Albin, himself an illegitimate child, made his career as a churchman in the local diocese and served for some time as precentor of Brechin Cathedral before, in 1246, being elected Bishop of Brechin. He remained Bishop of Brechin until his death in 1269.
Biography
Background and early career
Albin's family and origin are unclear. It has been suggested that he may have been a son of Henry de Brechin (died 1244 or 1245), the bastard son of David of Huntingdon ("Earl David") and the younger brother of King William the Lion; Henry bore the title Lord of Brechin, and was given lands there by his father. The strongest evidence of Albin's relationship with Henry is that his episcopal seal bore the arms of Earl David.[1]
Late medieval depiction of the coronation of Alexander III, King of the Scots; Albin was presumably present, though Brechin was not one of the senior bishoprics of the kingdom.
Albin's family certainly had strong connections in the church of Brechin. A known kinsman (nepos) of Albin's, Adam, held the position of Archdeacon of Brechin, probably by 1242, but certainly by 1264.[2] It has been suggested that this Adam was Adam de Brechin, probable son of Henry de Brechin's successor William de Brechin (died between 1286 and 1294), who held benefices in the see of Brechin in 1274.[3]
Albin became precentor of Brechin Cathedral, the first known person to hold that office; he was not, however, recorded in that position until the summer of 1246, when he was confirmed as Bishop of Brechin.[4] Because Albin was born illegitimately, he needed papal dispensation to hold that office, which he obtained from the papal legateOtto of Tonengo, Bishop of Porto, in the autumn or early winter of 1239, when that legate visited Scotland.[5]
By 1246, Albin was styled "Master", indicating that he had completed many years of university study; what he studied, and at which university, is unknown.[6]
Accession to Brechin bishopric
Albin became Bishop of Brechin following an election and then a successful appeal for confirmation to the papacy. Pope Innocent IV's mandate for confirmation gave the details of the election. Following the death of Gregory, Bishop of Brechin, the cathedral chapter selected three of their members to elect the next bishop, and they unanimously forwarded their precentor, Albin. Because of Albin's "defect of birth" (i.e. his illegitimacy), they supplicated the papacy to repeat the earlier dispensation.[7]
Albin witnessed a royal charter at Forfar on 4 July 1246.[7] In the following year, on 11 July and 8 August 1248, the Pope wrote to Albin commanding him to ensure that a settlement between Inchaffray Abbey in Strathearn, diocese of Dunblane, and Bishop Clement of Dunblane be peacefully kept, with Inchaffray being portrayed as the side in more need of protection.[9]
In the same period, he ordained vicarages for Arbroath Abbey in Angus, and on 22 September 1248 settled a long-standing property dispute between the church of Brechin and Arbroath Abbey.[10] However, he had left Scotland by the following month, and was in England, at Finchale Priory near Durham, where he granted many indulgences.[11]
Following the death of Alexander II of Scotland on 6 July 1249, the accession of the boy king, Alexander III of Scotland, meant minority administration, and as a result, factional politics. The government during this minority was divided between a faction centred on Walter Comyn, husband of the countess of Menteith, and Alan Durward; the Comyn faction held the ascendancy between 1249 and 1252, and again between 1255 and 1257; the Durward faction held the ascendancy between 1252 and 1255, and again between 1257 and 1258.[12]
The available sources give no clue as to Albin's pattern of allegiance in these factional politics, and neither do his recorded activities. Professor Donald Watt has suggested that Albin was probably aligned with the Durward faction, in contrast, for instance, to the allegedly Comyn aligned Clement of Dunblane.[13] Watt even argued that Albin's postulation was probably due to the influence of Alan Durward, who at the time was a close advisor of King Alexander II.[3]
Middle episcopate, 1250s
Modern photograph of Brechin Cathedral and round tower.
