Roger Gordon was a 16th-century Scottish cleric who briefly served as Bishop of Galloway.
He was Dean of Dunblane Cathedral from at least 13 April 1554, a position he may have retained for the remainder of his life. [1]
In 1572 he was minister of Whithorn. [2] He was elected to the bishopric of Galloway on the death of Alexander Gordon in 1575. [3] He got Crown confirmation to the bishopric with mandate for consecration on 17 September 1578. [3]
However, John Gordon had been chosen as successor by Alexander in 1568, 7 years before the latter's death, and John Gordon seems to have prevented Roger from taking up the position of Bishop of Galloway in practice. [4] Roger was called "pretended bishop" on 27 June 1579. [3] Roger never seems to have taken possession of the see. [3]
In 1580 he became minister of Kirkmaiden.
Although Watt says he "died before 12 May 1587" [5] Scott says he returned to Whithorn in 1599. [6]
The Bishop of Galloway, also called the Bishop of Whithorn, is the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Galloway, said to have been founded by Saint Ninian in the mid-5th century. The subsequent Anglo-Saxon bishopric was founded in the late 7th century or early 8th century, and the first known bishop was one Pehthelm, "shield of the Picts". According to Anglo-Saxon ecclesiastical tradition, the bishopric was founded by Saint Ninian, a later corruption of the British name Uinniau or Irish Finian; although there is no contemporary evidence, it is quite likely that there had been a British or Hiberno-British bishopric before the Anglo-Saxon takeover. After Heathored, no bishop is known until the apparent resurrection of the diocese in the reign of King Fergus of Galloway. The bishops remained, uniquely for Scottish bishops, the suffragans of the Archbishop of York until 1359 when the pope released the bishopric from requiring metropolitan assent. James I formalised the admission of the diocese into the Scottish church on 26 August 1430 and just as all Scottish sees, Whithorn was to be accountable directly to the pope. The diocese was placed under the metropolitan jurisdiction of St Andrews on 17 August 1472 and then moved to the province of Glasgow on 9 January 1492. The diocese disappeared during the Scottish Reformation, but was recreated by the Catholic Church in 1878 with its cathedra at Dumfries, although it is now based at Ayr.
Alexander Gordon was a 16th-century Scottish churchman who was successively archbishop of Glasgow, titular archbishop of Athens, bishop of the Isles and bishop of Galloway.
Peter Blackburn (d.1616) was a Scottish scholar and prelate. He was the second Protestant Bishop of Aberdeen.
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Thomas Sydserf(f), or St. Serf, (1581 – 1663) was a Scottish minister of the Church of Scotland who served as Protestant Bishop first of Brechin, then Galloway and finally Orkney.
Alexander Douglas (1561–1623) was a Church of Scotland minister and served as Bishop of Moray.
John of Whithorn was the medieval Bishop of Galloway. His first appearance as bishop-elect is at the coronation of Richard, Cœur de Lion as King of the English at Westminster Abbey on 3 September 1189. He was consecrated at Pipewell Abbey, Northamptonshire, on Sunday 17 September 1189.
Thomas de Kirkcudbright, also known as Thomas de Dalton [de Daltoun], was a medieval prelate from the Kingdom of Scotland. He was apparently a nutritus, or foster son, of Robert V de Brus, Lord of Annandale, and seems to have been closely linked in some way to Adam de Kirkcudbright, the man who held the church of Dalton in Annandale. He was likely a native Galwegian or perhaps a native of Annandale.
Gilbert was a 13th-century Cistercian monk, abbot and bishop. His first appearance in the sources occurs under the year 1233, for which year the Chronicle of Melrose reported that "Sir Gilbert, the abbot of Glenluce, resigned his office, in the chapter of Melrose; and there he made his profession". It is not clear why Gilbert really did resign the position of Abbot of Glenluce, head of Glenluce Abbey in Galloway, in order to become a mere brother at Melrose Abbey; nor is it clear for how long Gilbert had been abbot, though his latest known predecessor is attested last on 27 May 1222. After going to there, Gilbert became the Master of the Novices at Melrose.
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Thomas de Buittle [Butil, Butill, Butyll, Butyl, Bucyl] was a Scottish prelate, clerk and papal auditor active in the late 14th and early 15th centuries. Probably originating in Galloway, Scotland, Thomas took a university career in canon law in England and France, before taking up service at the court of Avignon Pope Benedict XIII. He obtained a number of benefices in the meantime, including the position of Archdeacon of Galloway, and is the earliest known and probably first provost of the collegiate church of Maybole. The height of his career came however when the Pope provided him to the bishopric of Galloway, a position he held from 1415 until his death sometime between 1420 and 1422.
George Gordon was a 16th-century Scottish prelate.
Thomas Vaus was a 15th-century Scottish royal official and cleric. He was a graduate of the University of Paris, being admitted there as a Bachelor ad eundem in 1445, graduating as a Licentiate in 1447. At some stage he completed an M.A., and bore the title of "Master". His brother Martin Vaus, later Dean of Ross, was at Paris with him. He became Keeper of the Privy Seal of Scotland and secretary of King James II of Scotland.
Ninian Spot [de Spot] was a royal clerk and prelate in the 15th century Kingdom of Scotland. He spent much of his youth at university, eventually obtaining Master's Degree.
David Arnot was a Scottish prelate of the Catholic Church. He was the Bishop of Galloway (Scotland) from 1509 to 1526. He was from the Arnot family of Arnot, Fife.
Henry Wemyss was a prelate from the 16th century Kingdom of Scotland. He appears in the sources in the bishopric of Galloway for the first time in 1517, and rose to become Bishop of Galloway in 1526, a position he held until his death in 1541.
Oswald, O. Cist. was a Cistercian monk and bishop in the late 14th century and early 15th century. There is an Oswald Botelere (Butler) granted a safe-conduct, along with 12 others, to enter England and study at the University of Oxford, in 1365, but this Oswald Butler cannot be shown to be the same as the later Oswald of Glenluce.
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