Whithorn Priory was a medieval Scottish monastery that also served as a cathedral, located at 6 Bruce Street in Whithorn, Wigtownshire, Dumfries and Galloway.
The Abbot of Kelso was the head of the Tironensian monastic community at Kelso Abbey in the Scottish Borders. The Abbey was originally founded at Selkirk in 1113 by David, Prince of the Cumbrians, and thus the first three Abbots were Abbot of Selkirk. It was moved to Kelso by David and John, Bishop of Glasgow in 1127. The abbot was the first in Scotland to be granted the mitre in 1165. In the 16th century the monastery increasingly came under secular control, and finally in 1607 it was granted as a secular lordship (Holydean) to its last commendator, Robert Ker of Cesford, later Earl of Roxburghe. The following is a list of abbots and commendators:
The Abbot and then Commendator of Culross was the head of the monastic community of Culross Abbey, Fife, Scotland. The abbey was founded in 1218 on the patronage of Maol Choluim I, Earl of Fife by Cistercian monks from Kinloss Abbey, Moray. Control of the abbey was secularized in the 16th century and after the accession of James Stewart, the abbey was held by commendators. The number of monks under the abbot had also declined by the 16th century, there being only 15 monks by 1557.
The Abbot of Inchaffray, before 1221 Prior of Inchaffray, and then by the end of the 15th century, the Commendator of Inchaffray, was the head of the community of Augustinian canons of Inchaffray Abbey and their lands. Inchaffray is in Strathearn, in southern Perthshire, Scotland. The house was founded by Gille Brigte (Gilbert), mormaer of Strathearn in 1200 as a priory and was elevated to an abbey in 1221. By the late 15th century the monastery was becoming secularized. and after the resignation of Abbot George Mureff (Murray) in 1495, Laurence, Lord Oliphant, took over as commendator and thereafter it was held by commendators. It was turned into a secular lordship for Commendator James Drummond, Lord Maddertie, but the final formalization of the lordship did not come until 1669, when it was given to William Drummond.
The Abbot of Scone, before 1163 x 4, Prior of Scone, and then by the beginning of the 16th century, the Commendator of Scone, was the head of the community of Augustinian canons of Scone Abbey and their lands. The priory was established by King Alaxandair mac Maíl Choluim sometime between 1114 and 1120, and was elevated to the status of an abbey in 1163 or 1164. The abbey was turned into a secular lordship for William Ruthven, 1st Earl of Gowrie in 1581, but was forfeited when the earl was executed in 1584, given to William Foularton in the same year, but restored to the earl's son, James Ruthven, 2nd Earl of Gowrie. An independent secular lordship was established for David Murray in 1608.
St Andrews Cathedral Priory was a priory of Augustinian canons in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland. It was one of the great religious houses in Scotland, and instrumental in the founding of the University of St Andrews.
The Prior of Loch Leven was the head of lands and of the community Augustinian canons of St Serf's Inch Priory, Loch Leven. There was a Scottish Céli Dé establishment there in the first half of the 12th century, allegedly found by Bruide, son of Dargart, King of the Picts (696–706). When the Augustinian priory was founded in 1150, the Scottish monks were absorbed into the established and those who refused to join were to be expelled. Not all of the priors are known. The most famous prior undoubtedly was the chronicler, Andrew de Wyntoun. Following more than four centuries of Augustinian monastic life and the resignation of the last prior, the Protestant king, James VI of Scotland, granted the priory to St Leonard's College, St Andrews.
The Prior of Inchmahome was the head of the community of Augustinian canons at Inchmahome Priory, on Inchmahome in the Lake of Menteith, in Highland Stirlingshire, Scotland. The following is a list of priors and commendators:
The Abbot of Fearn was the head of the Premonstratensian monastic community of Fearn Abbey, Easter Ross, Scotland. The Abbey was founded by canons from Whithorn Priory in Galloway, with the patronage of Fearchar mac an t-Sagairt, mormaer/earl of Ross. The foundation took place in the 1220s, according to the two distinct foundation dates given in the sources, either in 1221 or in 1227. Until about 1238, the Abbey was located at Fearn, near Edderton, but it was moved to the Tarbat parish in that year and known thereafter as "nova Furnia". Despite the fact that the head of Whithorn Priory was a prior and Fearn an abbot, Fearn seems to have remained subordinate to Whithorn until at least the end of the 14th century, and even in 1440 Abbot Fionnlagh II was confirmed by the prior of Whithorn.The reason for this is that Whithorn was a cathedral priory; the nominal head of its community was the bishop, but its actual head was the prior, as was the common use in England at places like Durham and Carlisle, but this was not usual in Scotland. In these circumstances the cathedral prior had the same rights as an ordinary abbot.
