The bishopric of Remigius de Fécamp, Bishop…

The bishopric of Remigius de Fécamp, Bishop of Lincoln, is the largest in England, and one of the largest in the western Church.

It encompasses what had originally been three different bishoprics—that of Dorchester, Leicester and Lindsey, which had been combined together by about 1010.

Normally considered part of the Province of Canterbury, the Archbishops of York had long claimed it as part of their province due to Lindsey having been converted by Paulinus of York, the first Bishop of York.

Included within Remigius' diocese are a number of monasteries, including the wealthy ones of Ely Abbey, Peterborough Abbey, Ramsey Abbey and Thorney Abbey.

One difficulty with the diocese is that Dorchester is in the southern part of the large diocese, which makes administration difficult.

Another issue is that Dorchester is a very small town, but there is a large town in the diocese—Lincoln, which probably numbers around sixty-five hundred inhabitants.

Remigius had begun the construction of Lincoln Cathedral in the mid 1070s, modeling it after the cathedral at Rouen as well as the abbey church of St Etienne, Caen.

The tower he constructed, which is now incorporated into the west front of the Cathedral, may have been constructed as a keep tower.

Little now remains of Remigius' construction, just the tower which has been greatly altered from the original design by the addition of three porches.

Along with building a new cathedral, Remigius also has organized the cathedral chapter, or the clergy that serves the new church.

At Lincoln, Remigius set sup a chapter that is composed of secular clergy, rather than one composed of monks, which some of the other new cathedrals founded after the Norman Conquest use.

This is an unusual choice, as Remigius himself is a monk, and many of the new monastic cathedral chapters have been founded by monks, but the sheer size of the diocese requires large numbers of clergy to fully staff its functions.

Monks in the required numbers would have been difficult to find.

Bishop Remigius dies on May 9, 1092, two days before Lincoln Cathedral is consecrated.