Worcester Cathedral. Worcester Cathedral, is an Anglican cathedral in Worcester, England, situated on a bank overlooking the River Severn. It is the seat of the Bishop of Worcester. Its official name is the Cathedral Church of Christ and the Blessed Mary the Virgin of Worcester. The present cathedral church was built between 1084 and 1504, and represents every style of English architecture from Norman to Perpendicular Gothic. It is famous for its Norman crypt and unique chapter house, its unusual Transitional Gothic bays, its fine woodwork and its exquisite central tower, which is of particularly fine proportions. The cathedral's west facade appeared, with a portrait of Sir Edward Elgar, on the reverse of E20 note issued by the Bank of England between 1999 and 2007, remaining in circulation as legal tender until 30 June 2010. The Cathedral was founded in 680, with a Northumbrian priest, Tatwine, appointed as its first bishop. Tatwine died before he could be consecrated, however, so his successor Bishop Bosel may be regarded as Worcester's first serving bishop. The first cathedral church, dedicated to Ss. Peter and Paul, was built in this period, but no remains of its architecture survive. The crypt of the present-day cathedral dates from the 11th century and the time of Wulfstan 'Bishop of Worcester. The community associated with the cathedral the early eighth century included members of various clerical orders. The cathedral community was regulated along formal monastic lines as a consequence of the Benedictine reforms in the second half of the tenth century. There is an important connection with Fleury Abbey in France, as Oswald, bishop of Worcester from 961 to 992, was professed at Fleury and introduced the monastic rule of Fleury to the monastery that he established at Worcester around the year 966, which was dedicated, as the present cathedral church is, to St. Mary. The last Anglo-Saxon bishop of Worcester, Wulstan, unusually remained bishop after the Norman Conquest until his death in 1095. He was later made a saint. It is the burial place of John, King of England, who succeded his brother Richard I of England. The Priory Cathedral was a major landowner and economic force, both in Worcester and the county. Its properties for instance included the priory manor of Bromsgrove. It was a centre of learning and provided schooling. It was associated with hospitals. The Church received a portion of local taxations and ecclesiastical law applied to Christian morals and could result in punishments. It had close political associations with leading gentry and aristocracy. As such, Worcester's Cathedral had a central role in the medieval life of the city and county. The Cathedral was one of a number of religious institutions in the city. Further information: Jewish community of Worcester § The Jews in Worcester in the Middle Ages The Diocese was notably hostile to the small Jewish community which was established in Worcester. Peter of Blois was commissioned by a Bishop of Worcester, probably John of Coutances, to write a significant anti-Judaic treatise Against the Perfidy of Jews around 1190. William de Blois, as Bishop of Worcester, imposed particularly strict rules on Jews within the diocese in 1219. As elsewhere in England, Jews were officially compelled to wear rectangular white badges, supposedly representing tabulae. In most places, this requirement was relinquished as long as fines were paid. In addition to enforcing the church laws on wearing badges, Blois tried to impose additional restrictions on usury, and wrote to Pope Gregory in 1229 to ask for better enforcement and further, harsher measures. In response, the Papacy demanded that Christians be prevented from working in Jewish homes, lest temporal profit be preferred to the zeal of Christ, and enforcement of the wearing of badges. The priory came to an end with King Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries. Shortly beforehand, in 1535, the prior William More resigned, and was replaced by Henry Holbeach. More had a reputation for fine living, although his standards seem in line with other senior ecclesiasts of the time. However, there certainly were problems with the administration of the priory, including divisions within the community. The Protestant Hugh Latimer was bishop from 1535, and preached for reform and iconoclasm. He resigned as bishop in 1539, as a result of a theological turn by Henry VIII towards Roman Catholicism, in the Six Articles. John Bell, a moderate reformer, was bishop from 1539 to 1543, during the period of the priory's dissolution. In the early 16th century, Worcester had around 40 monks.