Archbishops of Canterbury

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the head of the established Church of England and, symbolically, of the worldwide Anglican Communion. From the time of St. Augustine until the 16th century, the Archbishops of Canterbury were Roman Catholic and in full communion with the Bishop of Rome, the pope. During the English Reformation the church broke away from the authority of the pope, at first temporarily and later more permanently. Since then they have been outside of the succession of the Roman Catholic Church''s hierarchy and have led the independent national church. In the Middle Ages there was considerable variation in the nomination of the archbishop and other bishops at various times the choice was made by the canons of Canterbury Cathedral, the King of England, or the Pope. Since the reformation, the church is explicitly a state church and the choice islegally that of the British crown; today it is made in the name of the Monarchy of the United Kingdom by the Prime Minister, from a shortlist of two selected by an ad hoc committee called the Crown Nominations Commission.