Definition
An assembly of the clergy convened for the purpose of consulting on ecclesiastical matters. In English law, the term refers specifically to either of two standing ecclesiastical assemblies — one for the Province of Canterbury and one for the Province of York — constituting the formal legislative and consultative bodies of the Church of England. Each convocation is bicameral in structure: an upper house composed of the archbishop and bishops of the province, and a lower house composed of deans, archdeacons, proctors for cathedral chapters, and proctors representing the parochial clergy.
The term carries a narrower technical meaning in English ecclesiastical law than its general usage might suggest. It does not refer to any informal gathering of clergy, but to these specific, constitutionally recognized assemblies that historically operated in a manner analogous to Parliament — deliberating on church doctrine, discipline, and canon law.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): The act of calling or assembling by summons; any assembly or meeting; an assembly of clergy; an academic assembly in which university business is transacted; also, a flock of eagles.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): The act of calling or assembling by summons; an assembly or meeting; an assembly of the clergy by their representatives to consult on ecclesiastical affairs; an academical assembly in which the business of the university is transacted.
The ordinary meaning of convocation is broad — any formal summoning or gathering. The legal meaning in English law is considerably narrower: it refers to one of two specific, institutionally defined bodies within the Church of England, each with a recognized structure, membership, and quasi-parliamentary function. A researcher encountering "convocation" in a general historical text should not assume the legal precision the term carries in ecclesiastical sources.
Recognized Forms
/SUBTYPES
Convocation of Canterbury: The older and senior of the two convocations, presided over by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Historically, it exercised primacy in matters affecting the whole Church of England.
Convocation of York: The convocation for the northern province, presided over by the Archbishop of York. Parallel in structure to Canterbury but covering a distinct geographic and ecclesiastical jurisdiction.
Why It Matters in Research
Researchers working in English ecclesiastical law, canon law, or church-state history will encounter convocation as a term of precise institutional meaning. Several research traps are worth flagging.
First, temporal context is critical. The convocations were suspended in 1717 following a dispute with the Crown and did not formally resume deliberative business until 1852. Sources from the intervening period that reference convocation may be describing the body in a dormant or ceremonially vestigial sense. A legal source from 1750 discussing convocation is not describing an active legislative body.
Second, the parliamentary analogy used by Burrill and others is instructive but imperfect. Convocation historically required royal license to meet and could not enact canons without royal assent. Its relationship to Parliament — and the question of whether its canons bound the laity — was a subject of genuine constitutional controversy. Corpus sources touching on church-state conflict in the Tudor, Stuart, or early Hanoverian period may use convocation in a charged political sense beyond its bare institutional meaning.
Third, researchers should distinguish convocation from the General Synod of the Church of England, established in 1970, which absorbed many of convocation's functions. Post-1970 sources may use the terms in ways that do not map cleanly onto pre-1970 sources.
Fourth, American legal sources will rarely use convocation in its English ecclesiastical sense. The term appears in American contexts primarily through inheritance from English canon law or in the governance documents of Episcopal and Anglican bodies in the United States, where usage may differ from the English model.
Historical Dictionary Support
The four source dictionaries converge on the core definition without meaningful disagreement: convocation is an assembly of the clergy for consultation on ecclesiastical matters, with two such bodies recognized in English law corresponding to the provinces of Canterbury and York.
Burrill provides the most structurally complete account, describing the bicameral composition of the lower house (deans, archdeacons, proctors for chapters, and proctors for the parochial clergy) and invoking the parliamentary analogy explicitly. Rapalje & Lawrence similarly details the membership of the lower house and notes that all deans and archdeacons are members — a detail the Black's entries omit entirely.
Black's (both editions) offers a minimal gloss that would be insufficient for a researcher needing to understand how convocation actually functioned. Neither Black's edition engages with the two-province structure, the bicameral composition, or the historical relationship between convocation and royal authority. Burrill, cross-referencing Termes de la Ley, Cowell, and Stephen's Commentaries, remains the more useful starting point for substantive research.
None of the source dictionaries address the 1717 suspension or the 1852 revival — a significant gap for any researcher working on sources from that period.
Jurisdictional Note
Convocation in its formal legal sense is a creature of English ecclesiastical law and applies to the Church of England specifically. The term does not carry equivalent institutional meaning in Scots law, Roman Catholic canon law, or American law, though derivative usage appears in the governance documents of Anglican and Episcopal bodies outside England. Researchers working in those traditions should not assume English convocation precedent applies without tracing the specific body's constitutive documents.
Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
See Law Mind Encyclopedia — Ecclesiastical Law; Church of England; Anglican Church Governance; Canon Law