Despite Albin's suggested Durwardite allegiance, Bishop Albin, Bishop David de Bernham of St Andrews and Abel de Gullane, Archdeacon of St Andrews, issued a letter of protest against the behaviour of the Durward dominated government; they criticised Durward's onslaught on the "liberties of the church", probably in the aftermath of the translation of the relics of St Margaret to Dunfermline Abbey on 19 June 1250.[3]
Albin performed various tasks in this period on behalf of the papacy. On 15 May 1253, Bishop Albin and Richard de Inverkeithing, Bishop of Dunkeld, were appointed to be papal mandatories, and instructed by the papacy to protect Bishop William de Bondington from being summoned to lay courts on account of matters concerning his bishopric.[3]
Bishop Albin, with the Archdeacon of Brechin, was named as a papal mandatory again on 4 January 1254 and authorised to put Nicholas de Hedon in possession of the deanery of Elgin Cathedral.[3] Along with Clement of Dunblane, Albin was named by the pope as a conservator of the privileges given to Abel de Gullane, newly provided Bishop of St Andrews, on 23 March.[14]
On 22 June, Bishop Albin assisted the justiciar Alexander Comyn in conducting a perambulation in eastern Angus.[15] Albin appears to have left Scotland again sometime after this, as he appears active around Durham again in either 1254 or 1255.[15] Back in Scotland, at Arbroath on 21 September 1256, he and Bishop Clement of Dunblane passed judgment on William de Mydford, vicar of the parish church of Dundee, after Mydford had been withholding the revenues due to the church's rector, Lindores Abbey.[15]
During this period, Albin was involved in a political controversy regarding succession to an earldom. An alleged papal bull, dated 13 December 1255, had named Bishop Albin as a papal mandatory, along with Robert de Stuteville, with instructions to investigate Alan Durward's claim to the earldom of Mar; however, the bull was denounced as a forgery on 28 March 1257, after Durward's rivals had seized power.[3] During the months preceding this denunciation, Albin was once again out of Scotland; on 4 March 1257 his presence was once again recorded at Durham.[15]
Later episcopate, 1260s
For three years, Albin's activities are unreported until, on 30 April 1260, he was recorded as being at Montrose, again as a papal mandatory. He gave judgment on a dispute between Archibald, Bishop of Moray, and the latter's cathedral chapter, concerning the bishop's rights of visitation.[15] On 13 June 1263, Albin, Robert, Bishop of Ross, and Richard de Inverkeithing, Bishop of Dunkeld, were selected by the papacy to judge the fitness and, if appropriate, consecrate Walter de Baltrodin as Bishop of Caithness.[16]
In the following year, Albin was involved in a controversy regarding the archdeaconry of Brechin. On 23 January 1364, papal judge-delegates were appointed to investigate allegations of nepotism which had been made against him. The allegations centred on Bishop Albin's handling of a vacancy to the Brechin archdeaconry; Albin had given collation of the archdeaconry to the Abbot of Arbroath, who then appointed Adam, one of Albin's relatives.[15] The outcome of the case is not known, and it is therefore unclear whether or not Adam was deposed as archdeacon.[15] All that can be confirmed is that no other archdeacon is attested by name until 1284.[17]
The stay of Cardinal Ottobono Fieschi (later Pope Adrian V) in England from 29 October 1265, until July 1268, led to a great deal of diplomatic activity in the Scottish church, in which Albin was perhaps involved.[18] Cardinal Ottobono imposed a general tax on the English church, which he extended to Scotland. King Alexander III forbade the payment of this money, and appealed to the papacy; but in 1267 the Scottish clergy persuaded Alexander to abandon his appeal, while they made their own reduced payments.[19] Meanwhile, Cardinal Ottobono's legatine council, to which the Scottish church had sent four delegates, promulgated canons for the English church which he expected the Scottish church to incorporate; the Scottish church does not appear to have done so, however.[20]
Bishop Albin witnessed William de Brechin's foundation charter of Maison Dieu chapel, Brechin, sometime between March and July 1267,[15] the last known recorded reference to him until 1269. His death in that year was reported in the Chronicle of Melrose, but without any details of the cause, or location, or Albin's age.[21]
General notes about Albin's episcopate
During Albin's episcopate, the incorporation of the Céli Dé ("vassal of God") into the cathedral chapter was probably brought near to completion. The Céli Dé were the Scottish monks who formed the base of the pre-Reform, pre-13th century monastery of Brechin before it was organised into a bishopric in the 12th century. A bull of Pope Innocent IV of 18 February 1250 stated that:
The brethren who have been wont to be in the church of Brechin were called Keledei and now by change of name are styled canons[22]
These Céli Dé had been proclaimed as part of the secular cathedral by an act of Bishop Gregory, Albin's predecessor.[23]
During his episcopate, Albin is said to have attracted Egbert, an EnglishArabic scholar and Carmelitefriar, to teach in Brechin.[24] A later tradition held that a now obscure local martyr named Stolbrand, "martyr of Brechin", had been translated to Brechin Cathedral during Albin's episcopate; the date given is 2 January but the year is not recorded.[15]
Notes
↑ See references in first paragraph of Watt, Dictionary, s.v. "Albin", p.5, ch. 1.
