Michael Ochiltree

Last updated

Michael Ochiltree
Bishop of Dunblane
Church Roman Catholic Church
See Diocese of Dunblane
In office1429–1446 x 1447
Predecessor William Stephani
Successor Robert Lauder
Orders
Consecration1430 x 1431
Personal details
BornProbably late 14th century
Probably Ochiltree, East Ayrshire
Died1446 x 1447
Dunblane (?), Strathearn, Scotland
Previous post(s) Dean of Dunblane

Michael Ochiltree [Ouchtre] (d. 1445 x 1447) was a 15th-century Scottish prelate and administrator. A close associate of King James I of Scotland, from the late 1410s he rose in rank from canon to Dean of Dunblane and then Bishop of Dunblane. He was responsible for the coronation of King James II of Scotland, and he obtained a grant from the crown which allowed the comparatively small diocese of Dunblane to attain historically unprecedented viability.

Contents

Biography

Early life

He probably came from Ochiltree in East Ayrshire; according to one source, he was the son of a priest and an unmarried woman, though this is contradicted by another source that claims he was the son of a married man and an unmarried woman; he was however certainly regarded as illegitimate, and later had to gain a dispensation for his illegitimacy. [1] As a young man, Ochiltree obtained a Bachelorate in Canon Law from the University of Paris. He became a canon of the diocese of Dunblane and held the vicarage of Strogeith by 1418. [2]

Early career

Ochiltree was involved in a long dispute at the Papal curia over the deanery of Dunblane; his opponents were John Stewart and then John de Keremor. Bishop William Stephani had appointed Ochiltree as dean following the death of the previous dean, probably Donald de Bute; however, the pope appointed John Stewart, M.A., B.L., who was rector of the parish of Flysk and bastard son of King Robert II of Scotland. [3]

Litigation proceeded at Rome. John gave up his claim after 22 September 1421; but, according to the reconstruction of James Hutchison Cockburn, rumours that Ochiltree had been appointed Bishop of the Isles (Sodor) led to John de Keremor petitioning for the vacant deanery. This confusion was apparently produced when a Michael Anchire, priest of the Archdiocese of Dublin, was provided to the see of Sodor. [4] Even if Cockburn is wrong, Keremor was definitely unsuccessful, and Ochiltree retained the deanery. [5]

In 1425 Ochiltree became rector of the church of Inchmagranach in the diocese of Dunkeld, as well as holding the three-year vicarage of Tibbermore, also in Dunkeld. When this three years finished, he became rector of Lilliesleaf in the diocese of Glasgow. However, he surrendered his benefices when, on 22 June 1429, he was provided as Bishop of Dunblane. [6]

Bishop of Dunblane

A chalk lithographic sketch of Dunblane Cathedral published in 1821, a half century before the reconstruction of the cathedral. Dublane Cathedral - David Octavius Hill (1821).jpg
A chalk lithographic sketch of Dunblane Cathedral published in 1821, a half century before the reconstruction of the cathedral.
James I and Joan Beaufort. JoanBeaufortandJames.jpg
James I and Joan Beaufort.

Ochiltree's consecration did not take place immediately. As part of a large group of ambassadors including John Cameron, Bishop of Glasgow and Henry de Lichton, Bishop of Aberdeen, he was sent to England in January 1430 in order to secure peaceful relations while King James dealt with troublesome vassals within his own kingdom. [7] Ochiltree was finally consecrated some time between July 1430 and April 1431. [8]

After the assassination of King James I of Scotland at Perth on 21 February 1437, a rushed coronation took place for his seven-year-old son, who became King James II of Scotland. [9] The coronation had to be done at Holyrood Abbey because Scone, the traditional coronation site, was too dangerous. In these circumstances, Bishop Ochiltree conducted the ceremony of anointment, a role usually reserved for a higher ranking bishop. [7]

Ochiltree's greatest accomplishment transpired in 1442. In this year he persuaded the government of James II to grant the bishopric of Dunblane large tracts taken from the earldom of Strathearn, in royal hands since the execution of its last earl, Walter Stewart, in 1437. This land was conferred with extensive rights, the bishopric became a regality, and the town of Dunblane itself was elevated from an episcopal burgh to a burgh of barony. [10] As Cockburn put it, "For the first time in its history the Cathedral of Dunblane had the promise of sufficient revenue". [2]

Michael Ochiltree and the crown

Ochiltree's career rise and the success of his episcopate were due, in large part, to the relationship he had with the Scottish royal family. He had been an "intimate friend" of King Robert III of Scotland and his wife Anabella Drummond, and then James I and his wife Joan Beaufort. Indeed, Ochiltree, despite his relatively low birth, had been brought up at the royal court. [2] King James I called him "the familiar, the domestic and commensal of himself, his father and his mother". [2] He spent a good period of time as Almoner-General to James I. [11] His relationship with Queen Joan seems to have been particularly valuable, and it was probably her influence that led to the grant of 1442. [1]

Death

Bishop Michael appears in the sources for the last time on 23 September 1446, witnessing a charter at Perth. [12] His successor(s) as bishop had been elected and provided sometime before 27 October 1447, meaning that the date of his death fell between these two dates. [8] As well as the 1442 grant, he is remembered as having built the "Bishop's Bridge" between Ardoch and Muthill, and to have reconstituted the church at the latter location. [13] He is also remembered for his frequent attendance at parliament, for which he was, among other things, an auditor of accounts. [14] Cockburn, minister and historian, asserted that "Since Clement, no Bishop of Dunblane had occupied the See with such comprehensive competence as Michael". [14]

