Benedictine monks plus the Prior Holbeach at the time of dissolution, probably 16 January 1540; eleven were immediately given pensions, while the remainder became secular canons in the new Royal College. Holbeach was re-appointed as the first dean. A further five former monks were pensioned from the college in July 1540. The former monastic library of Worcester contained a considerable number of manuscripts which are, among other libraries, now scattered over Cambridge, London (British Library), Oxford Bodleian, and the Cathedral library at Worcester of today. Remains of the Priory dating from the 12th and 13th centuries can still be seen. John Bell's successor as bishop, Nicholas Heath, was religiously much more conservative and Catholic. Having been divided from the Worcester diocese in 1541, the Diocese of Gloucester was briefly dissolved and returned to Worcester again on 20 May 1552 — John Hooper was translated from Gloucester and called "Bishop of Worcester and Gloucester" (or Gloucester and Worcester) until his own deprivation by Queen Mary in 1554. Worcester and Gloucester were re-divided again at that point. Worcester Archive The Charters of Worcester are one of the key sources for historians studying the period and are a major reason for information about the early Anglo-Saxon church. The charters exist within the Worcester archive which is itself the largest Anglo-Saxon archive of its kind. It contains many texts, ranging from late 7th to the 11th centuries, providing a significant and continuous history of the church. The archive takes physical form in two distinct cartularies. The first one, Cartulary A (Cotton Tiberius A xiii), contains in it the majority of the charters that make up the archive. It is from these that there develops a coherent picture of land ownership and societal responsibilities during the Anglo-Saxon period and beyond. A prominent example of this is No. 95 of Cartulary A which shows the 8th-century king of Mercia, Ceolwulf II, granting the bishopric of Worcester exemption from royal dues in exchange for money. This example shows not just the dues and power of the king himself but also the wealth and power of the church, the sophisticated system of bartering and exchange that existed at the time and also the legal system of recording important transactions. References Sources Worcester Cathedral (official guidebook), Scala Publishers Ltd. (2004) R.K. Morris, ed. Medieval Art and Architecture at Worcester Cathedral, 1978 Jewish history External links Diocesan website Church of