Robert Wishart

Obverse of the Robert Wishart seal.

Robert Wishart (also: Robert Wiseheart ) († November 26, 1316 ) was for many years Bishop of Glasgow , briefly Guardian of Scotland and a prominent supporter of Robert the Bruce during the Scottish Wars of Independence. He is considered to be one of the outstanding church figures in Scotland at the turn of the 13th to the 14th century.

Life until John Balliol's abdication

Robert Wishart came from the Norman- French family Wishart or Wiseheart from Kincardineshire . He was a nephew or cousin of William Wishart , Bishop of St Andrews and former Lord Chancellor of Scotland . Robert Wishart's first recorded office was that of Archdeacon in St Andrews Church . He was made Bishop of Glasgow in 1273 and was appointed during the reign of Alexander III. also a prominent figure in politics. After the king's death he belonged to the second college of Guardians of Scotland, who exercised the reign of Margaret , who was still a minor . Her early death in 1290 left the country with no apparent legitimate successor. During the subsequent inner-Scottish dispute between the Bruce and the Balliol for the crown, Wishart was very closely involved in diplomatic negotiations with King Edward I of England. Wishart responded to Edwards' proposal to proclaim himself overlord of Scotland and thus to end the conflict by stating that "the Kingdom of Scotland is not subject to any one by tribute or oath except God alone". Edward disregarded these objections, appointed himself overlord and was finally confirmed by the Guardians of Scotland.

In the great meeting of nobility in Berwick-upon-Tweed (1292) Bruce and Balliol were able to name forty participants each, who should decide on the legitimacy of their respective claim to the throne. Robert Wishart attended the meeting on behalf of the Bruce and continued to support it even when the majority of voters voted for John Balliol. Nevertheless, he remained one of the most important political figures under the rule of Balliol and was instrumental in drawing up the Auld Alliance , an assistance agreement between Scotland and France that was ratified in February 1296. After England had declared war on Scotland and conquered it completely that year, Robert - like many other Scottish nobles - swore the oath of allegiance to Edward I.

The fight against English supremacy

Despite the oath, Robert Wishart was committed to the cause of Scottish independence from the start. Together with William Lamberton , Bishop of St Andrews and David de Moravia , Bishop of Moray , he founded a church support group for the struggle of the loyalists under William Wallace and Robert the Bruce . The Scottish bishops also wanted to preserve the independent relations of the Scottish Church with Rome and to prevent the subordination to the Archdiocese of York , which in the past had always been rejected . As early as 1289 , Pope Nicholas IV had reprimanded the Scottish clergy for objecting to the appointment of non-Scots to church offices in Scotland. Now Edward I aimed again to achieve subordination to York or Canterbury and also appointed English clerics for vacant benefits .

In 1297 Robert Wishart was one of the leading figures in Scotland who were the first to rebel against the English occupation. His first call for an uprising came in July 1297, but he soon had to surrender to the English in Irvine and was imprisoned for a few months. Wishart again swore allegiance to Edward, only to break the vow again shortly after his release. In May 1301 Edward I wrote to Pope Boniface VIII to obtain Wishart's abdication as Bishop of Glasgow. Bonifazius did not comply with this request, but he wrote a letter to Wishart in which he asked him to finally give up his resistance to Edward. When the Scottish loyalists were initially defeated by Happrew after the Chevauchée in February 1304 , Wishart had to go into exile and leave Scotland for three years .

The Bishop and Robert the Bruce

On February 10, 1306, Robert the Bruce murdered his main Scottish rival, John III. Comyn , in the church in Dumfries . Bruce had meanwhile devoted himself to the struggle for Scottish independence - also to enforce his own ambitions for the Scottish throne - and a short time later another Scottish uprising against the English began. Although the Pope Robert the Bruce for this act with the excommunication occupied, Robert Wishart, and the remaining Scottish clergy supported him continue. Wishart, in whose diocese the murder had occurred, not only did not excommunicate Bruce, but rather gave him absolution for the act. He then accompanied him to Scone , the traditional coronation site of the Scottish kings, where they met the bishops of St Andrews and Moray, as well as other important church representatives. Less than seven weeks after the murder on March 25, 1306 , Bruce was crowned king as Robert I in Scone. The new king immediately began preparations for war in which Robert Wishart played a key role. For example, he made the wood that the English had sent him to repair the bell tower of Glasgow Cathedral available to build siege engines. He later personally led the attack on Cupar Castle in Fife .

Scottish hopes were soon crushed by an English army under the command of Aymer de Valence . This defeated Robert I in the Battle of Methven and Wishart was captured again in Cupar. The English imprisoned him again and only his high church office saved him from execution . Edward I wrote to the Pope informing him that he had taken both Robert Wishart and William de Lamberton into custody and that Geoffroy de Montbray was now in charge of the bishopric of Glasgow.

Wishart remained in captivity for the next eight years, during which time he became blind. Only after the victory of Robert I in the Battle of Bannockburn was he released as part of a prisoner exchange. He returned to Scotland and spent the last years of his life in peace. He died on November 26, 1316. His remains were buried in the crypt of Glasgow Cathedral. His grave is now unmarked, as the inscriptions were probably removed during the Scottish Reformation .

literature

• GWS Barrow , Robert Bruce and the Community of the Realm of Scotland , 4th Edition, Edinburgh University Press: Edinburgh 2005. ISBN 978-0748620227
• Evan M. Barron, The Scottish War of Independence: a Critical Study. Revised edition, Barnes & Noble Inc: o. O. 2006. ISBN 978-0760703281
• Ranald Nicholson, Scotland: the Later Middle Ages. , Oliver & Boyd: Edinburgh 1974. ISBN 0050020382

swell

• Herbert Maxwell (Ed.), The Chronicle of Lanercost, 1272-1346: Translated, with notes , J. Maclehose: Glasgow 1913. Online edition (PDF; 36.7 MB)

predecessor	Office	successor
William Wishart (Elect)	Bishop of Glasgow 1271-1316	Stephen von Donydouer (Elekt)
no direct predecessor	Guardian of Scotland 1286–1292 Co-regents: Alexander Comyn († 1289), William Fraser , John II. Comyn , James Stewart , John de Warenne	Bryan FitzAlan