The bishop, like his superior, the archbishop, was answerable to both the papacy and his provincial convocation as shown in Figure 1. Prelates in this position thus found themselves acting in relation to the nuns as enforcers of legislation, as well as disciplinarians, pastors and protectors. The manner in which they discharged their responsibilities to the convent superiors and their nuns is highly relevant to the history of female leadership.

Social and Religious Background

Among the list of ordinaries serving the nunneries in the core group there is a striking diversity. This is partly due to differences in social origins, historical periods and religious affiliations. Monks or friars represented a small percentage of those appointed to sees. Archbishop Pecham, serving between 1279 and 1292, was a Franciscan and Archbishop Langham, from 1366 to 1368, a monk from St Peter's, Westminster. Henry Woodlock, bishop of Winchester between the years 1305 and 1316, also served as a Benedictine monk, the only prior of the cathedral monastery to be promoted to a see. The rest of the bishops and archbishops who bore responsibility for the nuns of the core group represented various rungs of the social ladder. Diversity of this kind held the potential for differences of opinion and practice between contemporaneous prelates. The majority of bishops and metropolitans served the king or his nobles as Chancellor, Treasurer or Keeper of the Privy Seal at some stage of their careers.