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William the Lion, sometimes styled William I and also known by the nickname Garbh, 'the Rough',, reigned as King of Scots from 1165 to 1214. His 48-year-long reign was the second longest in Scottish history, and the longest for a Scottish monarch before the Union of the Crowns in 1603.
The Bishop of Dunkeld is the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Dunkeld, one of the largest and more important of Scotland's 13 medieval bishoprics, whose first recorded bishop is an early 12th-century cleric named Cormac. However, the first known abbot dates to the 10th century, and it is often assumed that in Scotland in the period before the 12th century, the roles of both bishop and abbot were one and the same. The Bishopric of Dunkeld ceased to exist as a Catholic institution after the Scottish Reformation but continued as a royal institution into the 17th century. The diocese was restored by Pope Leo XIII on 4 March 1878; it is now based in the city of Dundee.
The Bishop of St. Andrews was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of St Andrews in the Catholic Church and then, from 14 August 1472, as Archbishop of St Andrews, the Archdiocese of St Andrews.
Gregoir, Bishop of Dunkeld, served as Bishop of Dunkeld in the middle of the 12th century. Before being raised to the bishopric by King David I of Scotland, he was the abbot of Dunkeld. King David entrusted certain lands to Gregory, who was to hold them until there were canons on the island of St. Colme's Inch, a charge accomplished before 1169. The lands so entrusted included the island itself, “Kincarnathar”, and Donibristle. Gregory appears in a great number of charters dating to the reigns of David I and Máel Coluim IV of Scotland, the earliest of which may date to 1135, although 1146 is the first firm date, when he appears alongside Bishop Andreas of Caithness in the Gaelic notitiae on the Book of Deer. He is not the last Gaelic bishop of the diocese, but his death marks the end of dominance of the bishopric by principally Gaelic-speaking bishops.
Cellach I is traditionally said to have been the first Bishop of the Scots, the bishopric later based at St. Andrews. He is mentioned in the historical writings of Walter Bower and Andrew of Wyntoun as a bishop of St. Andrews, but no pre-15th century sources say anything more than merely "Bishop". Wyntoun and Bower make him bishop as early as the reign of King Giric of Scotland (877x878-885x889). He was still bishop in the reign of King Causantín II of Scotland in 906 when, "in his sixth year King Causantín and Bishop Cellach met at the hill of belief near the royal city of Scone and pledged themselves that the laws and disciplines of the faith, and the laws of churches and gospels, should be kept in conformity with the customs of the Gaels". One interpretation of this passage is the demise of the "Pictish church" to the reforming Gaels, however it is certain that by the 15th century the bishop-list of the principal Scottish see was looking back at Cellach as its first bishop. His death date is unknown, but unsurprisingly he was certainly dead by the 960s when his successor Fothad I died as bishop.
Roger de Beaumont was a 12th and 13th century Bishop of St Andrews.
John Scotus was a 12th-century bishop of St. Andrews and Dunkeld.
Hugh the Chaplain was the royal Chaplain of King William I of Scotland before becoming Bishop of Cell Rígmonaid (St Andrews), the highest ranking Scottish see of the period. After the death of Bishop Richard, King William selected Hugh to succeed to the bishopric in 1178. However, unbeknown to the king, the chapter elected their archdeacon, John l'Escot, as bishop. The king saw to Hugh's election and consecration in the same year. There followed a five-year struggle for the bishopric. John travelled to appeal to Pope Alexander III, who quashed the case of Hugh and sent to Scotland a man named Alexius as legate. Alexius obtained entrance to William's kingdom, and consecrated John at Holyrood Abbey in the presence of four other Scottish bishops, in the year 1180. Nevertheless, the struggle continued, and in 1183, both John and Hugh resigned their rights. Despite the fact that Hugh received the bishopric and John took the Bishopric of Dunkeld in compensation, dispute over revenues continued. When Hugh refused to answer his summons to Rome in 1186, he was suspended and excommunicated, with the diocese being put under interdict. Hugh travelled to Rome and obtained absolution, but he died of the pestilence in that city a few days later.
