The Bishop of St. Andrews ( gd, Easbaig Chill Rìmhinn, sco, Beeshop o Saunt Andras) was the ecclesiastical head of the

Diocese of St Andrews The Archdiocese of St Andrews (originally the Diocese of St Andrews) was a territorial episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in early modern and medieval Scotland. It was the largest, most populous and wealthiest diocese of the mediev ...

in the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwide . It is am ...

and then, from 14 August 1472, as Archbishop of St Andrews ( gd, Àrd-easbaig Chill Rìmhinn), the

Archdiocese of St Andrews The Archdiocese of St Andrews (originally the Diocese of St Andrews) was a territorial episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in early modern and medieval Scotland. It was the largest, most populous and wealthiest diocese of the medie ...

. The name St Andrews is not the town or church's original name. Originally it was ''Cellrígmonaid'' ("church of the king's mounth" hence ''Cill Rìmhinn'') located at ''Cennrígmonaid'' ("head of the king's mounth"); hence the town became ''Kilrymont'' (i.e. ''Cellrígmonaid'') in the non-Gaelic orthography of the

High Middle Ages The High Middle Ages, or High Medieval Period, was the periodization, period of European history that lasted from AD 1000 to 1300. The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and were followed by the Late Middle Ages, which ended ...

. Today

St Andrews St Andrews ( la, S. Andrea(s); sco, Saunt Aundraes; gd, Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fourt ...

has replaced both Kilrymont (and variants) as well as the older English term Anderston as the name of the town and bishopric. The bishopric itself appears to originate in the period 700–900. By the 11th century, it is clear that it was the most important bishopric in Scotland.

List of known abbots

There had been a monastery there since the 8th century. It was probably taken over by Céli Dé monks in the 9th or 10th centuries, and these survive into the 14th century. It is the Gaelic

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The c ...

, rather than the continental

priory A priory is a monastery of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or nuns (such as the Dominicans, Augustinians, Franciscans, and Carmelites), or monasteries of ...

, that the

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. Th ...

was in charge of; the importance of the Céli Dé abbey has come down into the modern era in the street names of St. Andrews. Only a few abbots are known. It is often thought that the position of Abbot and Bishop were the same until the Norman era, but clear evidence for this is lacking.

List of known bishops

The pre-11th century "bishop of the Scots" may have had no fixed seat before finally settling at St Andrews.

List of archbishops

The bishopric of St Andrews was elevated into an archbishopric in 1472 by

Pope Sixtus IV Pope Sixtus IV ( it, Sisto IV: 21 July 1414 – 12 August 1484), born Francesco della Rovere, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 August 1471 to his death in August 1484. His accomplishments as pope include ...

. The Scottish church broke with Rome in the

Scottish Reformation The Scottish Reformation was the process by which Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland broke with the Pope, Papacy and developed a predominantly Calvinist national Church of Scotland, Kirk (church), which was strongly Presbyterianism, Presbyterian in ...

of 1560.

References

* Anderson, Alan Orr, ''Early Sources of Scottish History: AD 500–1286'', 2 Vols, (Edinburgh, 1922), vol. i * Anderson, Marjorie Ogilvie, "St. Andrews before Alexander I", in G. W. S. Barrow (ed.), ''The Scottish Tradition'', (Edinburgh, 1994), pp. 1–13 * Barrow, G. W. S., "The Clergy of St. Andrews", in ''The Kingdom of the Scots'', 2nd Ed., (Edinburgh, 2003), pp. 187–202 * Dowden, John, ''The Bishops of Scotland'', ed. J. Maitland Thomson, (Glasgow, 1912) * Keith, Robert, ''An Historical Catalogue of the Scottish Bishops: Down to the Year 1688'', (London, 1824) * Lawrie, Sir Archibald, ''Early Scottish Charters Prior to A.D. 1153'', (Glasgow, 1905) * Macqueen, John, MacQueen, Winifred & Watt, D.E.R. (eds.), ''Scottichronicon by Walter Bower in Latin and English'', Vol. 3, (Aberdeen, 1995) * Watt, D. E. R., ''Fasti Ecclesiae Scotinanae Medii Aevi ad annum 1638'', 2nd Draft, (St Andrews, 1969) * Watt, D. E. R., ''Fasti Ecclesiae Scotinanae Medii Aevi ad annum 1638'', Revised Edition, Scottish Record Society, (Edinburgh, 2003) {{DEFAULTSORT:Archbishop of St Andrews

Religion in Fife History of Fife Guardians of Scotland St Andrews 878 establishments 9th-century establishments in Scotland 1689 disestablishments in Scotland People associated with Fife

List of known abbots

List of known bishops

List of archbishops

See also

References