Bishop's Palace Chapel, Chichester

Chichester has a medieval cathedral and the Diocese of Chichester is one of original medieval Dioceses of England. The Bishop's Palace is now used as part of the Prebendal School. The chapel is unfortunately not often open to the public but it also contains a medieval mural painting of the Madonna and Child. It dates from the 13th Century and would have been used by the Bishop himself in the past.

Medieval Bishops often had palaces such as this and they were used as a residence as well as for transacting church business. Bishops wielded considerable power in the Middle Ages and often held important posts under the King in running the Country. Some Bishops on the Continent, notably the Archbishop of Salzburg in Austria were rulers of great areas of territory, often run from large castles such as the Hohensalzburg and Hohenwerfen fortresses (Hohenwerfen stars in the film "Where Eagles Dare").

Anyway, back to medieval Sussex, the Bishops of Chichester owned not just this building in the picture, but several other smaller Manors. These include Cakeham at West Wittering, Drungewick at Loxwood and Streatham Manor at Henfield. During the course of a year in the Middle Ages, they would move from Manor to Manor, transacting church business. This would have included the inductions of clergy to the churches and sorting out disputes involving land as at that time the Bishop of Chichester would have been Lord of the Manor in various places. Everything that was done was recorded in a Register and these in many cases have been translated into English from the Latin and can make interesting reading.