"We now come to consider the means by which the Archbishop of Canterbury communicated with his province as a whole.... This bring us to the work performed by the Bishop of London under the designation of Dean of the Province. Certainly from the thirteenth century onwards and probably earlier, the procedure adopted when some information had to be circulated throughout the whole province was for the Archbishop to issue a mandate to the Bishop of London for the time being, informing him of what was required and instructing him to convey to the other suffragans of the province the contents of the mandate. The earliest examples of this practice so far known are two mandates of Archbishop Stephen Langhton at the end of 1225 and beginning of 1226..... There are several instances recorded in the twelfth century where the title of Dean was applied to the Bishop of London. The papal bull of Innocent III in 1204v confirming to the Bishop of London his position as first in dignity among the bishops of the province of Canterbury may also refer to this status." Page 355.