Dean. The word dean, from the Greek decanus, properly means an officer over ten subordinates, the etymon being deka, 'ten.' It is first found as a military grade, being mentioned by Vegetins in the 4th century as an old but then disused term (De Re Milit. ii. 8). Somewhat later it appears, still in the 4th century, as a title of certain minor officers in the imperial household (St Ambrose, Epist. i. 20; St Chrysostom, Hom. 13, in Heb. vii.). With the rise and organisation of monachism, the name was given to a monk placed in charge of ten others, for whose discipline or execution of appointed tasks he was responsible (St Augustine, De Mor. Eccl. Cath. i. 31); and in the legislation of Justinian the word has yet another sense, being applied to the public officers having superintendence of funerals (Novell. 43, 59). In the Visigothic and Anglo-Saxon codes the decanus is a judge of first instance or other legal officer having jurisdiction within a tithing, for every hundred consisted of ten districts, called tithings, and in every tithing was a constable or civil dean. The monastic model was adapted to collegiate and other churches having a large staff of clergy, and the dean in such churches presided over ten canons or prebendaries, though this rule of number does not seem to have been strictly required. In conformity with this, the spiritual governors, the bishops, divided each diocese into deaneries or decennaries (Lat. decem, 'ten'), corresponding to tithings, each of which was the district of ten parishes or churches, over every one of which a dean was appointed, who in the cities or large towns was called the dean of the city or town, and in the country, dean of Christianity, or rural dean. In the English Church there are the following dignitaries who bear this name:
(1) In the province of Canterbury it is part of the dignity of the archbishop to have prelates to be his officers, and of these the Bishop of London is his provincial dean; and when a convocation is assembled, the archbishop sends to him his mandate for summoning the bishops of the province. This is the sole example of the kind.
(2) Honorary Deans, as the Dean of the Chapel Royal of St James's. See CHAPEL ROYAL.
(3) Deans of Peculiars, as of Battle in Sussex, founded by William the Conqueror in memory of his conquest. There are also the Deans of the Arches in London, of Bocking in Essex, and of Croydon in Surrey, who have jurisdiction, but no cure of souls.
(4) Deans of Chapters, as at Canterbury, St Paul's, &c., who are governors over the canons in cathedrals and collegiate churches. Their appointment is in the direct patronage of the crown, which may appoint by letters-patent; and the dean so appointed is entitled to be installed. The dean of a chapter must reside eight months in the year, and he may hold one benefice with his deanery. The income of the office is, in the case of Durham, £3000; of St Paul's, Westminster, York, and Manchester, £2000; of other cathedrals, £1000, except St Davids and Llandaff, which have £700. See CATHEDRAL.
(5) Rural Deans.—This is a very ancient office of the church, but custom gradually transferred its duties to the archdeacon, as in the visitation of churches, parsonage-houses, &c. Rural deans, however, may act as deputies to the bishop and archdeacon; and since 1850 the office has been revived with great advantage, and in well-ordered dioceses affords a useful channel of communication between the bishop and his clergy, and a means of joint action in matters affecting the church. There are altogether nearly six hundred rural deaneries in England and Wales.
In the universities of Oxford and Cambridge the dean is the officer who superintends the discipline of the college and the chapel services. At Christ Church, Oxford, which is a cathedral, the dean is master of the college.
In the Roman Curia the Cardinal-bishop of Ostia is ex officio dean of the College of Cardinals; but while the head of foreign collegiate churches is styled dean, the officer bearing that title in cathedral churches is inferior in rank to the provost in some cases, and in others to the vicar-general; and in feudal times the clerks who acted as deputies for the lay-abbots of impropriated foundations were also styled deans.