↑ Watt, Dictionary, p. 6; understanding of possession of the archdeaconry in this period is complicated, as the archdeacon called Adam in 1242 may not be the nepos Adam of 1264; see Watt, Fasti Ecclesiae, p. 54.
↑ Watt, Dictionary, p.7; Watt, Fasti Ecclesiae, p. 54.
↑ Watt, Medieval Church Councils, p. 91; the 19th century Biographical Dictionary of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge attributes to Albin a role not confirmed by other sources.
Clement was a 13th-century Dominican friar who was the first member of the Dominican Order in Britain and Ireland to become a bishop. In 1233, he was selected to lead the ailing diocese of Dunblane in Scotland, and faced a struggle to bring the bishopric of Dunblane to financial viability. This involved many negotiations with the powerful religious institutions and secular authorities which had acquired control of the revenue that would normally have been the entitlement of Clement's bishopric. The negotiations proved difficult, forcing Clement to visit the papal court in Rome. While not achieving all of his aims, Clement succeeded in saving the bishopric from relocation to Inchaffray Abbey. He also regained enough revenue to begin work on the new Dunblane Cathedral.
Abraham was an early 13th-century Scottish cleric who held the position of Bishop of Dunblane. He was a chaplain to the Mormaer of Strathearn, Gille Brígte.
Henry de Lichton [de Lychtone, Leighton] was a medieval Scottish prelate and diplomat, who, serving as Bishop of Moray (1414–1422) and Bishop of Aberdeen (1422–1440), became a significant patron of the church, a cathedral builder, and a writer. He also served King James I of Scotland as a diplomat in England, France, and Italy.
Peter de Ramsay [Ramsey] was a 13th-century cleric based in Scotland. His background and origins are obscure. He was the son of a "cleric in minor orders" and an unmarried girl and, according to John of Fordun, he was of "noble birth". He was probably the son of Ness de Ramsey, a baron of Fife.
Robert de Fyvie [also de Fyvin] was a prelate based in the Kingdom of Scotland in the last quarter of the 13th century. Perhaps coming from Fyvie in Formartine, from a family of Teesdale origin, Robert was Archdeacon of Ross and a student at the University of Bologna by 1269. In 1275, he was not only a graduate but the new Bishop of Ross, a post he held until his death in the first half of the 1290s.
Roger was a churchman based in the 14th century Kingdom of Scotland, and active as Bishop of Ross from 1325 until 1350. Before attaining this position, Roger was a canon of Abernethy; it is possible that Roger was an Augustinian, because it is often thought that Abernethy did not become a collegiate church until some time after 1328, after the marriage of the Abernethy heiress to the Earl of Angus; this however is not certain, as the exact details of Abernethy's transition from being an Céli Dé abbey to an Augustinian priory to a secular college are only vaguely understood.
Roger de Balnebrich [de Balnebrech, de Balnebriech, de Ballinbreth] was a 14th-century Scottish churchman. Roger received a university education, being styled Magister ("Master") by August 1313, though it is not known where he took his degree; the degree, however, was almost certainly done in canon law. His name derives either from Ballinbreich in Fife or Balnabriech, in Brechin, Angus.
Alexander Stewart was a 14th-century Scottish bishop. Probably from Menteith, he appears in the sources from the first half of the 1340s, possessing a university degree and holding the position of Archdeacon of Ross. He was active at the papal curia in the second half of the decade as a papal chaplain and administrator, before being provided as Bishop of Ross in 1350, a position he held until his death in 1371.
Laurence de Ergadia was a thirteenth-century Scottish bishop. Probably from the MacDougall kindred of Argyll, Laurence had become a Dominican friar and presumably university graduate before being elected Bishop of Argyll, an election which took place sometime between 1262 and 1264. Although the election was quashed by the Pope in 1264, the Pope gave him a fresh provision to the bishopric. Laurence appears intermittently in the records during his three and a half decade episcopate, but his activities in his own diocese are badly recorded. He died as Bishop of Argyll sometime in either 1299 or 1300.
