Abbot of Crossraguel

–—The Abbot of Crossraguel was the leader of the Cluniac monastic community of Crossraguel Abbey, near Maybole in Carrick, south-west Scotland. It was founded in 1260s by Donnchadh mac Gille Brigte, earl of Carrick with monks from Paisley Abbey. Owing to the lack of surving records and its distance from the core of Lowland Scotland in the western Gàidhealtachd, few of the abbots are known by name. The abbots were replaced by commendators in the 16th century, and the abbey came to an end when its lands were taken over by the bishops of Dunblane in 1617. The following is a list of abbots and commendators:

List of known abbots

* Patrick, 1274 x 1292
* Nicholas, 1370-1386 x 1400
* "nearly a century without a known abbot"
* Roger, fl. 1370
* Roland, 1414-1433 [Provided as abbot of Paisley, with Lithgow being provided as abbot of Crossraguel, but after an investigation by bishop of Moray acting for Avignon Pope Benedict XIII, seems to have been deemed unsuitable, and the provisions went the other way.]
* John de Lithgow, 1414-1415 [See above note.]
* Colin Kennedy, 1460-1490
* Robert Whitehead, 1491-1492
* David Blair (Blane), 1498-1504
* David Kinghorn, 1509-1521
* William Kennedy, 1520-1547
* Quintin Kennedy, 1548-1564

List of pensioners and commendators

* George Buchanan (pensioner), 1564-1577
* Alan Stewart (commendator/abbot), 1565-1587
* John Vaus of Barnbarroch (commendator), 1587-1612
* Peter Hewatt (commendator), 1628

Notes

Bibliography

* Cowan, Ian B. & Easson, David E., "Medieval Religious Houses: Scotland With an Appendix on the Houses in the Isle of Man", Second Edition, (London, 1976), pp. 63-4
* Watt, D.E.R. & Shead, N.F. (eds.), "The Heads of Religious Houses in Scotland from the 12th to the 16th Centuries", The Scottish Records Society, New Series, Volume 24, (Edinburgh, 2001), pp. 47-9

ee also

* Crossraguel Abbey