Notes

  1. 1 2 McGladdery, "Ochiltree, Michael (d. 1445x7)".
  2. 1 2 3 4 Cockburn, Medieval Bishops, p. 143.
  3. ↑ Cockburn, Medieval Bishops, p. 137; Watt, Fasti Ecclesiae, p. 81.
  4. ↑ See Cockburn, Medieval Bishops, pp. 137–8; see also Dowden, Bishops, p. 206.
  5. ↑ Watt, Fasti Ecclesiae, p. 81; see also preceding note.
  6. ↑ Cockburn, Medieval Bishops, p. 139; Watt, Fasti Ecclesiae, p. 77.
  7. 1 2 Cockburn, Medieval Bishops, p. 140.
  8. 1 2 Watt, Fasti Ecclesiae, p. 77.
  9. ↑ Brown, "James I (1394–1437)".
  10. ↑ Cockburn, Medieval Bishops, pp. 142–3; McGladdery, "Ochiltree, Michael (d. 1445x7)".
  11. ↑ Cockburn, Medieval Bishops, p. 143; Dowden, Bishops, p. 206; McGladdery, "Ochiltree, Michael (d. 1445x7)".
  12. ↑ Cockburn, Medieval Bishops, p. 147; Watt, Fasti Ecclesiae, p. 77.
  13. ↑ Cockburn, Medieval Bishops, p. 146.
  14. 1 2 Cockburn, Medieval Bishops, p. 147.

Related Research Articles

John de Ralston was a 15th-century Scottish bishop and administrator. He was regarded as illegitimate, although today his parents are not known. Ralston appears in the records for the first time in 1426, where he is chaplain and secretary to Archibald Douglas, 5th Earl of Douglas. He retained this position on the death of Douglas in 1439. Between 1429 and 1443 he served as the fourth provost of Bothwell Collegiate Church, the home church of the Douglas earls. On 26 November 1445 he became dean of the diocese of Dunkeld.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Cockburn</span>

Robert Cockburn was a 16th-century Scottish diplomat and cleric.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John de Winchester</span>

John de Winchester was a 15th-century English cleric who distinguished himself as an administrator and bishop in Scotland. Winchester was a student of canon law from 1418, graduating with a bachelorate in 1421.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Stewart (bishop of Moray)</span> Scottish prelate and administrator

Andrew Stewart was a 15th-century Scottish prelate and administrator.

Robert Lauder was a Scottish prelate and Nuncio of the 15th century. The Lauder family produced a large number of senior churchman in this period, and alongside Robert can be named William Lauder, Bishop of Glasgow, Alexander Lauder and Thomas Lauder, both Bishop of Dunkeld, and George Lauder, Bishop of Argyll.

William Stephen, sometimes William Stephani, was a medieval prelate based in Scotland, who became Bishop of Orkney and then Bishop of Dunblane. A reader in divinity at the University of St Andrews at its first establishment, he was provided by Avignon Pope Benedict XIII as Bishop of Orkney 15 November 1415. He was a canon of Moray at this date. The consecration took place at the Papal court.

Thomas Tulloch [de Tulloch] was a prelate active in the Kingdom of Scotland in the 15th century. A letter of Pope Martin V in 1429 claimed that he was "of a great noble race by both parents". Robert Keith believed that he had the surname "Urquhart", but that is not supported by the contemporary evidence and is probably spurious.

Simon is the third known 12th century Bishop of Dunblane. Nothing is known of Simon's background as there are numerous Simons in Scotland in this period, both native and foreign. There is a Symon de Liberatione who witnessed a charter of King William the Lion and whom Watt and Murray suggested may have been the later Bishop of Dunblane, while there was in the same decade a local landholder and ecclesiastical patron in the diocese of Dunblane called Simón son of Mac Bethad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicholas de Balmyle</span> Roman Catholic bishop

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.

Radulf is an obscure churchman in early 13th-century Scotland, elected as Bishop of Dunblane some time between 1223 and 1225. The first of only two notices of his existence occurs in an Arbroath Abbey deed where he is styled "Radulf elect of Dunblane"; the document can be dated to 1223–1225. On 12 January 1226 Pope Honorius III instructed the Bishop of St Andrews, the Bishop of Moray and the Bishop of Caithness, to enjoin a new election for the bishopric of Dunblane, as "R. elected Bishop of Dunblane" had resigned in the Pope's presence a short time before. There are no clues as to Radulf's career after that. The Cathedral chapter of the diocese elected one Osbert in his place. Cockburn suggested Radulf was probably a Frenchman who had immigrated to Scotland, who got elected Bishop, but decided he would rather stay in Continental Europe after he travelled there for consecration, perhaps being offered a better post there.

Walter Stewart was a 15th-century churchman in the Kingdom of Scotland. He was a cousin of King James II of Scotland, being like King James a grandson to King Robert III of Scotland.

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 Herspolz or John Hepburn was Bishop of Dunblane. On the day of the resignation of the bishopric of Dunblane by Robert Lauder at the papal curia – 12 September 1466 – Pope Paul II provided Herspolz/Hepburn as Lauder's successor.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Chisholm (bishop)</span>

James Chisholm, Bishop of Dunblane, was the eldest son of Edmund Chisholm, the first Chisholm to own the estate of Cromlix in Dunblane parish, Strathearn, having moved from the Scottish Borders. In his early years as a clergyman, he was a chaplain to King James III of Scotland; the king apparently sent him to Rome for some time.

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.

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

Religious titles
Preceded by
Donald de Bute
 Dean of Dunblane
1419 x 1420–1429		Succeeded by
Robert de Crannach
Preceded by Bishop of Dunblane
1429–1446 x 1447		Succeeded by
Walter Stewart (unconsecrated)
Robert Lauder
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.