the Pope |
| Thoresby, Mr John de | 1352, 5/8 Nov. | CPL III 469, Reg. 11, fol. 1b | Pallium despatched |
| Thoresby, Mr John de | 1352, 9 Nov. | Reg. 11, fol. 2r, entry 2 | Letter excusing himself from going to receive pallium in person, sending proctors |
| Thoresby, Mr John de | 1353, 4 Jan. | Reg. 11, fol. 5Ar, entry 1 | Papal confirmation to two bishops of the grant of the pallium; return of proctor with the pallium; mandate to the bishops to receive the oath of the archbishop-elect to the Roman see |
| Thoresby, Mr John de | 1353, 29 Mar. | R.S.A. | Pallium received |
| Neville, Mr Alexander de | 1374, 10 Oct. | Reg. 12, fol. 1b | Pallium despatched and bestowed through the Bishop of Durham [and Bishop of Rochester] |
| Neville, Mr Alexander de | 1374 | Reg. 12, fol. 1v, entry 1 | Certification to the Pope of receipt of the pallium, following Papal bull dated 12 Jul 1374, and oath sworn to Roman See |
| Arundell, Mr Thomas | n.d, 1388 or 1389 | II, p. 425 | Pallium bestowed at Cambridge |
| Waldby, Mr Robert de | 1396, 6 Oct. | CPL IV 543 | Pallium despatched |
| Skirlaw, Mr Walter de | – | – | |
| Scrope, Mr Richard de | 1398, 22 Mar. | CPL V 169, II, p. 429 | Pallium assigned, to be bestowed at the end of June 1398 |
Sources:
- CCR Calendar of Close Rolls
- CPL Calendar of Papal Letters
- R.S.A. Stubbs, W., Registrum Sacrum Anglicanum (Oxford, 1897)
It is striking that these results show that in the fourteenth century, there are entries relating to the pallium or papal authority for all the archbishops of York except for one and four entries relating to pallium in the registers alongside nine from other sources.
The results for York may now be compared with a similar search of entries in Fasti for the archbishops of Canterbury:
| Name | Dates | Date | Source | Notes |
| Reynolds, Walter | 1313-1327 | n.d. [1314] | R.S.A. | Pallium bestowed through Bishop of Worcester |
| Meopham, Mr Simon de | 1327-1333 | 1328, 6 Jan. | CPR 1327-1330, p. 199 | Licence to go to Roman Curia |
| Meopham, Mr Simon de | 1327-1333 | 1328, between June/Sept. | Reg. Q, fol. 127b | Pallium bestowed |
| Stratford, Mr John de | 1333-1348 | 1334, 23 Apr. | R.S.A. | Pallium bestowed through Bishop of Rochester |
| Bradwardine, Mr Thomas de | [1348] | – | – | Elected, but set aside by provision of Offord |
| Offord, Mr John de | 1348-1349 | – | – | Died before consecration |
| Bradwardine, Mr Thomas de | 1349 | – | – | Died a few days after restoration of temporalities |
| Islip, Mr Simon | 1349-1366 | 1350, 25 Mar. | R.S.A. | Pallium bestowed through Bishop of Norwich |
| Edington, William de | [1366] | Refused archbishopric | ||
| Langham, Simon | 1366-1368 | 1366, 4 Nov. | Reg. Langham, pp. 112-13 | Pallium bestowed through Bishop of Bath and Wells |
| Wittlesey, Mr William | 1368-1374 | 1369, 19 Apr. | Reg. Wittlesey, fol. 7b | Pallium bestowed through Bishop of Winchester |
| Langham, Simon | [1374] | – | – | Second election |
| Sudbury, Mr Simon de | 1375-1381 | – | – | |
| Courtenay, Mr William | 1381-1396 | 1382, 6 May | Reg. Courtenay, fol. 9b | Pallium bestowed |
| Arundell, Mr Thomas | 1396-1397 | 1397, 10 Feb. | R.S.A. | Pallium bestowed |
| Walden, Roger de | 1397-1399 | 1398, 17 Feb. | R.S.A. | Pallium bestowed |
| Arundell, Mr Thomas | 1399-1414 | – | – | Archbishopric restored |
Sources:
- R.S.A. Stubbs, W., Registrum Sacrum Anglicanum (Oxford, 1897)
- CPR Calendar of Patent Rolls
For the fourteenth century, there are four entries from registers alongside six from other sources, and again, references to all but one archbishop appear.
If we compare these results in more detail, it becomes clear that there are several more references to bestowal of the pallium on fourteenth-century archbishops in all sources than there are to general or exact references to their enthronement, although information is not complete for all archbishops over the century.
| Ceremony | Register entries | Other Sources | Total | No. of Archbishops |
| Enthronement: York | 4 | 2 | 6 | 6 out of 8 |
| Pallium: York | 4 | 9 | 13 | 7 out of 8 |
| Enthronement: Cant. | 6 | 0 | 6 | 6 out of 10 |
| Pallium: Cant. | 4 | 6 | 10 | 9 out of 10 |
These details suggest, indeed, that if the bestowal of the pallium was more important than enthronement, then perhaps the enthronement was not regularly recorded in the registers. The search may have to be extended to other sources, such as records created by the dean and chapter of Canterbury and York, which would enlarge the survey.[4]
If we extend the search in Fasti to York in the fifteenth century, there is evidence for the pallium for four of the six archbishops, and in the sixteenth century to 1544, of the four archbishops, only for Wolsey. Lee, archbishop between 1531-44, would possibly have been the last to receive it. For the fifteenth century, of the five archbishops of Canterbury (excluding the restoration of Arundell), there are entries relating to pallium for four; only excluding Morton. In the sixteenth century, of three archbishops (excluding one who died before his translation was complete), entries exist relating to all three, including Cranmer (archbishop between 1533-1553), who would have been the last to receive it in that Province.
