Summary
The Bishop of Argyll or Bishop of Lismore was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Argyll, one of Scotland's 13 medieval bishoprics. It was created in 1200, when the western half of the territory of the Bishopric of Dunkeld was formed into the new diocese. The bishops were based at Lismore. The Bishopric of Argyll, like other Scottish bishoprics, passed into the keeping of the Scottish Episcopal Church after the Scottish Reformation.
List of Bishops of Argyll edit
| Bishops of Argyll | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| From | Until | Incumbent | Notes. |
| c. 1200 | c. 1230 | Harald | |
| c. 1238 | 1241 | William | Previously Chancellor of Moray. |
| c. 1252 | 1262 | Alan | |
| 1264 | 1299 | Laurence de Ergadia | |
| 1301 | c. 1327 | Andrew | Exiled with John, Lord of Argyll following the Battle of Brander in 1308. |
| el. 1342 | ? | Aonghas de Ergadia | Bishop-elect. Both he and a Dominican called Martin appeared before Pope Clement VI, as the succession to the see was disputed. The Pope handed the matter over to be examined by Bertrand du Pouget, Bishop of Ostia, but Aonghas died before the matter was solved. |
| 1342 | 1362 | Martin de Ergadia | |
| 1387 | 1390 | Iain MacDhùghaill | Appears only in continental records; he was scholar of the Pope. |
| 1397 | 1411 | Beoan MacGilleandrais | |
| ? | 1420 | John Balsham | Resigned 1420 and retired to Ipswich Carmelite House, where he died in 1425.[1] |
| 1420 | 1426 | Finlay de Albania | |
| 1427 | 1461 | George Lauder | |
| 1475 | c. 1494 | Robert Colquhoun | |
| 1497 | c. 1522 | David Hamilton | |
| 1525 | c. 1535 | Robert Montgomery | |
| 1539 | 1553 | William Cunningham | Youngest son of Lord Glencairn; provided to the see by Pope Paul III; resigned the diocese into the hands of the Pope in 1553, and became Dean of Brechin. |
| 1553 | 1580 | James Hamilton | Became a Protestant; also "subdean" of Glasgow from January 1580; died in office. |
| 1580 | 1608 | Neil Campbell | |
| 1608 | 1613 | John Campbell | |
| 1613 | 1636 | Andrew Boyd | |
| 1637 | 1638 | James Fairlie | As with other Scottish bishops, he was deprived by parliament in December 1638; episcopacy was restored after the Restoration. |
| 1662 | 1665 | David Fletcher | |
| 1665 | John Young | Appointed but not consecrated; died in June 1665. | |
| 1666 | 1675 | William Scrogie | |
| c. 1675 | 1679 | Arthur Rose | Translated to Galloway, to Glasgow, then to St Andrews. |
| 1679 | 1680 | Colin Falconer | Translated to Moray. |
| 1680 | 1687 | Hector McLaine | |
| 1688 | Alexander Monro | Nominated by James VII & II, but not consecrated | |
In 1689, Episcopacy was permanently abolished in the Scottish Church. The line of bishops continued within the Scottish Episcopal Church, where the title was often combined with others. In 1847, Alexander Ewing became the first to bear the title Bishop of Argyll and the Isles, and, in 1878, Angus MacDonald became the first Roman Catholic bishop to bear that same title.
References edit
- ^ B. Zimmerman, 'The White Friars at Ipswich,' Proc. Suffolk Institute of Archaeology; 10 Part 2 (1899), 204.
- Dowden, John, The Bishops of Scotland, ed. J. Maitland Thomson, (Glasgow, 1912)
- Keith, Robert, An Historical Catalogue of the Scottish Bishops: down to the year 1688, (London, 1924)
- Watt, D. E. R., Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae Medii Aevi ad annum 1638, 2nd draft, (St Andrews, 1969)