Elgin is a historic town and formerly a royal burgh in Moray, Scotland. It is the administrative and commercial centre for Moray. The town originated to the south of the River Lossie on the higher ground above the floodplain where the town of Birnie is. There, the church of Birnie Kirk was built in 1140 and serves the community to this day.
Lossiemouth is a town in Moray, Scotland. Originally the port belonging to Elgin, it became an important fishing town. Although there has been over 1,000 years of settlement in the area, the present day town was formed over the past 250 years and consists of four separate communities that eventually merged into one. From 1890 to 1975, it was a police burgh as Lossiemouth and Branderburgh.
Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan, called the Wolf of Badenoch, was a Scottish royal prince, the third son of King Robert II of Scotland by his first wife Elizabeth Mure. He was Justiciar of Scotia and held large territories in the north of Scotland.
Elgin Cathedral, a historic ruin in Elgin, Moray, northeast Scotland, was dedicated to the Holy Trinity. It was established in 1224 on land granted by King Alexander II and stood outside the burgh of Elgin, close to the River Lossie. It replaced the cathedral at Spynie located 3 kilometres (2 mi) to the north, which was served by a small chapter of eight clerics. By 1226, the new and developing cathedral was staffed with 18 canons, a number that increased to 23 by 1242. A damaging fire in 1270 led to significant enlargement. It remained unscathed during the Wars of Scottish Independence but suffered extensive fire damage in 1390 when attacked by Robert III's brother Alexander Stewart, Earl of Buchan, also known as the Wolf of Badenoch. In 1402, the cathedral precinct faced another incendiary attack by the Lord of the Isles followers.
The Diocese of Aberdeen was originally believed to be the direct continuation of an 11th-century bishopric at Mortlach in present-day Moray. However, this early date and the first bishops were based on a misinterpretation and reliance on the early charters found in the cartulary of Aberdeen Cathedral. These charters are now known to be false. The first recorded bishop of the diocese was Nectan, mentioned in the Book of Deer around 1132. The earliest direct written evidence of a bishop in Aberdeen appears in a papal bull addressed to Bishop Edward in 1157. This bull acknowledged the existence of his cathedral, discussed the formation of a chapter, and marked the beginning of the diocesan expansion.
The Bishop of Moray or Bishop of Elgin was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Moray in northern Scotland, one of Scotland's 13 medieval bishoprics. If the foundation charter of the monastery at Scone is reliable, then the Bishopric of Moray was in existence as early as the reign of King Alexander I of Scotland (1107–1124), but was certainly in existence by 1127, when one Gregoir ("Gregorius") is mentioned as "Bishop of Moray" in a charter of king David I of Scotland. The bishopric had its seat at Elgin and Elgin Cathedral, but was severally at Birnie, Kinneddar and as late as Bishop Andreas de Moravia at Spynie, where the bishops continued to maintain a palace. The Bishopric's links with Rome ceased to exist after the Scottish Reformation, but continued, saving temporary abolition between 1638 and 1661, under the episcopal Church of Scotland until the Revolution of 1688. Episcopacy in the established church in Scotland was permanently abolished in 1689. The Bishops fortified seat for over 500 years was at Spynie Palace.
Spynie Palace, also known as Spynie Castle, was the fortified seat of the Bishops of Moray for about 500 years in Spynie, Moray, Scotland. The founding of the palace dates back to the late 12th century. It is situated about 500 m from the location of the first officially settled Cathedral Church of the Diocese of Moray, Holy Trinity Church in present-day Spynie Churchyard. For most of its occupied history, the castle was not described as a palace — this term first appeared in the Registry of Moray in a writ of 1524.
Bricius was prior of Lesmahagow and afterward bishop of Moray.
Andreas de Moravia was a 13th-century Scottish bishop. He was a younger son of Hugh de Moravia, from the family of Flemish origin who were lords of Duffus and other areas in the Greater Moray region in this period. In the time of Bishop Bricius' episcopate (1203–1222), there was a man called "Andreas" who was rector of the church of St. Peter at Duffus, and this may well have been this Andreas. He may also have been a native Scot.
