Editing Cathedral (section)

===Roles===

====Provosts====
[[File:Cathedrale-saint-etienne-metz-de-place-prefecture.jpg|thumb|left|[[Metz Cathedral]], France, was governed by a provost.]]
In most of [[Europe]], the earliest head of a secular church seems to have been the provost (''praepositus'', ''probst'', etc.), who was charged not only with the internal regulation of the church and oversight of the members of the chapter and control of the services, but was also the steward or seneschal of the lands and possessions of the church. The latter often mainly engaged his attention, to the neglect of his domestic and ecclesiastical duties, and complaints were soon raised that the provost was too much mixed in worldly affairs, and was too frequently absent from his spiritual duties.

This led, in many cases, to the institution of a new officer called the "dean", who had charge of that portion of the provost's duties that related to the internal discipline of the chapter and the services of the church.

In some cases, the office of provost was abolished, but in others it was continued: the provost, who was occasionally an archdeacon as well, remaining head of the chapter. This arrangement was most commonly followed in Germany. In England the provost was almost unknown. Bishop Gisa introduced a provost as head of the chapter of [[Wells Cathedral]], but the office was afterwards subordinated to the other dignities and the provost became simply the steward of certain of the prebendal lands. The provost of the collegiate church of [[Beverley Minster]] was the most notable instance of such an officer in England, but at Beverley he was an external officer with authority in the government of the church, no stall in the choir and no vote in chapter.

In Germany and [[Scandinavia]], and in a few of the cathedral churches in the [[south of France]], the provost was the ordinary head of the cathedral chapter, but the office was not common elsewhere. As regards France, of 136 cathedral churches existing at the [[French Revolution|Revolution]], 38 only, and those either on the borders of Germany or in the extreme south, had a provost as the head of the chapter. In others the provost existed as a subordinate officer. There were two provosts at [[Autun Cathedral|Autun]], and [[Lyon Cathedral|Lyon]] and [[Chartres Cathedral|Chartres]] had four each, all as subordinate officers.