Durham

Durham was an English ecclesiastical palatinate on the Scottish frontier, where bishops exercised royal powers from their fortified city. In 1337 Bishop Richard de Bury, Edward III’s former tutor and a noted book collector, held the see.

In 1346 David II of Scotland invaded, but his army was defeated at Neville’s Cross outside Durham and the king was captured. The Crown curtailed the bishops’ powers after the 1536 Act of Resumption, and the last palatine powers passed to it in 1836.