John of Whithorn (died 1209) 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.
The consecration was performed by Archbishop of Dublin, the Archbishop of Trier, and the Bishop of Annaghdown, and took place despite the fact that there was a formal vacancy in the Archbishopric of York. Geoffrey Plantagenet was Archbishop-elect of York at the time, and John in fact ordained him as a priest, despite the opposition of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who wished to use the opportunity to force York to make obedience to Canterbury as Primate.
During his ten-year episcopate he appeared often in England as a suffragan of the Archbishop of York, for instance, accompanying the archbishop to a church council held by King Richard in 1191.In Scotland, he witnessed one charter of Alan of Galloway and was appointed a judge-delegate by the papacy in a patronage-related dispute in the diocese of Glasgow. He was believed to have become a canon at Holyrood Abbey in 1206. The Chronicle of Melrose reported his death under the year 1209.
The Bishop of Galloway, also called the Bishop of Whithorn, was the eccesiastical 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.
The Bishop of the Isles or Bishop of Sodor was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of the Isles, one of Scotland's thirteen medieval bishoprics. The bishopric, encompassing both the Hebrides and Mann, probably traces its origins as an ecclesiastical unity to the careers of Olaf, King of the Isles, and Bishop Wimund. Previously, there had been numerous bishoprics, and recorded bishoprics include Kingarth, Iona, Skye and Mann. There were very likely numerous others.
Historical treatment of David I and the Scottish church usually emphasises King David I of Scotland's pioneering role as the instrument of diocesan reorganisation and Norman penetration, beginning with the bishopric of Glasgow while David was Prince of the Cumbrians, and continuing further north after David acceded to the throne of Scotland. As well as this and his monastic patronage, focus too is usually given to his role as the defender of the Scottish church's independence from claims of overlordship by the Archbishop of York and the Archbishop of Canterbury.
William was a 12th-century prelate based in the Kingdom of Scotland. He occurs in the records for the first time as Bishop of Moray in 1152 x 24 May 1153, late in the reign of King David I of Scotland (1124–53) witnessing a grant from that monarch of the church of Clackmannan to the Abbot of Cambuskenneth. The precise date of his accession is unknown but was probably in 1152.
Simon de Tosny was a 12th-century Cistercian monk and prelate. Simon was a monk of Melrose Abbey, and served there until he moved to become Abbot of Coggeshall Abbey in Essex. He resigned this abbey in 1168, and returned to Melrose. In 1171, he was elected as Bishop of Moray, and was consecrated at St Andrews on 23 January 1172. He was a distant cousin of King William who may or may not have played some part in his election. His cathedral was at Birnie, Moray. He witnessed several charters and was present at the Council of Northampton in 1176. He is the first bishop named on the bishop-list in the Moray Registrum. He died on 17 September 1184 and was buried in Birnie Kirk. Aside from the brief episcopate of Andrew he was succeeded as bishop by Richard de Lincoln.
Elisaeus Adougan was a late 14th century and early 15th century Scottish cleric. His name has been said to have occurred for the first time in a papal letter datable to 25 November 1390, but this letter is simply a repetition of another addressed to him, dated 2 August that year; both letters address him as the rector of the parish church of Kirkmahoe, and authorise him to take up the position of provost of the Collegiate Church of Lincluden providing he resigned Kirkmahoe within a period of two years.
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.
Walter was Chamberlain of Alan, Lord of Galloway and later Bishop of Galloway. As Alan's chamberlain, he succeeded Bishop John after the latter's death, in 1209. His election coincided with the northern expedition of King John of England to secure the submission of King William of Scotland; Alan enjoyed friendly relations with the English king, the latter wishing to make use of Alan's manpower and naval resources, and so the election of Walter may have had something to do with King John.
Henry was a 13th-century Augustinian abbot and bishop, most notable for holding the positions of Abbot of Holyrood and Bishop of Galloway.
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.
Alexander Vaus [Vause, de Vaus] was a late 14th century and 15th century Scottish prelate. Said to have been the younger son of one Patrick Vaus, he apparently held "church livings" in Galloway as early as 1421.
Odo Ydonc was a 13th-century Premonstratensian prelate. The first recorded appearance of Odo was when he witnessed a charter by Donnchadh, Earl of Carrick, on 21 July 1225. In this document he is already Abbot of Dercongal, incidentally the first Abbot of Dercongal to appear on record.
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.
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.
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.
Reinald Macer [also called Reginald] was a medieval Cistercian monk and bishop, active in the Kingdom of Scotland during the reign of William the Lion. Originally a monk of Melrose Abbey, he rose to become Bishop of Ross in 1195, and held this position until his death in 1213. He is given the nickname Macer in Roger of Howden's Chronica, a French word that meant "skinny".
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.
William Russell was a fourteenth-century Cistercian prelate. He appears to have begun his career as a Cistercian monk at Rushen Abbey on the Isle of Man (Mann), ascending to the rank of abbot there, before being elected Bishop of Mann and the Isles (Sodor). After traveling to Continental Europe for confirmation and consecration, avoiding a trip to the metropolitan in Norway, he returned to the Irish Sea as a legal bishop. A few things are known of his episcopate, particularly his activities in England and a series of provincial statutes apparently promulgated under his leadership.