William Gordon (bishop)

infobox bishopbiog
name = William Gordon


religion= Roman Catholic Church/
Church of Scotland
See = Diocese of Aberdeen
Title = Bishop of Aberdeen
Period = 1545–1577
consecration = December 23 1546 x January 26 1547
Predecessor = William Stewart
Successor = David Cunningham
post = Archdeacon of Caithness;
Archdeacon of Dunblane;
Chancellor of Moray | ordination =
bishops =
date of birth = Early 1500s
place of birth = Aberdeenshire)
date of death = 1577
place of death = Aberdeen

William Gordon (d. 1577) was a 16th century Scottish noble and prelate, the last of the pre-Reformation bishops of Aberdeen owing allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church.

Born in Aberdeenshire, he was the son of Janet Stewart, the daughter of John Stewart, 1st Earl of Atholl, and her husband Alexander Gordon, 3rd Earl of Huntly.Dowden, "Bishops of Scotland", p. 141; Macfarlane, "Gordon, William (d. 1577)".] As a youth, Gordon studied at the University of Aberdeen, the University of Paris and the University of Angers, graduating in Civil law and Canon Law.Macfarlane, "Gordon, William (d. 1577)".]

His high aristocratic birth and educational record brought him to the attention of King James V of Scotland, who in 1537 wrote to Pope Paul III, requesting that the latter reserve benefices for Gordon. He had in fact been Archdeacon of Caithness, briefly in 1529. [Watt, "Fasti Ecclesiae", p. 72.] William Gordon was Chancellor of the diocese of Moray between 1540 and 1546, [Watt, "Fasti Ecclesiae", p. 228.] and for a short time Archdeacon of Dunblane in 1545. [Watt "Fasti Ecclesiae", p. 90.] In either March or April 1545, Mary of Guise, Queen of Scots, wrote to the Pope requesting that Gordon be made coajutor (designated successor) to Bishop William Stewart of Aberdeen, as the latter was suffering from bad health. [Dowden, "Bishops of Scotland", p. 141.] Stewart in fact died on April 10, and with the support of Governor Châtellerault, Gordon was provided to the see on May 17, receiving consecration in either late December 1545 or early January of the following year. [Macfarlane, "Gordon, William (d. 1577)"; Watt, "Fasti Ecclesiae", p. 4.]

In the first few years of his episcopate, Gordon made a determined, unsuccessful effort to stamp out the growth of Presbyterianism.In 1549 the Scottish provincial council convened to reform the Scottish church. Bishop Gordon was, arguably, part of the problem, as he had fathered eight children by an unmarried woman named Janet Knowles whom he supported with episcopal revenues. In 1560 the Scottish Church broke its ties to Rome, banned mass and established an independent Scottish Church. Gordon was not an enthusiastic supporter of the latter and after the return of Mary - a Roman Catholic - to Scotland and her takeover of the kingdom, he assumed a low profile and the Queen issued a decree of protection to the University of Aberdeen, of which Gordon was chancellor; Gordon's nephew, moreover, was the staunchly Catholic George Gordon, 4th Earl of Huntly.

After the downfall of Mary I of Scotland in 1567, Bishop Gordon appears to have accepted the authority of the Church of Scotland since he retained his see until his death on August 6 1577. [Keith, "Historical Catalogue", p. 122; Macfarlane, "Gordon, William (d. 1577)"; Watt, "Fasti Ecclesiae", p. 4.] He died at Old Aberdeen, in the Bishop's Palace, and was buried in St Machar's Cathedral.

Notes

References

* 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)
* Macfarlane, Leslie J., "Gordon, William (d. 1577)", in the "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/11085, accessed 22 Feb 2007]
* Watt, D.E.R., "Fasti Ecclesiae Scotinanae Medii Aevi ad annum 1638", 2nd Draft, (St Andrews, 1969)