(in Greek Ἐπίσκοπος, Overseer, or Superintendent), is the highest ecclesiastical dignitary, the chief officer in the hierarchy or economy of church-government. The apostles, after our Saviour's ascension, went forth preaching the gospel in the particular provinces allotted to them; and appointed the first converts of every place through which they passed, or, as Clemens Romanus expresses it, the first fruits of their ministry, to be the bishops and deacons of the churches planted by them. Thus Tertullian says, Clemens was ordained bishop of Rome by St Peter, and Polycarp bishop of Smyrna by St John.

There appears to have been but one bishop in a church; the titles of which supreme officer are reckoned up by Cyprian, and are, Bishop, President, Pastor, Governor, Superintendent, and Priest. And, as there was. was but one bishop to a church, so there was but one church to a bishop; as appears from hence, that the ancient dioceses are never said to contain churches in the plural, but only a church in the singular: for authors speak of the church of Corinth, the church of Smyrna, the church of Philadelphia, the church of Antioch, &c. The word diocese, by which a bishop's flock is now usually expressed, is never used in that sense by the writers of the three first centuries; but the bishop's cure is frequently denoted by the word παράστασις, παράστασις; as appears from the synodical epistle of Irenaeus to pope Victor, and from numberless places of Eusebius's Ecclesiastical History, which speaks of the bishops of the parish of Alexandria, of the parish of Ephesus, of the parish of Corinth, of the parish of Athens, of the parish of Carthage, &c., denoting the very same thing, which we now mean by the word parish; viz. a competent number of Christians, dwelling near together, having one bishop, or pastor, set over them.

The peculiar acts of the episcopal function were, preaching the word, praying with his people, administering the two sacraments of baptism and the eucharist, taking care of the poor, ordaining of ministers, governing his flock, excommunicating offenders, absolving of penitents. To the constant discharge of these offices the primitive bishops sedulously applied themselves; to which purpose they resided constantly on their cures: indeed, residence on their parishes was deemed necessary, that Cyprian, enumerating the sins which brought the wrath of God on the church in the bloody persecution of Decius, mentions the non-residence of the bishops as one.—If we inquire into the peculiar powers and privileges of the ancient bishops, we shall find, first, that they had a liberty of framing their own liturgies, only keeping to the analogy of faith and sound doctrine; to express the same creed in different forms; and to appoint days of fasting in their particular churches. They were allowed to sit and judge in secular causes, when appealed to as arbitrators of mens differences; and Constantine made a law to confirm all such decisions of bishops in their consistories. There are two laws, of Arcadius and Honorius, to the same purpose; but with these two limitations, viz. that they should only have power to judge when both parties agreed by consent to refer their causes to their approbation; and that they should not be allowed to judge in criminal causes, where life and death might be concerned. To these privileges we may add that of disposing of the revenues of the church. There are several canons to this purpose. The apostolical constitution speaks of this power; and Cyprian observes, that all, who received maintenance from the church, had it, Episcopo dispensante, by order and appointment of the bishop. For this purpose he had his oeconomus, or steward, which some canons order to be one of the clergy of every church. Such was the state of episcopacy in the primitive Christian church; which did not long continue such: for dioceses, in after times, became enlarged, and comprehended several parishes, or parishes; the bishops degenerated from their original and apostolical simplicity; and wealth, power, and grandeur, began to distinguish the episcopate from the inferior orders of the hierarchy.

A bishop, or an archbishop (see Archbishop), is elected by the chapter of his cathedral church, by virtue of a license from the crown. Election was, in very early times, the usual mode of elevation to the episcopal chair throughout all Christendom; and this was promiscuously performed by the laity as well as the clergy: till at length, it becoming tumultuous, the emperors and other sovereigns of the respective kingdoms of Europe took the appointment in some degree into their own hands; by referring to themselves the right of confirming these elections, and of granting investiture of the temporalities, which now began almost universally to be annexed to this spiritual dignity; without which confirmation and investiture, the elected bishop could neither be consecrated nor receive any secular profits. This right was acknowledged in the emperor Charlemagne, A.D. 773, by pope Hadrian I. and the council of Lateran, and universally exercised by other Christian princes: but the policy of the court of Rome at the same time began by degrees to exclude the laity from any share in these elections, and to confine them wholly to the clergy, which at length was completely effected; the mere form of election appearing to the people to be a thing of little consequence, while the crown was in possession of an absolute negative, which was almost equivalent to a direct right of nomination. Hence the right of appointing to bishoprics is said to have been in the crown of England (as well as other kingdoms in Europe) even in the Saxon times; because the rights of confirmation and investiture were in effect (though not in form) a right of complete donation. But when, by length of time, the custom of making elections by the clergy only was fully established, the popes began to except to the usual method of granting these investitures, which was per annulam et baculum, by the prince's delivering to the prelate a ring and pastoral staff or crozier; pretending, that this was an encroachment on the church's authority, and an attempt by these symbols to confer a spiritual jurisdiction: and pope Gregory VII. towards the close of the eleventh century, published a bull of excommunication against all princes who should dare to confer investitures, and all prelates who should venture to receive them. This was a bold step towards effecting the plan then adopted by the Roman see, of rendering the clergy entirely independent of the civil authority: and long and eager were the contests occasioned by this papal claim. But at length, when the emperor Henry V. agreed to remove all suspicion of encroachment on the spiritual character, by conferring investitures for the future per septionem, and not per annulam et baculum; and when the kings of England and France consented also to alter the form in their kingdoms, and receive only homage from the bishops for their temporalities, instead of investing them by the ring and crozier; the court of Rome found it prudent to suspend for a while its other pretensions.

