The Bishop of Dunblane or Bishop of Strathearn was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Dunblane or Strathearn, one of medieval Scotland's thirteen bishoprics. It was based at Dunblane Cathedral, now a parish church of the Church of Scotland. The bishopric itself certainly derives from an older Gaelic Christian community. According to legend, the Christian community of Dunblane was derived from the mission of St. Bláán, a saint originally associated with the monastery of Cenn Garath (Kingarth) on the Isle of Bute. Although the bishopric had its origins in the 1150s or before, the cathedral was not built nor was the seat (cathedra) of the diocese fixed at Dunblane until the episcopate of Clement.
Robert Cockburn was a 16th-century Scottish diplomat and cleric.
Michael Ochiltree [Ouchtre] was a 15th-century Scottish prelate and administrator. A close associate of King James I of Scotland, from the late 1410s he rose in rank from canon to Dean of Dunblane and then Bishop of Dunblane. He was responsible for the coronation of King James II of Scotland, and he obtained a grant from the crown which allowed the comparatively small diocese of Dunblane to attain historically unprecedented viability.
John Fraser [also, more commonly then, Frisel or Frisell] was a late medieval Scottish prelate. Born about 1429, or 1430 if later tradition can be believed, with strong connections to the burgh of Linlithgow, Fraser held a variety of high-level ecclesiastical positions in Scotland, including being the first Dean of Restalrig collegiate church before becoming Bishop of Ross in 1497, a position he held until his death in 1507.
Fionnlagh MacCailein or Finlay Colini was a medieval Scottish bishop. Both his early life and the details of his career as Bishop of Dunblane are not well known, however it is known that he held the latter bishopric between 1403 and his death in 1419. He was part of the circle of Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany, and was one of the many clerics from west and central Gaelic-speaking Scotland who benefited from the latter's patronage. He is said to have authorised the construction of the first bridge over the river Allan at Dunblane.
Dúghall of Lorne [or de Ergadia] was a late 14th century and early 15th century prelate in the Kingdom of Scotland. Probably a MacDúghaill (MacDougall) from the province of Lorne in Argyll, he appears to have studied at the University of Oxford before returning to Scotland for an ecclesiastical and administrative career. He obtained benefices in the diocese of Argyll, Dunkeld, Dunblane and St Andrews, and acted as the secretary and chaplain of Robert Stewart, Earl of Fife, before becoming Bishop of Dunblane. He held the bishopric of Dunblane until his death in 1403.
M. de Dunblan is the way the first known Bishop of Dunblane is written in a copy of a papal bull of Pope Adrian IV preserved in England; the bull dates to 1155.
Simon is the third known 12th century Bishop of Dunblane. Nothing is known of Simon's background as there are numerous Simons in Scotland in this period, both native and foreign. There is a Symon de Liberatione who witnessed a charter of King William the Lion and whom Watt and Murray suggested may have been the later Bishop of Dunblane, while there was in the same decade a local landholder and ecclesiastical patron in the diocese of Dunblane called Simón son of Mac Bethad.
Nicholas de Balmyle, also called Nicholas of St Andrews, was a Scottish administrator and prelate in the late 13th century and early 14th century. A graduate of an unknown university, he served his earliest years as a clergyman at St Andrews, moving on to hold churches in Lothian as well as deputising to two archdeacons of Lothian.
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.
Andrew Magnus was a 14th-century Scottish prelate. Of unknown background, he is recorded for the first time in a document dating to 28 November 1365, holding the position of Archdeacon of Dunblane. Having merely been collated to this position by an ordinary, perhaps the Bishop of Dunblane Walter de Coventre, he received a fresh papal provision on 6 January 1367.
William de Cambuslang was a 14th-century Scottish churchman, presumably coming from a family based at or originating from Cambuslang near Glasgow.
Radulf is an obscure churchman in early 13th-century Scotland, elected as Bishop of Dunblane some time between 1223 and 1225. The first of only two notices of his existence occurs in an Arbroath Abbey deed where he is styled "Radulf elect of Dunblane"; the document can be dated to 1223–1225. On 12 January 1226 Pope Honorius III instructed the Bishop of St Andrews, the Bishop of Moray and the Bishop of Caithness, to enjoin a new election for the bishopric of Dunblane, as "R. elected Bishop of Dunblane" had resigned in the Pope's presence a short time before. There are no clues as to Radulf's career after that. The Cathedral chapter of the diocese elected one Osbert in his place. Cockburn suggested Radulf was probably a Frenchman who had immigrated to Scotland, who got elected Bishop, but decided he would rather stay in Continental Europe after he travelled there for consecration, perhaps being offered a better post there.
Richard de Pontefract O. P. was an English Dominican friar active during the reign King Edward II. On 25 June 1320, King Edward petitioned the papacy for Richard to fill the see of Dunblane, vacant by the death of Nicholas de Balmyle. Although King Edward probably did not expect to have much luck, because of the circumstances of Wars of Scottish Independence, Edward claimed the right of patronage to Scottish sees. The vacant bishopric was eventually filled by Maurice, the Abbot of Inchaffray.
Walter Stewart was a 15th-century churchman in the Kingdom of Scotland. He was a cousin of King James II of Scotland, being like King James a grandson to King Robert III of Scotland.
William O. Tiron. was a late 13th-century Tironensian abbot and bishop in the Kingdom of Scotland. He appears in the extant sources for the first time on 25 April 1276; he is Abbot of Arbroath. According to the Scotichronicon, the work of the 15th-century historian Walter Bower, William's predecessor Adam de Inverlunan had died in 1275, so William probably became abbot in either that year or in 1276.
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.
John Herspolz or John Hepburn was Bishop of Dunblane. On the day of the resignation of the bishopric of Dunblane by Robert Lauder at the papal curia – 12 September 1466 – Pope Paul II provided Herspolz/Hepburn as Lauder's successor.
John Spalding was a 15th-century churchman based at Brechin in Angus, Scotland. Spalding became Dean of Brechin in 1456; he was confirmed in this position by the Pope on 5 October 1458.
Walter de Coventre was a 14th-century Scottish ecclesiastic. There is no direct evidence of his birthdate, his family, or his family's origin, although he may have come from the region around Abernethy, where a family with the name de Coventre is known to have lived. Walter appeared in the records for the first time in the 1330s, as a student at the University of Paris. From there he went on to the University of Orléans, initially as a student before becoming a lecturer there. He studied the arts, civil law and canon law, and was awarded many university degrees, including two doctorates. His studies were paid for, at least partially, by his benefices in Scotland. Despite holding perhaps more than five benefices at one stage, he did not return to Scotland until the late 1350s.
