Cellach I is traditionally said to have been the first
Bishop of the Scots (
fl. 878x889-906x), the bishopric later based at
St. Andrews. He is mentioned in the historical writings of
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 Sc ...
and
Andrew of Wyntoun as a bishop of St. Andrews, but no pre-15th century sources say anything more than merely "Bishop". Wyntoun and Bower make him bishop as early as the reign of King
Giric of Scotland (877x878-885x889). He was still bishop in the reign of King
Causantín II of Scotland in 906 when, "in his sixth year King Causantín and Bishop Cellach met at the hill of belief near the royal city of Scone and pledged themselves that the laws and disciplines of the faith, and the laws of churches and gospels, should be kept in conformity with the customs of the Gaels". One interpretation of this passage is the demise of the "Pictish church" to the reforming Gaels, however it is certain that by the 15th century the bishop-list of the principal Scottish see was looking back at Cellach as its first bishop.
[Molly Miller, "The Last Century of Pictish Succession", in ''Scottish Studies'', 23, 1979, pp. 48-9.] His death date is unknown, but unsurprisingly he was certainly dead by the 960s when his successor
Fothad I
Fothad I (died 963) is the second alleged Bishop of the Scots (906x955). We know he had the status of "bishop" during the reign of King Dub mac Maíl Coluim because the ''Chronicle of the Kings of Alba'' has his death in the period of his reign ...
died as bishop.
Notes
References
*
Anderson, Alan Orr (1922), Early Sources of Scottish History A.D. 500 to 1286, I (1990 revised & corrected ed.), Stamford: Paul Watkins, ISBN 1-871615-03-8
*
Broun, Dauvit, "Dunkeld and the origin of Scottish identity", in ''Innes Review'' 48 (1997), pp. 112–124, reprinted in ''Spes Scotorum: Hope of Scots'', eds. Broun and Clancy (1999), pp. 95–111.
*MacQueen, John, MacQueen, Winifred & Watt, D.E.R. (eds.), ''Scottichronicon by Walter Bower in Latin and English'', Vol. 3, (Aberdeen, 1995)
*Miller, Molly, "The Last Century of Pictish Succession", in ''Scottish Studies'', 23, 1979, pp. 39–67
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cellach 01
9th-century births
10th-century deaths
Bishops of St Andrews
Medieval Gaels from Scotland
9th-century Scottish bishops
10th-century Scottish bishops