The Prior of St Andrews was the head of the property and community of
Augustinian canons of
St Andrews Cathedral Priory,
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 ...
,
Fife
Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross ...
,
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 ...
. It was established by
King David I
David I or Dauíd mac Maíl Choluim (Modern: ''Daibhidh I mac haoilChaluim''; – 24 May 1153) was a 12th-century ruler who was Prince of the Cumbrians from 1113 to 1124 and later King of Scotland from 1124 to 1153. The youngest son of Malcol ...
in 1140 with canons from
Nostell Priory,
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...
. It is possible that, initially at least, the prior of St Andrews was subordinate to the bishop as
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 ...
, but by the 13th century the canons of St Andrews were given freedom by the bishop to elect their prior. By the end of the 13th century, the abbacy of the native canons (i.e. the ''Céli Dé'', or
Culdees) was no longer there to challenge the position of the priory, and the native canons themselves had been formed into a
collegiate church.
The position of prior became secularized and the priory itself carved up into lordships in the 16th century, although the core and title remained into the 17th century. The following is a list of known priors and commendators:
List of priors
*
Robert I Robert I may refer to:
*Robert I, Duke of Neustria (697–748)
* Robert I of France (866–923), King of France, 922–923, rebelled against Charles the Simple
* Rollo, Duke of Normandy (c. 846 – c. 930; reigned 911–927)
* Robert I Archbishop o ...
, 1140x1144-1160
*
Walter I, 1160-1195
*
Gilbert I, 1198
* Walter I (again), 1198x1199
*
Thomas I, 1199-1211
*
Simon, 1212-1225
* Henry de Norham, x 1228-1236
* John White, 1236-1258
* Gilbert, 1258-1264
* John de Haddington, 1264-1304
* Adam Mauchan, 1304-1313
* John de Forfar, 1313-1321
* John de Cowrie, 1321-1340
* William de Lothian, 1340-1354
* Thomas Biset, 1354-1363
*
Stephen de Pa, 1363-1386
* Robert de Montrose,
[Previously Prior of Loch Leven.] 1386x1387-1394
* James Biset, 1394-1416
* William de Camera, 1416-1417
**
John Bullock, (claimed) 1417-1418
*
James de Haldeston
James Haldenston or James Haldenstoun (died 18 July 1443) was an Augustinians, Augustinian churchman from 15th-century Kingdom of Scotland, Scotland. Probably from somewhere in eastern Fife, Haldenston became an Augustinian at St Andrews, earned ...
, 1417-1443
** John Litstar (unfruitful provision), 1417-1418
* William Bonar, 1443-1462
* David Ramsay, 1466-1469
* Walter Monypenny,
1467-1468
* William Cameron, 1469-1482
* Walter Monypenny, 1469
* John Wallace, 1469-1471
* Thomas Ruch, 1475
* Walter Monypenny, 1483-1486
*
John Hepburn, 1483-1526
*
Patrick Hepburn, 1524-1538
List of commendators
*
James Stewart
James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military pilot. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morality ...
, 1538-1570
*
Robert Stewart, 1570-1586
[Bishop of Caithness from 1541; Earl of Lennox from 1578, exchanging Lennox for the ]earldom of March
Earl of March is a title that has been created several times in the Peerage of Scotland and the Peerage of England. The title derived from the "marches" or borderlands between England and either Wales (Welsh Marches) or Scotland (Scottish March ...
in 1580.
*
Ludovic, Duke of Lennox, 1586-1624
See also
*
Bishop of St Andrews
The Bishop of St. Andrews ( gd, Easbaig Chill Rìmhinn, sco, Beeshop o Saunt Andras) was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of St Andrews in the Catholic Church and then, from 14 August 1472, as Archbishop of St Andrews ( gd, Àrd-easbaig ...
Notes
Bibliography
*
Barrow, G.W.S., "The Clergy at St Andrews", in G.W.S. Barrow (ed.), The Kingdom of the Scots, (Edinburgh, 2003), pp. 189–202
* 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), p. 96
* Duncan, A.A.M., "The Foundation of St Andrews Cathedral Priory, 1140", in The Scottish Historical Review, vol 84, (April, 2005), pp. 1–37
* 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. 187–92
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prior of Saint Andrews
*
Saint Andrews
Saint Andrews