ABSTRACT
The Christian Church is the community of all Christians, living and dead. In the case of the former, it comprises various sub-groups and administrative units. The boundaries of those groups, and the power and authority of the units and their heads, have been sometimes personal, including particular people, and sometimes territorial, limited to particular geographical areas, and subject to disagreement and competition. The exercise of authority within them and the establishment of boundaries around them have both contributed to groups’ sense of community. In early medieval Britain, ecclesiastical institutions and communities were those of archbishoprics, bishoprics, minsters, reformed monasteries (including nunneries), local churches and proprietary churches, and parishes. They involved issues of lordship (royal and lay and the lordship of greater over lesser churches), dues and revenues, and of rights thereto. There is also a question whether there was anything approaching a national Church.
