page_title: Durham
section_title: Prince Bishops
hierarchical_section_title: Durham / History / Prince Bishops
caption_attribution_description: Durham Castle-Entrance
context_page_description: Durham is a city in the North East of England. It is within the County Durham local government district, and is the county town of the larger ceremonial county. It lies to the south of Newcastle upon Tyne, Chester-le-Street and Sunderland and to the north of Darlington.
  Durham is well known for its Norman Cathedral and 11th-century castle, and is home to Durham University. HM Prison Durham is also close to the city centre. Durham Castle and Cathedral is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
context_section_description: As the north east was so far from Westminster the bishops of Durham enjoyed extraordinary powers. They had the ability to hold their own parliament, raise their own armies, appoint their own sheriffs and Justices, administer their own laws, levy taxes and customs duties, create fairs and markets, issue charters, salvage shipwrecks, collect revenue from mines, administer the forests and mint their own coins.
  Basically, William the Conqueror delegated many powers to bishops in the furthest reaches of England. They were his men, and most had fought at the Battle of Hastings. This style of delegation ran for many centuries afterwards. This applied especially in the north and west of England, which were several days ride from London.
  So far reaching were the bishop’s powers that the steward of Bishop Anthony Bek commented in 1299 AD: 
  “There are two kings in England, namely the Lord King of England, wearing a crown in sign of his regality and the Lord Bishop of Durham wearing a mitre in place of a crown, in sign of his regality in the diocese of Durham”.
  All this activity was administered from the castle and buildings surrounding the Palace Green.
  Every Bishop of Durham from 1071 to 1836 was a Prince Bishop except for the first Norman-appointed Bishop Walcher who was styled an Earl-Bishop. The last Prince Bishop of Durham Bishop William Van Mildert founded Durham University. Henry VIII cut some of the Prince-Bishop's powers and, in 1538, ordered the destruction of the shrine of Saint Cuthbert.
caption: Entrance to Bishop Bek's Great Hall
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