Bishop of Exeter

Bishop of Exeter
Bishopric
anglican
Arms of the Bishop of Exeter: Gules, a sword erect in pale argent hilted or surmounted by two keys addorsed in saltire of the last
Incumbent: Robert Atwell
Province	Canterbury
Diocese	Exeter
Cathedral	Exeter Cathedral (1112–present)
First incumbent	Werstan Leofric (first Bishop of Exeter)
Formation	905 (founded at Tawton) 912 (translated to Crediton) 1050 (translated to Exeter)

The Bishop of Exeter is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Exeter in the Province of Canterbury. The current incumbent, since 30 April 2014, is Robert Atwell. The incumbent signs his name as his Christian name or forename followed by Exon., abbreviated from the Latin Episcopus Exoniensis ("Bishop of Exeter").

From the first bishop until the sixteenth century the Bishops of Exeter were in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church. However, during the Reformation the church in England broke away from the authority of the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church, at first temporarily and later more permanently. Since the Reformation, the Bishop and Diocese of Exeter has been part of the Church of England and of the Anglican Communion.

The history of Christianity in the South West of England remains to some degree obscure. At a certain point the historical county of Devon formed part of the diocese of Wessex. About 703 Devon and Cornwall were included in the separate Diocese of Sherborne and in 900 this was again divided, the Devon bishop having from 905 his seat at Tawton (now Bishop's Tawton) and from 912 at Crediton, birthplace of St Boniface. became Bishop of Crediton in 1027 and shortly afterwards became Bishop of Cornwall.

According to Risdon (d. 1640), the present village of Bishops Tawton, on the River Taw two miles south of Barnstaple in North Devon, was the earliest bishop's see in the shire of Devon, when in 905