The Abbot of Crossraguel was the leader of the

Cluniac The Cluniac Reforms (also called the Benedictine Reform) were a series of changes within medieval monasticism of the Western Church focused on restoring the traditional monastic life, encouraging art, and caring for the poor. The movement began wit ...

monastic community of

Crossraguel Abbey The Abbey of Saint Mary of Crossraguel is a ruin of a former abbey near the town of Maybole, South Ayrshire, Scotland. Although it is a ruin, visitors can still see the original monks’ church, their cloister and their dovecot (pigeon tower ...

, near

Maybole Maybole is a town and former burgh of barony and police burgh in South Ayrshire, Scotland. It had an estimated population of in . It is situated south of Ayr and southwest of Glasgow by the Glasgow and South Western Railway. The town is bypass ...

in Carrick, south-west

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. It was founded in 1260s by Donnchadh mac Gille Brigte,

earl of Carrick Earl of Carrick (or Mormaer of Carrick) is the title applied to the ruler of Carrick (now South Ayrshire), subsequently part of the Peerage of Scotland. The position came to be strongly associated with the Scottish crown when Robert the Bruce, ...

with monks from

Paisley Abbey Paisley Abbey is a parish church of the Church of Scotland on the east bank of the White Cart Water in the centre of the town of Paisley, Renfrewshire, about west of Glasgow, in Scotland. Its origins date from the 12th century, based on a for ...

. Owing to the lack of surviving records and its distance from the core of Lowland Scotland in the western

Gàidhealtachd The (; English: ''Gaeldom'') usually refers to the Highlands and Islands of Scotland and especially the Scottish Gaelic-speaking culture of the area. The similar Irish language word refers, however, solely to Irish-speaking areas. The term ...

, few of the abbots are known by name. The abbots were replaced by

commendator In canon law, commendam (or ''in commendam'') was a form of transferring an ecclesiastical benefice ''in trust'' to the ''custody'' of a patron. The phrase ''in commendam'' was originally applied to the provisional occupation of an ecclesiastical ...

s in the 16th century, and the abbey came to an end when its lands were taken over by the

bishops of Dunblane 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 ...

in 1617. The royal warrant in 1886 which revived the office of

Dean of the Chapel Royal The Dean of the Chapel Royal, in any kingdom, can be the title of an official charged with oversight of that kingdom's chapel royal, the ecclesiastical establishment which is part of the royal household and ministers to it. England In England, ...

also gave the Dean the titles of Abbot of Crossraguel and Abbot of Dundrennan. The following is a list of abbots and commendators:

List of known abbots

* Patrick, 1274 x 1292 * Nicholas, 1370-1386 x 1400 * ''nearly a century without a known abbot'' * Roger, fl. 1370 * Roland, 1414-1433 * John de Lithgow, 1414-1415See above note. * Colin Kennedy, 1460-1490 * Robert Whitehead, 1491-1492 (The Charters of the Abbey of Crossraguel (1886) suggest his name was Whytefoord, a prominent family name in Carrick) * David Blair (Blane), 1498-1504 (The Charters of the Abbey of Crossraguel (1886) suggest his name was Chalmer, a monk of the abbey) * David Kinghorn, 1509-1521 * William Kennedy, 1520-1547 *

Quintin Kennedy Quintin Kennedy (1520–1564) was a Scottish abbot from a noble background, one of the last Catholic opponents of the Scottish Reformation. Life He was son of Gilbert Kennedy, 2nd Earl of Cassilis, and his wife Isabel, daughter of Archibald Campbe ...

, 1548-1564 The dissolution of monasteries then caused a cessation of true abbots in the functional sense. *

Peter Hewat Peter Hewat (born 17 March 1978) is a former Australian rugby union player now coaching in Japan's Top League for Ricoh Black Rams. He previously played for the NSW Waratahs Central Coast Rays London Irish and Suntory Sungoliath. On 12 April ...

, December 1612 - From 1600 King James VI of Scotland (later James I of England) was set on reducing the power of the church and he met with the Earl of Gowrie at Gowrie House in Perth, Scotland. The king claimed he was lured to the house to be killed – a treasonable offence – However the Gowrie connections claim the king owed Gowrie a large sum of money and the king wanted rid of Gowrie. The result of the meeting was that Gowrie and his brother were slain by the king’s page. The king’s story was not believed by the clergy and they refused to endorse the charges of treason against the late Earl of Gowrie and his brother. All the clergy, except for Peter Hewat, who sided with the king, were dismissed. It seemed that this stance gained Peter favour with the king, who in 1612 gave him the Abbacy at Crossraguel which in turn gave him a seat in the Parliament and membership of the Court of High Commission.

List of pensioners and commendators

George Buchanan George Buchanan ( gd, Seòras Bochanan; February 1506 – 28 September 1582) was a Scottish historian and humanist scholar. According to historian Keith Brown, Buchanan was "the most profound intellectual sixteenth century Scotland produced." ...

(pensioner), 1564-1577 * Alan Stewart (commendator/abbot), 1565-1587 * John Vaus of Barnbarroch (commendator), 1587-1612 * Peter Hewat (commendator), 1612-1628

Notes

Bibliography

* Cowan, Ian B. & Easson, David E., ''Medieval Religious Houses: Scotland With an Appendix on the Houses in the Isle of Man'', Second Edition, (London, 1976), pp. 63–4 * Watt, D.E.R. & Shead, N.F. (eds.), ''The Heads of Religious Houses in Scotland from the 12th to the 16th Centuries'', The Scottish Records Society, New Series, Volume 24, (Edinburgh, 2001), pp. 47–9 * Hunter Blair, F.C. ed. (1886) ''Charters of the Abbey of Crossrague''l,(1886) 2 vols, Edinburgh: Ayrshire & Galloway Archæological Association

List of known abbots

List of pensioners and commendators

Notes

Bibliography

See also