Hugh (bishop)

Hugh († August 4, 1188 near Rome ) was a Scottish clergyman. He was Bishop of St Andrews from 1178 to 1188 , but his election and ordination were illegitimate. Therefore, John the Scot claimed the office of bishop until 1183 and then from 1186 onwards. Under canon law, Hugh was only bishop of St Andrews from 1183, but was removed from his post before his death.

Dispute over the Diocese of St Andrews

Appointment as bishop by the king

Hugh served as chaplain and official in the service of King William I of Scotland . After the death of Bishop Richard , the cathedral priory of St Andrews had chosen John the Scot as the new bishop. The choice was apparently made without consultation with the king, who refused the election of John the Scot. The king held a new election, in which his candidate Hugh was elected bishop. Hugh was ordained bishop in late 1178 or 1179, although neither election nor ordination conformed to the rules of canon law . However, the king tried to present the Pope, who had to confirm the election, with a fait accompli.

Map of the Scottish Dioceses in the 12th Century. The diocese of St Andrews (red) was by far the richest and most important of the Scottish dioceses.

Settlement of the conflict

Pope Alexander III but rejected the election and ordination of Hugh. With Alexius he sent a papal legate to Scotland to check that the election of John the Scot was legal. The king was powerless against this investigation, and after Alexius found the election lawful, John was ordained bishop by Bishop Matthew of Aberdeen in June 1180 . But Hugh disregarded the consecration of his competitor. With the approval of the king he continued to be bishop, whereupon he was excommunicated by Alexius . When he himself disregarded the excommunication, the Legate imposed the interdict on the diocese. The disgruntled king then confiscated the diocese's revenues and plundered the estates of John the Scot and Bishop Matthew. Thereupon John the Scot and Bishop Matthew fled to the English King Henry II , who was liege lord of the Scottish king according to the Treaty of Falaise . Henry II summoned the Scottish king to Normandy, where the two agreed a compromise in April 1181. Accordingly, Hugh would remain Bishop of St Andrews, while John the Scot would become Bishop of the Diocese of Dunkeld and Royal Chancellor. In addition, John the Scot should be compensated annually by Hugh with 40 Merks from the income of the rich diocese of St Andrews . This compromise was made by Pope Alexander III. decidedly refused. He insisted that John be the rightful bishop of St Andrews. The Scottish King, on the other hand, held on to Hugh as Bishop of St Andrews. John the Scot then remained in exile in northern England and turned to Archbishop Roger of York , who was appointed by the Pope as the new legate. The archbishop excommunicated the Scottish king in the summer of 1181 and imposed an interdict on Scotland. But after the Pope died at the end of August 1181 and Archbishop Roger died in November 1181, the Scottish King sent an embassy to the Curia led by Bishop Jocelyn of Glasgow. This achieved that the new Pope Lucius III. lifted the interdict and excommunication. In March 1182, Lucius III appointed. then two new legates to investigate the dispute over St Andrews. In a three-day council in June 1182, in which the King also attended, it was proposed that both Hugh and John the Scot should resign from the office of Bishop of St Andrews. Instead, John the Scot should once again become Bishop of Dunkeld and Hugh Bishop of Glasgow. Jocelyn, the previous Bishop of Glasgow, was to become the new Bishop of St Andrews. After initial approval, the king rejected this compromise. He now sent Hugh to Rome so that he could address the Pope directly. Lucius III. received Hugh, but decided in the first half of 1183 that both aspirants should forego their claims to St Andrews. After doing this, the Pope reappointed Hugh Bishop of St Andrews, while he appointed John the Scot Bishop of Dunkeld. In addition, the old suggestion that Hugh should pay John 40 Merks annually as compensation was accepted. This seemed to finally settle the dispute.

New conflict, deposition and death

By 1186 at the latest, there was another dispute between Hugh and John the Scot over the office of Bishop of St Andrews. Possibly both had been sent as ambassadors of the Scottish king to the Curia in Verona , but there both raised before the new Pope Urban III. their claims. The Pope did not want to make a quick decision in the complex case, so Hugh and John probably returned to Scotland. But then the Pope declared that he would decide the case and ordered both of them to come to him. Hugh apparently stayed in Scotland while John was traveling to the Curia. A group of Scottish prelates excommunicated him on behalf of the Pope, but Urban III. no longer decided the case. The next Pope, Clement III. removed Hugh from his office as bishop on January 16, 1188, declaring that John should become bishop instead. Hugh then went back to Italy. He received the Pope's absolution, but died shortly after of an epidemic near Rome.

The dispute between Hugh and John the Scot was part of the conflict between the popes and the Scottish king over the right to appoint bishops. The decision of Pope Clement III to reinstate John the Scot as bishop was not implemented on site. Instead, after Hugh's death, the king was able to get his Chancellor Roger to be Bishop of St Andrews. With a few exceptions, vacant dioceses were occupied by royal officials until the king's death in 1214.

literature

• John Dowden: The Bishops of Scotland. Being Notes on the Lives of all the Bishops, under each of the Sees, prior to the Reformation . James Maclehose, Glasgow 1912, pp. 9-10.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Archibald AM Duncan: Scotland. The Making of the Kingdom (The Edinburgh History of Scotland; Vol. I ). Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh 1975. ISBN 0-05-00203-7-4 , p. 271.
2. ^ Archibald AM Duncan: Scotland. The Making of the Kingdom (The Edinburgh History of Scotland; Vol. I ). Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh 1975. ISBN 0-05-00203-7-4 , p. 272.
3. ^ Archibald AM Duncan: Scotland. The Making of the Kingdom (The Edinburgh History of Scotland; Vol. I ). Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh 1975. ISBN 0-05-00203-7-4 , p. 274.

predecessor	Office	successor
Richard	Bishop of St Andrews 1178 / 79–1188 with John	Roger of Leicester