Patrick Graham was a 15th-century Bishop of Brechin and Bishop of St. Andrews; he was also the first Archbishop of St. Andrews.
Robert Blackadder was a medieval Scottish cleric, diplomat and politician, who was abbot of Melrose, bishop-elect of Aberdeen and bishop of Glasgow; when the last was elevated to archiepiscopal status in 1492, he became the first ever archbishop of Glasgow. Archbishop Robert Blackadder died on 28 July 1508, while en route to Jerusalem on pilgrimage.
Walter de Bidun was a clerk of King William of Scotland, Chancellor of Scotland and Bishop-elect of Dunkeld. Walter was a witness to a charter that granted the mainland properties of Iona Abbey, then under the rule of the Lord of the Isles, to the Monks of Holyrood Abbey. He was elected to the bishopric of Dunkeld in 1178 after the death of the previous bishop, Richard. However, Walter did not live long enough to receive consecration, and in fact he too met his death in the year 1178.
Richard de Prebenda was an early 13th-century bishop of Dunkeld. He had previously been a clerk of King William of Scotland and was appointed to the bishopric in 1203. Records indicate a commission of Pope Innocent III attempting to resolve a dispute between Richard and the prior of St Andrews regarding control of the church of Meigle. He died in May 1210, at Cramond in Midlothian, and was buried on the island of Inchcolm.
John de Leicester was an early 13th-century bishop of Dunkeld. Before becoming bishop, he had been archdeacon of Lothian. He was elected to the bishopric on 22 July 1211. As bishop-elect, he is present when King William of Scotland paid homage to King John of England in 1212. He had been consecrated by June 1212, when a letter from Pope Innocent III to Walter, bishop of Glasgow, and Radulphus, bishop of Brechin, writes of the election and consecration of John, archdeacon of Lothian. John's episcopate would only last a few years; he died on 7 October 1214. His death occurred at Cramond, Midlothian, and was buried on Inchcolm.
The Prior, then Abbot and then Commendator of Dunfermline was the head of the Benedictine monastic community of Dunfermline Abbey, Fife, Scotland. The abbey itself was founded in 1128 by King David I of Scotland, but was of earlier origin. King Máel Coluim mac Donnchada had founded a church there with the help of Benedictines from Canterbury. Monks had been sent there in the reign of Étgar mac Maíl Choluim and Anselm had sent a letter requesting that Étgar's brother and successor King Alaxandair mac Maíl Coluim protect these monks. By 1120, when Alaxandair sent a delegation to Canterbury to secure Eadmer for the bishopric of St Andrews, there is a Prior of the Dunfermline monks by the name of Peter leading the delegation. Control of the abbey was secularized in the 16th century and after the accession of James Stewart in 1500, the abbey was held by commendators. In the second half of the 16th century, the abbey's lands were being carved up into lordships and it was finally annexed to the crown in July, 1593.
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:
Thomas Lauder was a 15th-century Scottish churchman. A graduate of the University of Paris, he served the Scottish king at the Council of Basel in the 1430s. Before he rose to the position of Bishop of Dunkeld, he had been Master of the famous hospital at Soutra Aisle, and the tutor to King James II of Scotland.
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.
George Brown was a late 15th-century and early 16th-century Scottish churchman. He first appears on record in 1478 as the rector of the church of Tyningham, and is called a clerk of the diocese of Brechin. In 1482, he was selected to be Chancellor of the diocese of Aberdeen.
Robert Cockburn was a 16th-century Scottish diplomat and cleric.
Andrew Bruce (c.1630–1699) was a 17th-century Scottish churchman who served as both Protestant Bishop of Dunkeld and Protestant Bishop of Orkney.
References
- Dowden, John, The Bishops of Scotland, ed. J. Maitland Thomson, (Glasgow, 1912)
