Archbishop of Canterbury

senior bishop of the Church of England

127 dated entries naming Archbishop of Canterbury, drawn from 103 separate years between 601 CE and 2025 CE. Nothing here is written by us: each line is the sentence a Wikipedia year article used, and the link beside it opens the exact revision.

Also written as Primate of All England, See of Canterbury in the source articles; Wikipedia redirects those to the same subject, so their entries are on this page.

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7th century

601The future Archbishops of Canterbury (Mellitus, Justus, and Honorius), and the future Archbishop of York Paulinus, are sent to England by Pope Gregory I to aid Augustine in his missionary work. Gregory writes the decretal Libellus responsionum to Augustine.source
604May 26 – Augustine, Archbishop of Canterbury, is succeeded by Laurence. He is a member of the Gregorian mission (see 596).source
604May 26 – Augustine, Archbishop of Canterbury (approximate date)source
619Mellitus becomes Archbishop of Canterbury.source
619February 2 – Laurence, Archbishop of Canterburysource
624April 24 – Mellitus, Archbishop of Canterburysource
690September 19 – Theodore of Tarsus, age 88, dies at Canterbury. He is succeeded by Berhtwald as the 9th Archbishop of Canterbury (approximate date).source
690September 19 – Theodore of Tarsus, Archbishop of Canterbury (born 602)source

8th century

731June 10 – The Mercian Tatwine is consecrated as Archbishop of Canterbury.source
800Archbishop Hygeberht of Lichfield retires; he is succeeded by Ealdwulf. King Coenwulf of Mercia is on better terms with the archbishopric of Canterbury than his predecessor, and unsuccessfully attempts to have the Mercian archiepiscopal see transferred to London (approximate date).source

9th century

806July 26 – Wulfred is elected Archbishop of Canterbury.source

11th century

1023June 15 – (17th day before the kalends of July) The body of the late Ælfheah of Canterbury, the former Archbishop of Canterbury who will later be canonized as a Roman Catholic saint and a martyr of the church, is reburied at Canterbury Cathedral on orders of England's King Canute, after being moved from St. Paul's Cathedral in London on June 12 (the 3rd day before the ides of June). King Canute, whose Danish troops had murdered Archbishop Ælfheah on April 19, 1012, during Canute's invasion of England, has ordered the reburial as an atonement for Ælfheah's death.source
1070April 11 – Stigand is deposed as Archbishop of Canterbury in England by papal legates and imprisoned.source
1072May 27 – The Accord of Winchester establishes the primacy of the Archbishop of Canterbury over the Archbishop of York, in the Church of England.source

12th century

1118The Archbishop of York is no longer required to be crowned by the Archbishop of Canterbury.source
1123July 22 – William de Corbeil is installed as the new Archbishop of Canterbury, the highest-ranking cleric in England, after his February 4 election is approved by Pope Callixtus II.source
1170June 14 – King Henry II has his 15-year-old son, Henry the Young King, crowned by Roger, Archbishop of York, as junior king and heir to the English throne. The coronation drives Pope Alexander III to allow the exiled Thomas Becket (whose privilege as Archbishop of Canterbury to crown English monarchs has been infringed) to lay an interdict on England as punishment, and this threat forces Henry to negotiate with Becket. Sir William Marshal is appointed tutor-in-arms to Henry the Young King.source

13th century

1222April 17 – Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canterbury in England, opens a council at Osney Abbey, Oxford.source
1300August 27 – Robert Winchelsey, the Archbishop of Canterbury, arrives at Sweetheart Abbey in Scotland with the papal envoy Lumbardus, to deliver a letter from Boniface VIII to England's King Edward I demanding that Edward withdraw from the Kingdom of Scotland. Edward ignores the letter, but because the campaign is not a success, the English forces begin on their home journey and Edward arranges a truce.source

