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.
Fothad II was the bishop of St Andrews (1059–1093) for most of the reign of King Máel Coluim III mac Donnchada. Alternative spellings include Fodhoch, Fothach and Foderoch, and Fothawch. A "Modach filius Malmykel" is mentioned in a grant, dated 1093, as the bishop of S. Andrews. As this bishop is certainly Fothad II, his father was a man named Máel Míchéil.
Fothad I is the second alleged Bishop of the Scots (906x955). We know he had the status of "bishop" during the reign of King Dub mac Maíl Coluim because the Chronicle of the Kings of Alba has his death in the period of his reign (962-967). Such a date is supported by the Irish annals, and according to the Annals of the Four Masters, he died in 963. According to the latter source, he was Fothadh, mac Brain, scribhnidh & espucc Insi Alban; that is, "Fothad, son of Bran, scribe and bishop of the islands of Scotland". This entry taken on its own obviously places some doubt on his status as a bishop of St Andrews. It is only because he is mentioned as a bishop of St. Andrews in the bishop-lists of Walter Bower and Andrew of Wyntoun that he is identified with this see; however no pre-15th century sources actually confirm this, although it is true that there was definitely a bishop of this name in the 11th century. Bower, however, gives some explanation, telling us that Fothad "was driven out by King Indolff; and after his expulsion from the see he lived for 8 years". This Indolff, or King Idulb mac Causantín reigned between 954 and 962. If we take both Bower's statement and the obit reported in the Annals of the Four Masters to be correct, this means that Fothad was expelled in 955. Although it is unlikely anyway, he could not have been bishop before the year 906, when we know his predecessor Cellach was still bishop. That he died in 963 as "espucc Insi Alban" allows the possibility that he transferred his see to Iona or elsewhere on the western coast of Scotland after 955, although this is just conjecture.
Máel Ísu I is the third alleged Bishop of Cennrígmonaid, equivalent to latter day St Andrews. He is mentioned in the bishop-lists of the 15th-century historians Walter Bower (Malisius) and Andrew of Wyntoun (Malice) as the successor of Fothad I, and it is claimed that he reigned as bishop for eight years. If Máel Ísu's predecessor did get expelled from the bishopric in 955,, and if Máel Ísu's reign really was eight years, then Máel Ísu would have held the bishopric between the years 955 and 963.
Máel Dúin is the eighth alleged Bishop of St Andrews. He is mentioned in the bishop-lists of the 15th-century historians Walter Bower and Andrew of Wyntoun as the successor of Bishop Ailín.
Túathal is the ninth Bishop of St Andrews. He is mentioned in the bishop-list of the later medieval historian Walter Bower as the successor of Bishop Máel Dúin. Túathal's name, like his immediate predecessor Máel Dúin's, is known from other sources. A charter preserved in the Registrum of the Priory of St. Andrews, although probably translated into Latin from Gaelic at a later date, records a grant of the lands and church of Scoonie by Bishop Túathal (Tuadal) of St. Andrews to the Céli Dé of Loch Leven. Bower says that Túathal ruled as bishop for four years; as his successor Máel Dúin is known to have died in 1055, this would put his episcopate at roughly between the years 1055/6 and 1059/60. Túathal's immediate successor was the famous Bishop Fothad II.
Giric, if he is the Gregorius of Walter Bower, is the eleventh alleged Bishop of St Andrews. This Gregorius is mentioned in the bishop-list of Walter Bower as the successor of Bishop Fothad II. Bower's most recent editors commented that "there is no evidence to prove that any bishop of St Andrews was consecrated between 1093 and 1109". In the late 1990s, the University of Glasgow historian Dauvit Broun, by looking through the manuscripts afresh, recovered the previously unknown last 20% of Version-A of the St. Andrews Foundation Legend, a text composed at the turn of the 11th and 12th centuries. In it, a few of the contemporary church's leading men are named, and one of these is "Archbishop Giric".
Beóán of Mortlach is the first of the three known Bishops of Mortlach. His name, which could also be written in non-Gaelic contexts as Beanus, Beoanus and Beyn, means "lively one". Walter Bower, following John of Fordun, tells us that the bishopric was founded by king Máel Coluim II of Scotland in the seventh year of his reign as thanks to God for victories over the Scandinavians, and tells us that "the first bishop was Beyn, a saintly man, worthy of the episcopal office, elevated to this see by the Lord Pope Benedict VIII at the king's request". The Aberdeen Registrum records a charter granted to Bishop Beóán by King Máel Coluim at Forfar, granting the bishop the churches and lands of Clova and the unidentified Dulmech. The Aberdeen Breviary commemorated "Bishop Beóán" as a saint on 26 October. Another Beóán, perhaps the one mentioned in the Life of St. Cathróe of Metz, was commemorated on 16 December, and the two were often confused.
The Prior of St Andrews was the head of the property and community of Augustinian canons of St Andrews Cathedral Priory, St Andrews, Fife, Scotland. It was established by King David I in 1140 with canons from Nostell Priory, West Yorkshire. It is possible that, initially at least, the prior of St Andrews was subordinate to the bishop as abbot, but by the 13th century the canons of St Andrews were given freedom by the bishop to elect their prior. By the end of the 13th century, the abbacy of the native canons was no longer there to challenge the position of the priory, and the native canons themselves had been formed into a collegiate church.
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.
Donald Elmslie Robertson Watt FRSE was a Scottish historian and Professor Emeritus at St Andrews University.
Radulf was a 13th-century Scoto-Norman Cistercian monk and abbot. Most details about Radulf's career and all details about his early life are not known. His earliest certain occurrence in history is his appearance as Abbot of Kinloss in a Melrose charter datable to between 1202 and 1207. It is not known for certain when he became abbot of Kinloss Abbey, but the last known abbot of Kinloss, also called Radulf, left Kinloss in 1194 to become abbot of Melrose, putting Radulf II's succession somewhere between 1194 and 1207. Written in the margins next to Radulf's obituary is the assertion that he was the 4th Abbot of Kinloss, and if these are accurate, Radulf II would have succeeded not long after Radulf I's departure to Melrose Abbey in 1194.
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.
Bernard was a Tironensian abbot, administrator and bishop active in late 13th- and early 14th-century Scotland, during the First War of Scottish Independence. He first appears in the records already established as Abbot of Kilwinning in 1296, disappearing for a decade before re-emerging as Chancellor of Scotland then Abbot of Arbroath.
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.
St. Mary's Priory, North Berwick, was a monastery of nuns in medieval East Lothian, Scotland. Founded by Donnchad I, Earl of Fife around 1150, the priory lasted for more than four centuries, declining and disappearing after the Scottish Reformation. It had been endowed by the Earls of Carrick as well as the Earls of Fife, but over time lost its dependence on these and came to be controlled by the more locally based Home family, who eventually acquired the priory's lands as a free barony.
Walter I was a 12th-century Augustinian Anglo-Norman prelate active in the kingdom of Scotland.
Gilbert was a 12th-century Augustinian canon. Active in Scotland, he may have been of Anglo-Norman origin.
Thomas was an Augustinian canon and Cistercian monk in 13th-century Scotland. According to Walter Bower Thomas was sub-prior of St Andrews Cathedral Priory when he became prior of St Andrews, sometime in 1199. He appears as prior in contemporary documents for the first time on 6 June 1199.
Simon was a 13th-century Augustinian canon based in the Kingdom of Scotland.
