The first Archbishop of Canterbury was Augustine back in 597AD. He was sent to England by Pope Gregory I. It was his mission to convert the natives to Roman Christianity. He landed in Ebbsfleet in Kent. Kent was one of a few separate kingdoms in England at that time. With Canterbury its capital city under the reign of King Aethelberht. In 601 Augustine was appointed archbishop and established his seat in the capital at Canterbury.
Supposedly Pope Gregory I wanted the centre of Christianity in England moved to London. At the time London was part of another kingdom called Essex. So, Canterbury remained the centre of Christianity, even to this day, even though London would ultimately overtake Canterbury and become the capital of a united England.
The role of the Archbishop of Canterbury has been consistent since its foundation, apart from a few gaps. The most notable of these was during the 17th Century Civil War. Its role can be split into two “halves”. In the first period its role was part of the Catholic church with the Pope being the head of the Church.
I have often referred to the reformation which coincided with Henry VIII’s reign. Henry’s legacy was his ‘divorce’, not only maritally speaking but from papacy (the pope in question at the time was Clement VII – 2nd Medici Pope). In 1534 the Act of Supremacy was invoked by parliament that made the monarch the head of the church. At this time the archbishop was Thomas Cranmer. The act was briefly repealed in 1555 under Henry VIII’s catholic daughter, Mary I, but adopted again in 1559 during the reign of his second daughter, Elizabth I.
Thomas was well known for his reformation of the church which began during the reign of Henry and continued during his son’s reign (Edward VI). Mary undid much of what Cranmer had accomplished and the conflict between these two ended with Cranmer executed. He was a believer of the divine right of kings and the rule of the church and is often referred to as the spiritual founder of the reformed church in England.
The Archbishop of Canterbury has a long list of roles. The archbishop is the senior bishop and spiritual leader of the Church of England (Anglican), a senior member of the house of Lords, head of the worldwide Anglican communion and the bishop for the diocese of Canterbury.
On recent meanderings I have discovered that a diocese is an ecclesiastical province or area. In this case it is Canterbury. At the head of a diocese is a bishop who is based at a cathedral.
The diocese of Canterbury covers eastern Kent and includes towns like Thanet, Romney, Dover, Maidstone and Sittingbourne. In the church of England there are a total of 42 dioceses.
The Church of England and its 42 dioceses are presided over by two archbishops: the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is ‘primate of All England’ (30 dioceses), and the Archbishop of York, who is ‘primate of England’ (12 dioceses).