14th century

1313May 28 – Thomas Cobham, Archdeacon of Lewes, is elected by his peers to be the Archbishop of Canterbury in England, but King Edward II intervenes and asks Pope Clement V to cancel the result. The Pope installs Walter Reynolds as the new archbishop on October 1.source
1319January 14 – The Earl of Pembroke and the Earl of Hereford persuade Walter Reynolds, Archbishop of Canterbury, to consecrate Stephen Gravesend as the Bishop of London.source
1327February 1 – The coronation of King Edward III as ruler of England takes place at Westminster Abbey with the approval of the English Parliament. Walter Reynolds, Archbishop of Canterbury, places the crown upon the new King.source
1327December 11 – Simon Mepeham is elected as England's new Archbishop of Canterbury as the candidate of the Earl of Lancaster, leader of the regency council. Mepeham defeats the candidate supported by Queen Isabella and Roger Mortimer, and soon works with King Edward III to end Mortimer's power in England.source
1348August 23 – John de Stratford, Archbishop of Canterbury (born c.1275)source
1349August 26 – Thomas Bradwardine, Archbishop of Canterburysource
1353Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury (died 1414)source
1366April 26 – Simon Islip, Archbishop of Canterburysource
1368October 11 – Pope Urban V issues a papal bull appointing William Whittlesey as Archbishop of Canterbury, and "primate of all England".source
1374June 5 or June 6 – William Whittlesey, Archbishop of Canterburysource
1376July 22 – Simon Langham, Archbishop of Canterbury (born 1310)source
1378February 19 – In England, John Wycliffe, who has been trying to promote ideas for Catholic reform and has published a tract outlining his theses, appears at the Church of St. Paul before a group of bishops headed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Simon of Sudbury, to defend his actions. With a citation having directed him to appear "on the thirtieth court-day" after receipt, Wycliffe arrives before the bishops to proceed with trial, but proceedings are halted when Sir Lewis Clifford, dispatched by Joan of Kent, Princess of Wales, acting as the regent for her son, King Richard II the Kingdom, directs that the bishops are "not to presume to determine anything against John Wycliffe. According to a chronicler, "Struck with terror, they at once abandoned the business of their meeting," but they subsequently order Wycliffe to appear at Lambeth in March.source
1380January 30 – Simon Sudbury, the Archbishop of Canterbury, becomes the new Lord Chancellor of England, succeeding Baron Scrope of Bolton. Sudbury will continue in office as both archbishop and lord chancellor until his assassination on June 14, 1381, during the Peasants' Revolt.source
1381June 14 – Simon Sudbury, Archbishop of Canterbury (murdered)source
1396July 31 – William Courtenay, Archbishop of Canterburysource
1397November 8 – Thomas Arundel, accused of high treason by King Richard II of England, is replaced by Roger Walden as Archbishop of Canterbury.source
1399October 19 – Thomas Arundel is formally restored as Archbishop of Canterbury by King Henry, replacing Roger Walden, who had been installed by King Richard II upon Arundel's dismissal in 1397.source

15th century

1401March 10 – As the English Parliament session closes, King Henry IV gives royal assent to the Suppression of Heresy Act, permitting secular authorities to carry out punishment for religious crimes. The assent comes after the Archbishop of Canterbury pressures King Henry to outlaw the Lollards, followers of John Wycliffe, and criminalizes possession of a copy of Wycliffe's translation of the Bible.source
1414February 19 – Thomas Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury (born 1353)source
1416July 1 – Henry Chichele, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury and Primate of All England, begins the first of his semiannual inquisitions, directing the archdeacons to seek out heretics and bring them to trial.source
1420February 14 – English Lollard William Taylor is acquitted of charges of heresy in a trial before the Archbishop of Canterbury, Henry Chichele. Taylor will in 1423 be convicted of heresy and burned at the stake.source
1443April 12 – Henry Chichele, Archbishop of Canterburysource
1443April 12 – Henry Chichele, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury for almost 29 years, dies and is succeeded by John Stafford on May 13.source
1443May 13 – John Stafford is appointed as the new Archbishop of Canterbury by Pope Eugene IV.source
1445May 30 – At a ceremony at Westminster Abbey, the coronation of Margaret of Anjou as Queen consort of England takes place before John Stafford, Archbishop of Canterbury.source
1452May – John Stafford, Archbishop of Canterburysource
1454March 22 – John Kemp, Archbishop of Canterburysource
1486March 30 – Thomas Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury and Lord Chancellor of England (born c. 1404)source
1487March 6 – Cardinal John Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury since January 21, becomes the new Lord Chancellor of England, succeeding the late Thomas Bourchier.source
1489July 2 – Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury (died 1556)source
1500March 3 – Reginald Pole, Archbishop of Canterbury (died 1558)source
1500September 15 – John Morton, English Archbishop of Canterbury (born c. 1420)source

