Archbishops

Abstract

From about the 5th century it was necessary to mark the status of leading bishops in ecclesiastical provinces, and they were termed metropolitans and were allowed to wear a narrow stole called the pallium; increasingly, metropolitans began to be termed archbishops, a title originally reserved for the bishops of the five chief sees of the ancient church. Archbishops presided over provincial councils and from the 9th century had a monopoly over the anointing of kings. Newly emerging kingdoms tried to have at least one archbishopric.