List of Abbots of Dunfermline

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Dunfermline Abbey, around 1919

The prior , later abbot , and finally commendator of Dunfermline from 1500, was the chairman of the monastic community at Dunfermline Abbey , near Fife . The abbey itself was founded in 1128 during the reign of David I , probably by his wife Margaret , who was later canonized . But there had been church life there before that. So Malcolm III. with the help of Benedictine monks of Canterbury have a church built in Dunfermline. During the reign of Edgar monks were introduced to the region and his successor Alexander I was asked in a letter to protect these monks. The first mentioned prior of Dunfermline is a certain Peter who accompanied a delegation from Alexander I to Canterbury around 1120. In the 16th century the abbey was secularized and from then on it was run by a commander . In the second half of the 16th century, the abbey's land holdings were gradually incorporated into secular dominions. In July 1593, the crown finally took over the abbey.

List of rulers of Dunfermline Abbey

The following is a list of the known principals of Dunfermline Abbey, sorted chronologically and by title.

Priorities

  • Peter, 1120

Abbots

  • Geoffrey of Canterbury (1128-1154)
  • Geoffrey II (1154-1178)
  • Archibald (1178–1198)
  • Robert de Berwick (1198-1202)
  • Patrick (1202-1217 / 1223)
  • William I. (1223)
  • William II. (1223 / 1226-1238)
  • Geoffrey III. (1238-1240)
  • Robert de Keldeleth (1240–1252), he resigned from the post and entered a Cistercian monastery, later he became abbot of Melrose
  • John (1252-1256)
  • Matthew (1256)
  • Simon (1267-1275)
  • Radulf de Greenlaw (1275-1296)
  • Hugh (1304 / 1306-1313)
  • Robert de Crail (1314-1328)
  • Alexander Ber (1328 / 9-1350 / 1351)
  • John Black (1351)
  • John de Stramiglot (1351-1383 / 1388)
  • William de Angus (1383)
  • John de Torry (1388-1409)
  • William de St Andrews (or: Anderston) (1413-1426), was prior of Urquhart
  • Robert de Scotland (1418-1419)
  • William Brown (1427)
  • Andrew de Kirkcaldy (1427-1444)
  • Richard de Bothwell (1444–1468), was previously Abbot of Paisley
  • Alexander Thomson (around 1470)
  • Henry Crichton (1471–1482), was previously Abbot of Paisley
  • Adam Cant (1483-1490)
  • George Crichton (1490–1500), after his death several people claimed the office of abbot and Crichton only received his papal confirmation in 1469
    • Raffaele Riario (1491–1492), opponent of George Crichton
    • Robert Swinton (1492), rival candidate for George Crichton
    • Thomas Cranston (1492), opponent for George Crichton; was also abbot of Jedburgh
    • Andrew Pictoris (1492), opponent of George Crichton; was also Bishop of Orkney

Commendatar abbot

  • James Stewart, Duke of Ross (1500–1504), son of King James. III
  • Gilbert Strachan (1504)
  • James Beaton (1504–1509), was elected Bishop of Galloway in 1508, but retained the position of abbot until he was appointed Archbishop of Glasgow in 1509
  • Alexander Stewart (1509-1513), was made Commendator while he was Archbishop of St Andrews
  • James Hepburn (1513-1516), resigned when he was appointed Bishop of Moray
  • Peter de Accoltis (1514)
  • Andrew Forman (1514–1521), held the board at the same time as the Archdiocese of St Andrews
  • James Beaton II (1522–1539) took over the board when he took over the Archdiocese of St Andrews from Andrew Forman
  • George Durie (1526 / 39–1572)
  • Robert Pitcairn (1553 / 72–1584)
  • Henry Pitcairn (1582 / 4–1593)
    • Patrick, Master of Gray (1585–1587), opponent of Henry Pitcairn
    • George Gordon, 1st Marquess of Huntly (1587), contestant to Henry Pitcairn

literature

  • David Edward Easson, Medieval religious houses, Scotland; with an appendix on the houses in the Isle of Man. London 1957.
  • DER Watt, NF Shead (Ed.): The Heads of Religious Houses in Scotland from the 12th to the 16th Centuries. Scottish Record Society, Edinburgh 2001, ISBN 0-902054-18-X , pp. 43 ff. ( The Scottish Records Society. New Series, Volume 24).