16th century

1504August 6 – Matthew Parker, English Archbishop of Canterbury (died 1574)source
1532August 22 – William Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury (born 1450)source
1533March 30 – Thomas Cranmer becomes Archbishop of Canterbury.source
1541November 23 – Catherine Howard, the Queen consort of England, is arrested after 16 days of questioning by Thomas Cranmer, the Archbishop of Canterbury, reveals that she had also been conducting an adulterous affair with Francis Dereham while married to King Henry VIII. She is imprisoned at Syon Abbey in Middlesex near London.source
1544March 7 – Five Roman Catholic priests— John Larke, John Ireland, the vicar of Eltham and Robert Singleton are executed at Tyburn, outside of London, in England after being convicted of participating in the Prebendaries' Plot to remove Thomas Cranmer, the Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury.source
1549July 21 – Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, delivers his most important sermon, speaking at St Paul's Cathedral to defend the Church of England's reasons for uniformly requiring the use of The Book of Common Prayer.source
1552November 24 – Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury and top cleric of the Church of England, delivers the proposed Forty-two Articles to the Privy Council of King Edward VI.source
1553November 13 – Lady Jane Grey, who had claimed the title of Queen of England for nine days, is convicted of high treason, along with her husband Lord Guilford Dudley, two of Dudley's brothers, and Thomas Cranmer, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, after trial conducted by a special commission at Guildhall in the City of London. Referred to by the court as "Jane Dudley, wife of Guildford", Lady Jane is found to have treacherously assumed the title and the power of the monarch of England, as evidenced by a number of documents she had signed as "Jane the Quene". All five defendants are sentenced to death. Beheading is the sentence for the men, while Lady Jane is to either be "burned alive on Tower Hill or beheaded as the Queen pleases", with the decision (for a private decapitation) to be made by Queen Mary.source
1555November 13 – Thomas Cranmer is officially removed from office as the Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury by order of Pope Paul IV and Queen Mary I.source
1555December 11 – Cardinal Reginald Pole is made a cardinal-priest in the Roman Catholic Church and made the administrator of the See of Canterbury in England, though he will not become the new Archbishop of Canterbury until the following March 20.source
1556March 21 – Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury (burned at the stake) (born 1489)source
1556March 21 – In Oxford, Thomas Cranmer, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, is burned at the stake for treason for his role in the English Reformation as chief bishop of the Anglican Church.source
1556March 22 – Reginald Pole, a Roman Catholic Cardinal, is appointed by Queen Mary of England as the new Archbishop of Canterbury and head of the Catholic Archdiocese of Canterbury.source
1558November 17 – Reginald Pole, Cardinal Archbishop of Canterbury (born 1500)source
1562October 19 – George Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury (died 1633)source
1573October 7 – William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury (died 1645)source
1575July 26 – Edmund Grindal succeeds Matthew Parker as Archbishop of Canterbury.source
1583July 6 – Edmund Grindal, Archbishop of Canterbury (born 1519)source
1599June 1 – Bishops' Ban of 1599: The Archbishop of Canterbury, John Whitgift, and the Bishop of London, Richard Bancroft order a ban on a selection of literary works, including Microcynicon: Six Snarling Satires, by Thomas Middleton.source

17th century

1604July 22 – King James begins fundraising for his project for an accurate translation of the Holy Bible into English, asking Richard Bancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury, to contact all Anglican churches for donations.source
1610November 2 – Richard Bancroft, Archbishop of Canterbury (born 1544)source
1611March 4 – George Abbot is enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury in England.source
1630October – John Tillotson, Archbishop of Canterbury (died 1694)source
1633August 5 – George Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury (born 1562)source
1633August 6 – William Laud becomes Archbishop of Canterbury.source
16336 August – William Laud becomes Archbishop of Canterbury.source
1636September 29 – Thomas Tenison, Archbishop of Canterbury (died 1715)source
163629 September – Thomas Tenison, Archbishop of Canterbury (died 1715)source
164510 January – Archbishop of Canterbury William Laud executed for treason on Tower Hill, London.source
1645January 10 – William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury (born 1573)source
1645January 10 – Archbishop of Canterbury William Laud is executed for treason on Tower Hill, London.source
164510 January – William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury (born 1573; executed)source
1660September – William Juxon appointed as Archbishop of Canterbury.source
1663June 4 – William Juxon, Archbishop of Canterbury (born 1582)source
166331 August – Gilbert Sheldon enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury.source
167730 December – William Sancroft nominated by the King as Archbishop of Canterbury.source
1688May 4 – King James II of England orders his Declaration of Indulgence, suspending penal laws against Catholics, to be read from every Anglican pulpit in England. The Church of England and its staunchest supporters, the peers and gentry, are outraged; on June 8 the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Sancroft, is imprisoned in the Tower of London for refusing to proclaim it.source
168813 May – the Archbishop of Canterbury, William Sancroft, in a meeting at Lambeth Palace, forms the nucleus of the Seven Bishops resolving to oppose the reading of the Declaration of Indulgence. On 18 May they present a petition to the King.source
16891 August – nonjuring schism in the Church of England: Archbishop of Canterbury William Sancroft, along with eight bishops and around 400 other clergymen, is suspended for refusing to swear allegiance to William and Mary. He is dismissed from office the following year.source
1691April – John Tillotson enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury.source
1693September 21 – Thomas Secker, Archbishop of Canterbury (died 1768)source
1694December 6 – Thomas Tenison is appointed Archbishop of Canterbury.source
169516 May – Thomas Tenison enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury, the first Primate of All England since the Reformation to be installed in person at Canterbury Cathedral.source