Fetternear Bishop's Palace is an archaeological site of what was one of the palaces of the medieval bishops of Aberdeen. It is near Kemnay in Aberdeenshire. Later, a ruined tower-house and mansion of Fetternear House were built on part of the site.
Spynie was a seaport, burgh and ancient parish in Moray, Scotland, that survives as a small hamlet and civil parish. It is the location of the ruins of Spynie Palace, which was the principal residence of the Bishops of Moray between the 12th and 17th centuries, and the churchyard of Holy Trinity Church, Spynie, which served as the cathedral of the Diocese of Moray between 1207 and 1224.
Columba de Dunbar was Bishop of Moray from 1422 until his death at Spynie Palace near Elgin sometime before 7 November 1435.
The Diocese of Moray was one of the most important of the medieval dioceses of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland. Its territory was in central northern Scotland.
William was a 12th-century prelate based in the Kingdom of Scotland. He occurs in the records for the first time as Bishop of Moray in 1152 x 24 May 1153, late in the reign of King David I of Scotland (1124–53) witnessing a grant from that monarch of the church of Clackmannan to the Abbot of Cambuskenneth. The precise date of his accession is unknown but was probably in 1152.
Richard de Lincoln was a medieval Anglo-Norman prelate. Although of English origin, he was a royal clerk in the administration of King William of Scotland. With royal support, he was elected Bishop of Moray on 1 March 1187 and was consecrated at St Andrews on 15 March by Bishop Hugh. His appointment during the rebellion of Donald MacWilliam in the north was to a dilapidated diocese. Only after MacWilliam's defeat in July could Bishop Richard begin the strengthening of his see. His episcopate marked an increase in royal patronage directed at the diocese of Moray. He witnessed many charters during his episcopate. He died in 1203, and was succeeded by Bricius de Douglas.
William de Spynie was a Scottish prelate. He was a canon of Moray by 1363 and Precentor (Chanter) of Aberdeen in 1371. By 1372 x 1373, he had exchanged the latter position with William Boyl for the Precentorship of Moray. He had become Dean of Aberdeen by 1388. It is possible he had become Dean of Dunkeld in 1397, though this may be a mistake in the source, "Aberdeen" rather than "Dunkeld" being meant. At any rate, in that year he was elected as the Bishop of Moray. He travelled to France and on September 1397 was consecrated as Bishop.
Patrick Hepburn was a 16th-century Scottish prelate. He served as both pre- and post-Reformation Bishop of Moray.
Alexander Bur was a 14th-century Scottish cleric. It is highly possible that Bur came from somewhere in or around Aberdeenshire, although that is not certain and is only based on the knowledge that Aberdeenshire is where other people bearing his surname come from in this period. He entered the service of King David II of Scotland sometime after 1343, perhaps as a member of David's exiled court at Château Gaillard. Although Alexander by this point in time already held prebends in both the bishopric of Aberdeen and the bishopric of Dunkeld, on that date King David petitioned Pope Clement VI for another canonry in the bishopric of Moray. Alexander had become a royal clerk and had obtained a Licentiate in Canon Law by 1350. By the latter date, upon the death of Adam Penny, Archdeacon of Moray, Alexander himself became Archdeacon.
Birnie Kirk is a 12th century parish church located near Elgin, in Moray, Scotland. It was the first cathedral of the Bishop of Moray and is one of the oldest in Scotland to have been in continuous use. The graveyard, symbol stone and archaeological remains under the church have been designated a scheduled monument by Historic Environment Scotland.
Kinneddar is a small settlement on the outskirts of Lossiemouth in Moray, Scotland, near the main entrance to RAF Lossiemouth. Long predating the modern town of Lossiemouth, Kinneddar was a major monastic centre for the Pictish kingdom of Fortriu from the 6th or 7th centuries, and the source of the important collection of Pictish stones called the Drainie Carved Stones. The Kirk of Kinneddar was the cathedral of the Diocese of Moray between 1187 and 1208, and remained an important centre of diocesan administration and residence of the Bishop of Moray through the 13th and 14th centuries.