Fionnlagh MacCailein or Finlay Colini was a medieval Scottish bishop. Both his early life and the details of his career as Bishop of Dunblane are not well known, however it is known that he held the latter bishopric between 1403 and his death in 1419. He was part of the circle of Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany, and was one of the many clerics from west and central Gaelic-speaking Scotland who benefited from the latter's patronage. He is said to have authorised the construction of the first bridge over the river Allan at Dunblane.
Nicholas de Balmyle, also called Nicholas of St Andrews, was a Scottish administrator and prelate in the late 13th century and early 14th century. A graduate of an unknown university, he served his earliest years as a clergyman at St Andrews, moving on to hold churches in Lothian as well as deputising to two archdeacons of Lothian.
Andrew Magnus was a 14th-century Scottish prelate. Of unknown background, he is recorded for the first time in a document dating to 28 November 1365, holding the position of Archdeacon of Dunblane. Having merely been collated to this position by an ordinary, perhaps the Bishop of Dunblane Walter de Coventre, he received a fresh papal provision on 6 January 1367.
William de Cambuslang was a 14th-century Scottish churchman, presumably coming from a family based at or originating from Cambuslang near Glasgow.
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William O. Tiron. was a late 13th-century Tironensian abbot and bishop in the Kingdom of Scotland. He appears in the extant sources for the first time on 25 April 1276; he is Abbot of Arbroath. According to the Scotichronicon, the work of the 15th-century historian Walter Bower, William's predecessor Adam de Inverlunan had died in 1275, so William probably became abbot in either that year or in 1276.
Jonathan was a churchman and prelate active in late twelfth- and early thirteenth century Strathearn, in the Kingdom of Scotland. He was the Bishop of Dunblane during the time of Gille Brigte of Strathearn, and it was during Jonathan's episcopate that Gille Brigte founded an Augustinian priory at Inchaffray.
John Spalding was a 15th-century churchman based at Brechin in Angus, Scotland. Spalding became Dean of Brechin in 1456; he was confirmed in this position by the Pope on 5 October 1458.
Walter de Coventre was a 14th-century Scottish ecclesiastic. There is no direct evidence of his birthdate, his family, or his family's origin, although he may have come from the region around Abernethy, where a family with the name de Coventre is known to have lived. Walter appeared in the records for the first time in the 1330s, as a student at the University of Paris. From there he went on to the University of Orléans, initially as a student before becoming a lecturer there. He studied the arts, civil law and canon law, and was awarded many university degrees, including two doctorates. His studies were paid for, at least partially, by his benefices in Scotland. Despite holding perhaps more than five benefices at one stage, he did not return to Scotland until the late 1350s.
Gregory of Brechin was a 13th-century prelate based in the Kingdom of Scotland.
John de Crannach was a 15th-century Scottish scholar, diplomat and prelate. Originating in the north-east of Lowland Scotland, he probably came from a family associated with the burgh of Aberdeen. Like many of his relatives, he flourished in the 15th-century Scottish church. After just over a decade at the University of Paris, Crannach became a servant of the then Dauphin Charles (VII).
References
Anderson, Alan Orr, Early Sources of Scottish History: AD 500–1286, 2 Vols, (Edinburgh, 1922)
Cowan, Ian B. & Easson, David E., Medieval Religious Houses: Scotland With an Appendix on the Houses in the Isle of Man, Second Edition, (London, 1976)
Dowden, John, The Bishops of Scotland, ed. J. Maitland Thomson, (Glasgow, 1912)
Hammond, Matthew H., "The Durward family in the thirteenth century", in Steve Boardman & Alasdair Ross (eds.), The Exercise of Power in Medieval Scotland, c.1200–1500, (Dublin, 2003), pp.118–38
Lindsay, William Alexander, Dowden, John, & Thomson, J. Maitland (eds.), Charters, bulls and other documents relating to the Abbey of Inchaffray, chiefly from the originals in the charter chest of the Earl of Kinnoull, (Publications of the Scottish History Society; v. 56; Edinburgh, 1908)
Watt, D. E. R., A Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Graduates to A. D. 1410, (Oxford, 1977)
Watt, D. E. R., Fasti Ecclesiae Scotinanae Medii Aevi ad annum 1638, 2nd Draft, (St Andrews, 1969)
Watt, D. E. R., Medieval Church Councils in Scotland, (Edinburgh, 2000)
Young, Alan, "The Political Role of Walter Comyn, Earl of Menteith During the Minority of Alexander III of Scotland", in K. J. Stringer (ed.), Essays on the nobility of medieval Scotland, (Edinburgh, 1985), pp.131–49
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