18th century

1714Archbishop Tenison's School, the world's earliest surviving mixed gender school, is established by Thomas Tenison, Archbishop of Canterbury, in Croydon, south of London, England.source
171425 March – Archbishop Tenison's School, the world's earliest surviving mixed gender school, is endowed by Thomas Tenison, Archbishop of Canterbury, in Croydon.source
1715October 14 – Thomas Tenison, Archbishop of Canterbury (born 1636)source
171616 January – William Wake appointed as Archbishop of Canterbury.source
1737January – John Potter appointed as Archbishop of Canterbury (installed 28 February).source
1747October 21 – King George II transfers Thomas Herring, Archbishop of York, to become the new Archbishop of Canterbury, three days after the death of John Pottersource
175729 March – Matthew Hutton is nominated as Archbishop of Canterbury, being translated from York.source
175821 April – Thomas Secker enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury.source
1768Frederick Cornwallis enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury.source
1768August 3 – Thomas Secker, Archbishop of Canterbury (born 1693)source
178310 May – John Moore enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury.source

19th century

180521 February – Charles Manners-Sutton confirmed as Archbishop of Canterbury.source
18288 August – William Howley elected as Archbishop of Canterbury (enthroned by proxy 28 August) in succession to Charles Manners-Sutton.source
1832August 7 – William Howley, Archbishop of Canterbury, has his coach attacked by an angry mob on his first official visit to Canterbury because of his opposition to the Reform Act in the United Kingdom.source
18327 August – William Howley, Archbishop of Canterbury, has his coach attacked by an angry mob on his first official visit to Canterbury because of his opposition to the Great Reform Act.source
1848February 17 – John Bird Sumner is nominated as Archbishop of Canterbury.source
1848April 7 – Randall Davidson, British Archbishop of Canterbury (died 1930)source
1864October 31 – Cosmo Gordon Lang, Archbishop of Canterbury (died 1945)source
186812 November – Archibald Tait is offered the post of Archbishop of Canterbury.source
188329 March – Edward Benson enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury.source

20th century

1928December 4 – Cosmo Gordon Lang is enthroned as the Archbishop of Canterbury, the first bachelor to be appointed in 150 years.source
1930May 25 – Randall Davidson, English clergyman, Archbishop of Canterbury (born 1848)source
1942April 23 – Exeter-born William Temple is enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury.source
194223 April – Exeter-born William Temple is enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury (being translated from York) in succession to Cosmo Gordon Lang.source
1966March 24 – Pope Paul VI meets Michael Ramsey, the Archbishop of Canterbury, in Rome, and gives him an episcopal ring.source
1987January 20 – Terry Waite, the special envoy of the Archbishop of Canterbury in Lebanon, is kidnapped in Beirut (released November 1991).source
1990March 25 – Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie announces his intention to retire at the end of the year.source
1990July 25 – George Carey, Bishop of Bath and Wells, is named as the new Archbishop of Canterbury in the Church of England.source
1991April 19 – George Carey is enthroned as Archbishop of Canterbury, the spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican Communion.source

21st century

2003February 27 – Rowan Williams becomes Archbishop of Canterbury.source
2023April 21 – The Global Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, representing a majority of the global Anglican population, reject the leadership of Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby as the head of global Anglicanism over his support for same-sex marriage.source
2024November 12 – Justin Welby announces his resignation as Archbishop of Canterbury following the publication of a report critical of his handling of the abuse of children within the Church of England by John Smyth.source
2025October 3 – Dame Sarah Mullally is named the first female Archbishop of Canterbury.source