It does exactly what it says on the tin—and more. Katherine Harvey has written a remarkable book documenting in meticulous detail the changes to how bishops were made in England from the twelfth to fourteenth century. The “1214” of the title marks the first change. The principle of episcopal election went back to the Council of Nicaea and was revived during the Gregorian Reform, but still in the twelfth century kings like Henry II effectively appointed bishops; elections by cathedral chapters were simply rubber stamps of the king's candidate. This changed during the reign of King John (1199–1216) and the pontificate of Innocent III (1198–1216) who clashed over the see of Canterbury; well-known is the story of the split election failing to elect John's favorite, the appeal to the pope, and the subsequent “free” election (in Rome) of papal associate, Stephen Langton, in 1207, followed by the king's excommunication and a papal interdict on his Kingdom for refusing to accept him. Reconciliation efforts between John, Innocent, and Stephen resulted in the Freedom of Election charter of 1214 in which the king “ceded the direct personal control over ecclesiastical elections his predecessors had enjoyed” (20) while informally retaining some possibility of influence. The charter largely reflected the vision of Innocent III, which was also apparent in the decrees regulating the conduct of elections from The Fourth Lateran Council (1215) and incorporated in the Liber Extra (1234).

Harvey examines these decrees and the body of commentary that accumulated around them to provide a vivid account of the legal and liturgical requirements for the transition from one bishop to the next (28–48) as well as of some distinctively English customs and rituals (49–70). The next chapter (71–125) examines a number of case studies from the thirteenth century that Harvey calls “the golden age of electoral freedom” (232). The “age of election” ended right after 1342 when Thomas Beck of Lincoln became “the last pre-Reformation English bishop to owe his position to election by the Cathedral Chapter” (129). It was now the Age of Provision by the papacy. Here Stephen Langton's case was a fateful one: an appeal came to Rome on account of a disputed election and a new papal candidate was installed. Innocent did not make the provision directly, but his successors would in the case of electoral disputes (which were not infrequent). These interventions at the episcopal level were, like much papal justice, fundamentally reactive and not part of a coherent policy.

The move to a coherent policy in the fourteenth century was the culmination of another process entirely: the “papacy became increasingly concerned over the thirteenth century with the control of ecclesiastical benefices . . . which served as a source of patronage” (133). Initially, these were simply prebends and parishes vacated at the Holy See, but eventually a theory was developed in Clement IV's 1265 Licet ecclesiarum (VI. 3. 4. 2) that “the pontiff has the right to full disposal (plenaria dispositio) by provision or reservation of all ecclesiastical benefices” (134). Theory was made reality by John XXII (1316–1334) who established a practice of making papal provision to episcopal benefices. Kings like Edward II could oppose papal intervention by citing, ironically, King John's Freedom of Election Charter, but over time, it became clear that papal intervention could be to their advantage: kings did not have to try to influence individual elections but could simply nominate men through procurators in Avignon for the pope to appoint. So, now things had come full circle, and kings once again controlled ecclesiastical appointments, though in a different way than they had previously: “Clement VI . . . reputedly declared that if the king of England asked for an ass to be made bishop, he would grant the request” (185). Exaggerations aside: “Royal and papal interests were largely compatible” to a degree that royal and chapter interests had not been.

A final chapter compares the developments in England with those of France, Scotland, and Italy. “The English story of the rise of electoral freedom and the transition to papal provision is also a pan-European narrative” (225). Yet the distinctive features of England are also noted. Episcopal Appointments in England is an exemplary work of church history written with a mastery of a wide range of primary sources (from canon law to chronicles) in highly engaging and accessible style. It reminded me of the early work of Robert Brentano. I did wonder, though, whether the thirteenth-century debate in theology faculties about episcopal versus papal jurisdiction over mendicant privileges might have been a contributing factor to the fourteenth century claim to provision. The author ends (233) with a powerful comparison between medieval England and modern China where the government-controlled “Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association” has sought (like English kings in the twelfth century) to appoint bishops without papal approval, as it sees the involvement of Rome as, necessarily, a political threat. Perhaps this excellent book should be translated into Chinese.