ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the wide range of potential deviations from the ideal of free canonical election, incorporating both subtle but commonplace differences and the upheaval of major disputes. The fact that the English bishops lacked a formal role in the electoral process did not mean that they were unconcerned by the problems and practice of election. Such elections usually took place in sees that were low in financial and political value, such as Exeter, where the chapter seems to have been allowed to hold elections that were not only canonical but genuinely free from royal intervention on three occasions during the course of the thirteenth century. The overemphasis on the role of the king has led to the marginalization of the other participants in elections. Throughout the thirteenth century, pragmatic compromise between large numbers of participants was the defining feature of episcopal elections.