This concession was obtained from king Henry I. in England, by means of that obdurate and arrogant prelate archbishop Anselm: but king John (about a century afterwards) in order to obtain the protection of the pope against his discontented barons, was also prevailed upon to give up by a charter, to all the monasteries and cathedrals in the kingdom, the free right of electing their prelates, whether abbots or bishops: reserving only to the crown the custody of the temporalities during the vacancy; the form of granting a li- cence to elect, (which is the original of our conge d'efire), on refusal whereof the electors might proceed without it; and the right of approbation afterwards, which was not to be denied without a reasonable and lawful cause. This grant was expressly recognized and confirmed in king John's magna carta, and was again established by statute 25 Edw. III. c. 6. § 3.

But by statute 25 Hen. VIII. c. 20, the ancient right of nomination was, in effect, restored to the crown: it being enacted, that, at every future avoidance of a bishopric, the king may send the dean and chapter his usual licence to proceed to election; which is always to be accompanied with a letter millive from the king, containing the name of the person whom he would have them elect: and, if the dean and chapter delay their election above twelve days, the nomination shall devolve to the king, who may by letters patent appoint such person as he pleases. This election or nomination, if it be of a bishop, must be signified by the king's letters patent to the archbishop of the province; if it be of an archbishop, to the other archbishop and two bishops, or to four bishops; requiring them to confirm, invest, and consecrate the person so elected; which they are bound to perform immediately, without any application to the see of Rome. After which the bishop elect shall sue to the king for his temporalities, shall make oath to the king and none other, and shall take restitution of his secular possessions out of the king's hands only. And if such dean and chapter do not elect in the manner by this act appointed, or if such archbishop or bishop do refuse to confirm, invest, and consecrate such bishop elect, they shall incur all the penalties of a præmunire.

The dean and chapter having made their election, the archbishop, by the king's direction, confirms the bishop, and afterwards consecrates him, by imposition of hands, according to the form laid down in the Common-Prayer book. Hence we see that a bishop differs from an archbishop in this, that an archbishop with bishops consecrates a bishop, as a bishop with priests consecrates a priest: other distinctions are, that an archbishop visits a province, as a bishop a diocese; that an archbishop convokes a provincial synod, as a bishop does a diocesan one; and that the archbishop has canonical authority over all the bishops of his province, as a bishop has over the priests of his diocese.

The power and authority of a bishop, besides the administration of certain holy ordinances peculiar to that sacred order, consist principally in inspecting the manners of the people and clergy, and punishing them in order to reformation, by ecclesiastical censures. To this purpose he has several courts under him, and may visit at pleasure every part of his diocese. His chancellor is appointed to hold his courts for him, and to assist him in matters of ecclesiastical law; who, as well as all other ecclesiastical officers, if lay or married, must be a doctor of the civil law, so created in some university. It is also the business of a bishop to institute, and to direct induction, to all ecclesiastical livings in his diocese.

Archbishoprics and bishoprics may become void by death, deprivation for any very gross and notorious crime, and also by resignation. All resignations must be made to some superior. Therefore a bishop must resign to his metropolitan; but the archbishop can resign to none but the king himself.

All bishops of England are peers of the realm, except the bishop of Man; and, as such, sit and vote in the House of Lords: they are barons in a threefold manner, viz. feudal, in regard to the temporalities annexed to their bishoprics; by writ, as being summoned by writ to parliament; and lastly, by patent and creation: accordingly they have the precedence of all other barons, and vote as barons and bishops; and claim all the privileges enjoyed by the temporal lords, excepting that they cannot be tried by their peers, because, in cases of blood, they themselves cannot pass upon the trial, for they are prohibited by the canons of the church (as already observed) to be judges of life and death. They have the title of Lords and Right Reverend Fathers in God. There are 24 bishops in England; besides that of Sodor and Man, who has no seat in the House of Peers. The bishops of London, Durham, and Winchester, take place from the other bishops, who are to rank after them according to their seniority of consecration.

Bishop's Court, an ecclesiastical court, held in the cathedral of each diocese, the judge whereof is the bishop's chancellor, who judges by the civil and canon law; and if the diocese be large, he has his commissioners in remote parts, who hold what they call consistory courts, for matters limited to them by their commission.

Bishop and his Clerks, some little islands and rocks on the coast of Pembroke-shire near St David's in Wales, which are very dangerous to mariners.

Bishop's-Caffle, a town of Shropshire in England, seated near the river Clun. It is a corporation, sends two members to parliament, and its market is much frequented by the Welch. W. Long. 2. 55. N. Lat. 52. 30.

Bishop's-Stortford, a town of Hertfordshire in England, seated on the side of a hill, in E. Long. 0. 25. N. Lat. 51. 50. It has several good inns, but the streets are not paved. It has a large church, one Presbyterian, and one Quaker meeting. Here was formerly a castle called Weymore castle, wherein a garrison was kept, but no remains of it are now left.