The episcopal see of Exeter was created in the 11th century. In 1027, Lyfing became Bishop of Crediton and shortly after became Bishop of St. Germans . He united the two sees, whose territory covered Devon and Cornwall respectively, and chose the cathedral at Crediton for his seat.

In 1050 Lyfing's successor, Bishop Leofric, moved the seat of the united see from Crediton to Exeter, thus making the abbey church of St. Peter's monastery Exeter Cathedral and making himself the first Bishop of Exeter. In 1877, the Diocese of Exeter was redivided along the Devon-Cornwall border by Bishop Henry Phillpotts, creating the Diocese of Truro.

• Leofric - 1050
• Osbern FitzOsbern - 1072
• William Warelwast - 1107
• Robert Warelwast - 1138
• Robert of Chichester - 1155
• Bartholomew Iscanus - 1161
• John the Chanter - 1186
• Henry Marshal - 1194
• Simon Apulia - 1214
• William Bruere - 1223
• Richard Blundy - 1245
• Walter Branscombe - 1258
• Peter Quinel - 1280
• Thomas Bitton - 1291
• Walter Stapledon - 1308
• James Berkeley - 1326
• John Godeley - 1327
• John Grandisson - 1327
• Thomas Brantingham - 1370
• Edmund Stafford - 1395
• John Catterick - 1419
• Edmund Lacey - 1420
• John Hales - 1455
• George Neville - 1456
• John Booth - 1465
• Peter Courtenay - 1478
• Richard Fox - 1487
• Oliver King - 1492
• Richard Redman - 1495
• John Arundel - 1502
• Hugh Oldham - 1504
• John Veysey - 1519
• Miles Coverdale - 1551
• John Veysey (again) - 1553
• James Turberville - 1555
• William Alleyn - 1560
• William Bradbridge - 1571
• John Woolton - 1579
• Geravse Babington - 1594
• William Cotton - 1598
• Valentine Carey - 1621
• Joseph Hall - 1627
• Ralph Brownrigg - 1642
• John Gauden - 1660
• Seth Ward - 1662
• Anthony Sparrow - 1667
• Thomas Lamplugh - 1676
• Jonathan Trelawney - 1688
• Offspring Blackall - 1708
• Lancelot Blackburn - 1717
• Stephen Weston - 1724
• Nicholas Claget - 1742
• George Lavington - 1746
• Frederick Keppel - 1762
• John Ross - 1778
• William Buller - 1792
• Henry Reginald Courtenay - 1797
• John Fisher - 1803
• George Pelham - 1807
• William Carey - 1820
• Christopher Bethell - 1830
• Henry Phillpotts - 1830
• Frederick Temple - 1869
• Edward Henry Bickerseth - 1885
• Herbert Edward Ryle - 1900
• Archibald Robertson - 1903
• Rupert Ernest William Gascoyne Cecil - 1916
• Charles Edward Curzon - 1936
• Robert Cecil Mortimer - 1949
• Eric Arthur John Mercer - 1973
• Geoffrey Hewlett Thompson - 1985
• Michael Langrish - 2000