David de Moravia

Last updated

David de Moravia
Bishop of Moray
Church Roman Catholic Church
See Diocese of Moray
In office12991326
Predecessor Archibald
Successor John de Pilmuir
Orders
Consecration28 June 1299 at Anagni in Italy
Personal details
BornProb. mid-13th century
Probably Moray or Sutherland
Died6 January 1326
Previous post(s) Canon of Elgin Cathedral
In the chapel of the Scots College in Paris, old plaque relating the foundation of the college by David de Moravia, with his Coat of Arms (right) Plaque histoire college des Ecossais.jpg
In the chapel of the Scots College in Paris, old plaque relating the foundation of the college by David de Moravia, with his Coat of Arms (right)

David de Moravia (died 1326) was Bishop of Moray during most of the First War of Scottish Independence. He was elected Bishop of Moray, probably in early 1299. Extended details exist regarding the election because of an extant letter of Pope Boniface VIII. The result of the election was that David had 13 votes, the Dean had 4 votes, the Chancellor had 3 votes and the Archdeacon 1 vote. The Dean declared that David was elected, and sent a request for confirmation to the Papacy. The latter found an irregularity, though what exactly this was not revealed. The election result was nominally declared void, but the Pope himself provided David directly to the bishopric. [1] He was consecrated as bishop at Anagni in Italy on 28 June 1299, by Matthew of Aquasparta, Cardinal-Bishop of Porto. [2]

In 1306, King Edward I of England charged Bishop David with complicity in the murder of John III Comyn, Lord of Badenoch.

The bishop attended the coronation of Robert I of Scotland as King of Scots at Scone Abbey on 25 March 1306. In Moray, the bishop exhorted his flock that they were no less worthy fighting the English invaders than if they "should fight in the Holy Lands against pagans and Saracens." The bishop was excommunicated and fled to the Earldom of Orkney. King Edward sent a request to King Haakon V of Norway for Bishop David to be arrested. Bishop David evaded capture and returned to Scotland at the same time as King Robert the following year. In March 1309, the bishop took part in the Scottish parliament confirming the right of King Robert to the throne of Scotland. [3]

On 17 June 1320, the bishop was again excommunicated, along with King Robert and other Scottish nobles and clergy, by Pope John XXII, as an enemy of King Edward II of England. On the orders of the Pope, the Bishop of Dunblane and the Bishop of Winchester delivered a sentence of excommunication on David and other bishops on 23 May 1322. [4] The excommunication was later withdrawn. [5]

Bishop David is also notable, in addition to being a Scottish patriot, as the founder of the Scots College in Paris in 1325, by donating the land on which it was built. The foundation was confirmed by Charles IV of France in August 1326. Bishop David, however, had died on 6 January 1326, before the college was formally instituted. He was buried in the choir of Elgin Cathedral. [6]

Notes

  1. Dowden, Bishops, p. 151.
  2. Dowden, Bishops, p. 151; Watt, Fasti Ecclesiae, p. 215; Keith, Historical Catalogue, p. 140, states incorrectly that the consecration took place at Avignon.
  3. Scott, Robert McNair (1989). Robert Bruce, King of Scots. New York: Peter Bedrick Books. pp. 75, 80, 83.
  4. For all this, see Dowden, Bishops, p. 152.
  5. Dowden, S. 152.
  6. Keith, Historical Catalogue, p. 140; Watt, Fasti Ecclesiae, p. 215.

Related Research Articles

Alan de St Edmund was a 13th-century English cleric and administrator of the Roman Catholic Church. His name suggests a connection with Bury St. Edmunds Abbey in Suffolk, but there is no direct evidence. He was the chaplain of Hugh of Evesham, another Englishman, from the diocese of Worcester, who in 1282 was made Presbyter-Cardinal of St Laurence in Lucina by Pope Martin IV. After Hervey de Dundee, bishop-elect of Caithness, died while seeking confirmation at the Roman curia, the pope chose Alan - still in Rome - for the bishopric. Alan was provided by Pope Martin on 13 April 1282.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry le Chen</span> Scoto-Norman bishop

Henry le Chen [le Cheyn, le Chein, Cheyne, de Chene] was a late 13th-century and early 14th-century Scoto-Norman bishop. Hector Boece claims that he was the nephew of John III Comyn, Lord of Badenoch, but no contemporary evidence supports this. Cheyne belonged to a family with Norman roots which was well established in the northeast of Scotland, holding significant amounts of territory on the boundaries of the Earldom of Buchan.

William Gordon was a 16th-century Scottish noble and prelate, the last of the pre-Reformation bishops of Aberdeen owing allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church.

