Richard de Potton ''de Poiton, de Pottock, de Poitowas a 13th-century

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

. His name was likely derived his name from the town of

Potton Potton is a town and civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district of Bedfordshire, England, about east of the county town Bedford. Its population in 2011 was 4,870. In 1783 the Great Fire of Potton destroyed a large part of the town. The ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council wa ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. He was chosen in 1256 to succeed

Peter de Ramsay Peter de Ramsay ''Ramsey(died 1256) was a 13th-century cleric based in Scotland. His background and origins are obscure. He was the son of a "cleric in minor orders" and an unmarried girl and, according to John of Fordun, he was of "noble birth". ...

, who had just died, as

Bishop of Aberdeen The Bishop of Aberdeen (originally Bishop of Mortlach, in Latin Murthlacum) was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Aberdeen, one of Scotland's 13 medieval bishoprics, whose first recorded bishop is an early 12th-century cleric named Nech ...

John of Fordun John of Fordun (before 1360 – c. 1384) was a Scottish chronicler. It is generally stated that he was born at Fordoun, Mearns. It is certain that he was a secular priest, and that he composed his history in the latter part of the 14th cen ...

noted that, although an Englishman, he took an oath of fidelity to King

Alexander III of Scotland Alexander III (Medieval ; Modern Gaelic: ; 4 September 1241 – 19 March 1286) was King of Scots from 1249 until his death. He concluded the Treaty of Perth, by which Scotland acquired sovereignty over the Western Isles and the Isle of Man. His ...

before taking up his

bishopric In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

. There are no details of how Potton had managed to get himself in a position to take up such a prestigious post. Potton's episcopate is rather obscure, though his few years in charge seem to have been very significant ones for the history of the bishopric. He is said in one account to have united the churches of St Mary's and St Machar's into one

cathedral A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...

, and he is also credited with making the parish church of

Crimond Crimond is a village in Aberdeenshire, in the northeast of Scotland, located northwest of the port of Peterhead and just over from the coast. Geography The main A90 road runs through Crimond and is lined by Crimond Church with a village ...

into Aberdeen's fourteenth

prebend A prebendary is a member of the Roman Catholic or Anglican clergy, a form of canon with a role in the administration of a cathedral or collegiate church. When attending services, prebendaries sit in particular seats, usually at the back of the ...

. Two different dates have been given for his death.

Walter Bower Walter Bower (or Bowmaker; 24 December 1449) was a Scottish canon regular and abbot of Inchcolm Abbey in the Firth of Forth, who is noted as a chronicler of his era. He was born about 1385 at Haddington, East Lothian, in the Kingdom of Scotlan ...

states that it was 1270, and the ''Aberdeen Registrum'' gives 26 April 1272. His successor

Hugh de Benin Hugh de Benin (Benham or Benhyem) (d. 1282) was bishop of Aberdeen. He succeeded Richard Pottock in the see in 1272. Name If his name represents Benholm, then he may have come from an English or Anglo-Norman family recently settled in the Mear ...

was consecrated in the summer of the latter year.

References

* Cowan, Ian B., ''The Medieval Church in Scotland'', (Edinburgh, 1995), p. 104 * Dowden, John, ''The Bishops of Scotland'', ed. J. Maitland Thomson, (Glasgow, 1912), pp. 105–6 * Innes, Cosmo, ''Registrum Episcopatus Aberdonensis: Ecclesie Cathedralis Aberdonensis Regesta Que Extant in Unum Collecta'', Vol. 1, (Edinburgh, 1845), p. xxv * Keith, Robert, ''An Historical Catalogue of the Scottish Bishops: Down to the Year 1688'', (London, 1924), p. 108 * Watt, D.E.R., ''Fasti Ecclesiae Scotinanae Medii Aevi ad annum 1638'', 2nd Draft, (St Andrews, 1969), p. 2 {{DEFAULTSORT:Potton, Richard de 13th-century births 1270s deaths Bishops of Aberdeen People from Potton 13th-century Scottish Roman Catholic bishops