Canterbury–York dispute

The Canterbury–York dispute was a long-running conflict between the archdioceses of Canterbury and York in medieval England. It began shortly after the Norman Conquest of England and dragged on for many years. The main point of the dispute was over whether Canterbury would have jurisdiction, or primacy, over York. A number of archbishops of Canterbury attempted to secure professions of obedience from successive archbishops of York, but in the end they were unsuccessful. York fought the primacy by appealing to the kings of England as well as the papacy. In 1127, the dispute over the primacy was settled mainly in York's favour, for they did not have to submit to Canterbury. Later aspects of the dispute dealt with concerns over status and prestige.

The main locus of the dispute was the attempt by post-Norman Conquest Archbishops of Canterbury to assert their primacy, or right to rule, over the province of York. Canterbury used texts to back up their claims, including Bede's major historical work the Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, which sometimes had the Canterbury archbishops claiming primacy over not just York, but the entire ecclesiastical hierarchy of the British Isles. It began under Lanfranc, the first Norman Archbishop of Canterbury, and ended up becoming a never ending dispute between the two sees over prestige and status. The historian David Carpenter says Lanfranc's actions "sucked his successors into a quagmire, and actually weakened rather than strengthened church discipline and the unity of the kingdom." Carpenter further argues that "it became impossible in later centuries, thanks to disputes over status, for the two archbishops to appear in each others presence."

Feeding into the dispute were the two cathedral chapters, who encouraged their respective archbishops to continue the struggle. An additional element was the fact that Canterbury had a monastic chapter, while York had secular clergy in the form of canons, interjecting a note of secular and monastic clerical rivalries into the dispute. Another problem that intertwined with the dispute was the Investiture controversy in England, which was concurrent with the dispute and involved most of the same protagonists. The kings of England, who might have forced a decision, were more concerned with other matters, and were ambivalent about Canterbury's claims, which removed a potential way to resolve the dispute. At times, kings supported Canterbury's claims in order to keep the north of England from revolting, but this was balanced by the times that the kings were in quarrels with Canterbury.

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