Ingram Lindsay [Ingeram de Lindesay], Doctor in Canon Law, was a 15th-century Scottish cleric. Despite being of illegitimate birth - one of several sons of an unmarried nobleman and an unmarried woman - he nevertheless managed in the end to pursue a successful ecclesiastical career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry de Lichton</span> Medieval Scottish prelate and diplomat

Henry de Lichton [de Lychtone, Leighton] was a medieval Scottish prelate and diplomat, who, serving as Bishop of Moray (1414–1422) and Bishop of Aberdeen (1422–1440), became a significant patron of the church, a cathedral builder, and a writer. He also served King James I of Scotland as a diplomat in England, France, and Italy.

Alexander de Kininmund was a 14th-century Scottish churchman. The first mention of Alexander occurs when, as a canon of Dunkeld he is one of three ambassadors sent by King Robert I of Scotland to Avignon in 1320. The purpose of this embassy was to present a letter to Pope John XXII known as the Declaration of Arbroath. As a papal chaplain and lawyer, he was well qualified to argue the Scottish cause, and Barrow makes a strong case that he was, in fact the author of the document.

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

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">Archibald (bishop of Moray)</span> Scottish prelate

Archibald was a Scottish prelate best known for involvement in a dispute with the Pope.

John de Pilmuir [Pilmor, Pylmore] was a 14th-century prelate based in Scotland. He was probably the son of Adam de Pilmuir, a Dundee burgess, and the brother of Richard de Pilmuir, Bishop of Dunkeld (1337/38–1345/47).

David Stewart was a prelate from 15th century Scotland. A member of the Stewart kindred of Lorne, he is known to have held a succession of senior ecclesiastical positions in northern Scotland before eventually succeeding his brother James Stewart as Bishop of Moray.

<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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alexander Bur</span> Scottish cleric

Alexander Bur was a 14th-century Scottish cleric. It is highly possible that Bur came from somewhere in or around Aberdeenshire, although that is not certain and is only based on the knowledge that Aberdeenshire is where other people bearing his surname come from in this period. He entered the service of King David II of Scotland sometime after 1343, perhaps as a member of David's exiled court at Château Gaillard. Although Alexander by this point in time already held prebends in both the bishopric of Aberdeen and the bishopric of Dunkeld, on that date King David petitioned Pope Clement VI for another canonry in the bishopric of Moray. Alexander had become a royal clerk and had obtained a Licentiate in Canon Law by 1350. By the latter date, upon the death of Adam Penny, Archdeacon of Moray, Alexander himself became Archdeacon.

Simon de Wedale was a 14th-century Augustinian canon who rose to become Abbot of Holyrood and then Bishop of Galloway. Little is known of Simon until he appears on 27 February 1321 as Abbot of Holyrood Abbey near Edinburgh. His accession to this abbacy had only been recent, since either in January of this year or in January 1320, his predecessor Elias, ruling the abbey since at least 1309 and probably earlier, was still abbot. Abbot Simon occurs again in the records on 10 June 1326.

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.

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.

Robert de Fyvie [also de Fyvin] was a prelate based in the Kingdom of Scotland in the last quarter of the 13th century. Perhaps coming from Fyvie in Formartine, from a family of Teesdale origin, Robert was Archdeacon of Ross and a student at the University of Bologna by 1269. In 1275, he was not only a graduate but the new Bishop of Ross, a post he held until his death in the first half of the 1290s.

Alexander de Kylwos – written alternatively as Frylquhous, Kylquos, and a variety of other forms – was a Scottish churchman and prelate active in the second half of the 14th century. He is known to have held senior positions in three bishoprics, and senior offices in two, before being elected and appointed Bishop of Ross in 1371. Though his episcopate is relatively obscure, he seems to have spent almost all of it inside or around his province, was closely associated with William III and Euphemia I, successive rulers of Ross, and was an associate of the famous Alexander Bur, Bishop of Moray, during the latter's struggle with Alexander Stewart, the son of the King later known by the nickname "Wolf of Badenoch".

Laurence de Ergadia was a thirteenth-century Scottish bishop. Probably from the MacDougall kindred of Argyll, Laurence had become a Dominican friar and presumably university graduate before being elected Bishop of Argyll, an election which took place sometime between 1262 and 1264. Although the election was quashed by the Pope in 1264, the Pope gave him a fresh provision to the bishopric. Laurence appears intermittently in the records during his three and a half decade episcopate, but his activities in his own diocese are badly recorded. He died as Bishop of Argyll sometime in either 1299 or 1300.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nicholas of Arbroath</span>

Nicholas O. Tiron, Abbot of Arbroath and Bishop of Dunblane, was a late 13th-century and early 14th-century churchman in the Kingdom of Scotland. Little is known about Nicholas until he appeared on 21 November 1299, holding the position of Abbot of Arbroath in a charter of that abbey; the last attestation of his predecessor Henry can be dated to 16 October 1296, so that Nicholas must have become abbot sometime in between these two dates.

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 Bishop of Moray
12991326
Succeeded by