Archbishop of St Andrews

The Bishop of St. Andrews ( _gd. Easbaig Chill Rìmhinn) was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese and then, as Archbishop of St Andrews ( _gd. Àrd-easbaig Chill Rìmhinn), the Archdiocese of St. Andrews.

The name St Andrews is not the town or church's original name. Originally it was "Cellrígmonaid" ("church of the king's mounth" hence "Cill Rìmhinn") located at "Cennrígmonaid" ("head of the king's mounth"); hence the town became "Kilrymont" (i.e. "Cellrígmonaid") in the non-Gaelic orthography of the High Middle Ages). Today St Andrews has replaced both Kilrymont (and variants) as well as the older English term Anderston as the name of the town and bishopric.

The bishopric itself originates in the period 700-900, and is the best attested bishopric in Scottish history. By the 11th century, it is clear that it is the most important bishopric in Scotland.

List of known abbots

There had been a monastery there since the 8th century. It was probably taken over by Céli Dé monks in the 9th or 10th centuries, and these survive into the 14th century. It is the Gaelic abbey, rather than the continental priory, that the abbot was in charge of; the importance of the Céli Dé abbey has come down into the modern era in the street names of St. Andrews.

Only a few abbots are known. It is often thought that the position of Abbot and Bishop were the same until the Norman era, although that can never be proved for certain.

References

* Anderson, Alan Orr, "Early Sources of Scottish History: AD 500–1286", 2 Vols, (Edinburgh, 1922), vol. i
* Anderson, Marjorie Ogilvie, "St. Andrews before Alexander I", in G. W. S. Barrow (ed.), "The Scottish Tradition", (Edinburgh, 1994), pp. 1-13
* Barrow, G. W. S., "The Clergy of St. Andrews", in "The Kingdom of the Scots", 2nd Ed., (Edinburgh, 2003), pp. 187-202
* 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, 1824)
* Lawrie, Sir Archibald, "Early Scottish Charters Prior to A.D. 1153", (Glasgow, 1905)
* Macqueen, John, MacQueen, Winifred & Watt, D.E.R. (eds.), "Scottichronicon by Walter Bower in Latin and English", Vol. 3, (Aberdeen, 1995)
* Watt, D. E. R., "Fasti Ecclesiae Scotinanae Medii Aevi ad annum 1638", 2nd Draft, (St Andrews, 1969)

ee also

* Archbishop of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh (for modern Catholic Archbishopric of St Andrews and Edinburgh)
* Bishop of St Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane (for modern Episcopalian Bishopric of St Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane)