Alexander Hepburn (died 1578) was a 16th-century
Scottish
Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including:
*Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland
*Scottish English
*Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...
cleric who served as Protestant
Bishop of Ross.
Life
He is first mentioned as minister of Little
Dunkeld in 1574.
He was elected as
bishop of Ross on 14 May 1574, following the
Church of Scotland's attempted forfeiture of the Catholic bishop
John Lesley
John Lesley (or Leslie) (29 September 1527 – 31 May 1596) was a Scottish Roman Catholic bishop and historian. His father was Gavin Lesley, rector of Kingussie, Badenoch.
Early career
He was educated at the University of Aberdeen, where he ...
.
[Watt, ''Fasti Ecclesiae'', p. 270.]
Hepburn obtained a royal confirmation with mandate for consecration on 20 March 1575, being admitted to the
temporalities
Temporalities or temporal goods are the secular properties and possessions of the church. The term is most often used to describe those properties (a ''Stift'' in German or ''sticht'' in Dutch) that were used to support a bishop or other religious ...
of the bishopric on 3 November; in the same year, on 22 April, the exiled Lesley had his provision renewed by the papacy.
[ He was consecrated at Holyrood House in April 1576. Hepburn died on 22 September 1578.][''Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae''; vol. 7; by Hew Scott]
Family
He married Christian Scrimgeour of Fordin and had a son, James Hepburn.
Aftermath
No new bishop of Ross was appointed until 1600, though Lesley was temporarily recognised by the secessionist Scottish church in the period between 13 March 1587, and 29 May 1589, while the famous Lesley had retained international recognition for his episcopate all the way from his accession in 1566 until his translation bishopric of Coutances in 1592.[
]
Notes
References
* Watt, D. E. R., ''Fasti Ecclesiae Scotinanae Medii Aevi ad annum 1638'', 2nd Draft, (St Andrews, 1969)
1578 deaths
Bishops of Ross (Scotland)
Year of birth unknown
{{scotland-hist-stub