The Abbot of Holyrood was the head of the Augustinian monastic community of Holyrood Abbey, now in Edinburgh. The long history of the abbey came to a formal end in July 1606 when the parliament of Scotland turned the abbey into a secular lordship for the last commendator, John Bothwell. The following is a list of abbots and commendators:
The Abbot of Newbattle was the head of the Cistercian monastic community of Newbattle Abbey, Midlothian. It was founded by David I of Scotland in 1140.
Monymusk Priory was a house of Augustinian canons based at Monymusk in Mar, Aberdeenshire. It began as a Culdee foundation but later became Augustinian.
The Prior of Blantyre was the head of the medieval community of Augustinian canons based at Blantyre Priory. It was founded between 1239 and 1248, but the first prior is not known by name until 1296. Few of the priors are known thereafter until records become more extensive in the 16th century. The following is a list of known priors and commendators:
The Prior of May then Prior of Pittenweem was the religious superior of the Benedictine monks of Isle of May Priory, which later moved to the mainland became called Pittenweem Priory. The priory was originally based on the Isle of May, but was moved by 1318 to its nearby mainland site of Pittenweem, Fife, passing from the overlordship of Reading Abbey (Benedictine) to St Andrews Cathedral Priory (Augustinian). The following is a list of priors and commendators:
The Prior of Coldingham was the head of the Benedictine monastic community of Coldingham Priory in Berwickshire. Coldingham Priory was founded in the reign of David I of Scotland, although his older brother and predecessor King Edgar of Scotland had granted the land of Coldingham to the Church of Durham in 1098, and a church was constructed by him and presented in 1100 AD. The first prior is on record by the year 1147, although an earlier foundation is almost certain. The monastic cell was a dependent of Durham until the 1370s, and in 1378 King Robert II of Scotland expelled the Durham monks; for the following century the cell had two priors, one chosen by Durham and one chosen by the Scots. It became a dependent of Dunfermline Abbey. It was subject to increasingly secular control from the late 15th century into the 16th century. The following is a list of priors and commendators:
The Prior of Pluscarden was the head of the monastic community and lands of Pluscarden Priory, Moray, Scotland. The Priory was founded in 1230 by King Alexander II of Scotland for the Valliscaulian Order. In March 1454 it incorporated the foundering neighbouring establishment of Urquhart Priory and became a dependency of Dunfermline Abbey, whence it became Benedictine. The following are a list of abbots and commendators:
John Woodman [Wodman] was a 15th-century churchman based in the Kingdom of Scotland. Woodman was a canon of the diocese of St Andrews, and as such was locally made Prior of Pittenweem on the death of the previous prior, James Kennedy, Bishop of St Andrews; however, he was opposed by one Walter Monypenny, while the new bishop, Patrick Graham, desired the position for himself. Woodman had lost litigation for this post to Monypenny by 17 September 1466, and possession to the bishop, though Woodman was still claiming this priory as late as 1477 when he became Bishop of Ross.
The Church of St Mary on the Rock or St Mary's Collegiate Church, was a secular college of priests based on the seaward side of St Andrews Cathedral, St Andrews, just beyond the precinct walls. It is known by a variety of other names, such as St Mary of the Culdees, Kirkheugh and Church of St Mary of Kilrymont.
James Haldenston or James Haldenstoun was an Augustinian churchman from 15th-century Scotland. Probably from somewhere in eastern Fife, Haldenston became an Augustinian at St Andrews, earned several degrees on the continent, and became prior of May before becoming prior of St Andrews, head of the wealthiest and most important religious house in Scotland.
The Dean and Chapter of St Paul's Cathedral was the titular corporate body of St Paul's Cathedral in London up to the end of the twentieth century. It consisted of the dean and the canons, priests attached to the cathedral who were known as "prebendaries" because of the source of their income. The Dean and Chapter was made up of a large number of priests who would meet "in chapter", but such meetings were infrequent and the actual governance was done by the Administrative Chapter headed by the dean, made up of several senior "residentiary canons", who were also known as the "Dean and Canons of St Paul’s" or simply "The Chapter".