Acts for the confirmation of the election of a bishop
The process of electing a new bishop and the confirmation of that election, leading to his or her consecration, induction, installation and enthronement, is strictly defined under ecclesiastical law and consists of several stages, as follows:[5]
1. The Crown normally appoints a bishop by congé d’élire, a licence to the dean and chapter of the relevant cathedral to elect a new bishop, and letters missive, a document containing the name of the individual to be elected.
2. The dean and chapter elect the new bishop within a set period and certify the election to the Crown.
3. The Crown signifies the election to the relevant archbishop requiring him to confirm the election and consecrate the individual elected.
4. Confirmation of the election consists of several stages, comprising many elements of ecclesiastical court proceedings:
- If confirmation of election proceedings for a bishop of a diocese within the Province of York are to take place within the Province of Canterbury, for example, in the Court of Arches in London, then the archbishop of Canterbury will issue a licence to the archbishop of York permitting him to do so, as was the case with the confirmation of election of Richard Barnes in 1577 (fol. 15v)
- The archbishop may preside himself or commission his vicar-general to perform all acts for carrying out the confirmation
- The vicar-general issues a citation to opposers to the election to appear at a given time and in a given place to make their objections known (normally, none appear)
- At the time and place appointed, the proctor for the dean and chapter
- exhibits the Royal assent, commission from the archbishop to the vicar-general and his proxy from the dean and chapter
- presents the elected bishop
- returns the citation
- calls any opposers three times (and certifies the citation)
- declares any opposers contumacious and proceeds with the business
- then presents a summary petition or libel of the process of election and assent and desires a time to prove it, which is admitted and decreed by the vicar-general
- exhibits again the Royal assent, also the elected bishop’s assent and a certificate to the archbishop, requesting a time for a final or definitive sentence, which is decreed by the vicar-general
- calls any opposers again three times
- declares them contumacious
- requests the decree to proceed to a final sentence by a schedule read and published by the vicar-general
- the archbishop may also issue letters testimonial of the process of confirmation of election
- The elected bishop takes the oath of supremacy (now the oath of allegiance) and the oath of obedience to the archbishop and makes the declaration against simony
- the vicar-general reads and subscribes the sentence.
The bishop is then consecrated by the archbishop with the assistance of two (or possibly more) bishops on a Sunday or Holy day (again, if the consecration is to take place within the Province of Canterbury, the archbishop of Canterbury may issue a licence that it may do so). When elected, confirmed, consecrated and having requested that his (or now her) temporalities be restored by the Crown, the new bishop is then installed. The archbishop issues a mandate for the bishop’s induction, installation and enthronement and after a service in the cathedral, the bishop receives the obedience of the dean and chapter in the chapter house. The bishop is then entitled to restoration of all spiritualities and temporalities of the see from the Crown and does homage to the Crown.
This process is clearly seen in Register 31 of the Archbishops of York (1576-1630), which records acts for the confirmation of the election of six bishops:
| 1. | Richard Barnes | bishop of Durham | 1577 | fols 12v–21r |
| 2. | John May | bishop of Carlisle | 1577 | fols 41r–44r |
| 3. | William Chaderton | bishop of Chester | 1579 | fols 55r–59r |
| 4. | Matthew Hutton | bishop of Durham | 1589 | fols 114v–118r |
| 5. | Richard Senhouse | bishop of Carlisle | 1624 | fols 231v–237r |
| 6. | Francis White | bishop of Carlisle | 1626 | fols 275r–282r |
The procedure followed in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries is generally that outlined above, with documents from each stage of the election and its confirmation entered into the register, but with some variations. For example, other documents might include a petition of the dean and chapter to the elected bishop that he consent to their election of him, such as, for example, that of the dean and chapter of Carlisle Cathedral to John May to consent to their election of him as bishop in 1577 (fol. 43r), as well as their notification of the election to the archbishop of York (fol. 43v). Also, the bishop-elect might issue a document containing his formal consent to his election, for instance, Francis White’s notarial instrument of his consent to his election as bishop of Carlisle (fol. 280v).
Footnotes
[1] See Ecclesiastical Law (reprinted from Halsbury’s Laws of England) 3rd ed. (London, 1957), p. 61, from which these notes are drawn.
[2] ‘Archbishops of York’, in Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1300-1541: Volume 6, Northern Province (York, Carlisle and Durham), ed. B Jones (London, 1963), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/fasti-ecclesiae/1300-1541/vol6/pp3-5 [accessed 10 January 2026]. Many thanks to Dr David Lepine for his suggestions as to where to look for further information.
[3] The details in this table are taken from ‘Archbishops of Canterbury’, in Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae 1300-1541: Volume 4, Monastic Cathedrals (Southern Province), ed. B Jones (London, 1963), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/fasti-ecclesiae/1300-1541/vol4/pp3-5 [accessed 10 January 2026].
[4] For example, York Minster, Archives and Manuscripts, Chapter Act Books, CY/ZC/H/1/2, 1343-68, CY/ZC/H/1/1, c. 1345-1353, or in other records, such as CY/ZC/M/2/1f, which includes Chapter Act material, 1359-1485. Many thanks also to Dr. David Lepine for his suggestions on this subject.
[5] See Ecclesiastical Law (reprinted from Halsbury’s Laws of England) 3rd ed. (London, 1957), pp. 74-8, from which the following notes are drawn.