- Andrew Durie
infobox bishopbiog
name = Andrew Durie
religion=Roman Catholic Church
See =Diocese of Galloway
Title =Bishop of Galloway
Period = 1541–1558
consecration =
Predecessor =Henry Wemyss
Successor = Alexander Gordon
post =Abbot of Melrose (1525–1541) | ordination =
bishops =
date of birth = Late 1400s
place of birth = Probably Durie,Fife
date of death =Edinburgh 1558
place of death =Edinburgh Andrew Durie (died 1558),
bishop of Galloway andabbot of Melrose , was the son of John Durie of Durie inFife , and brother toGeorge Durie ,abbot of Dunfermline andarchdeacon of St. Andrews .Biography
Early career and abbacy of Melrose
Both brothers, Andrew and Gordon Durie, entered the church under the patronage of their uncle, Archbishop
James Beaton , who named them abbots in 1526. The appointment of Andrew Durie to theabbey of Melrose was made in opposition to the will of James V, who had already asked thepope to grant the charge to John Maxwell, brother of Robert Maxwell,Lord Maxwell , but letters of commendation to the pope in favour of Durie were obtained by fraud. Sir Christopher Dacre, in a letter datedDecember 2 1526 , says that Durie, "a monk of Melrose Abbey, will probably hold the place, notwithstanding that the king and the lords in this parliament have enacted that no Scotchman should purchase a benefice at the pope's hand, without license of the king and the lords of council". [Quoted in Fotheringham, "Durie, Andrew (d 1558).]James wrote to
Cardinal Wolsey on the subject, and requested him to lay the matter beforeHenry VIII , so that the English king might use his influence with the pope to annul the appointment of Durie. Maxwell's friends obtained from theScottish parliament a revocation of the letters sent to the pope in Durie's behalf. TheEarl of Arran also wrote to Cardinal Wolsey to remind him that he had promised before to obtain the pope's consent to the appointment of his friends to thebishopric of Moray and to the abbey of Melrose, both of which charges were then vacant. The ‘Vatican Papers’ contain a letter from Henry VIII to the pope on the subject, datedHertford ,December 2 1524 , in which he recommends John Maxwell ofDundrennan to theabbey of Melrose . All these efforts were of no avail.Maxwell, who had entered on the functions of abbot, had to retire in favour of Durie, who personally had nothing to recommend him as a churchman to any office whatever. He was dissolute and
profane . His talk was mixed with terms derived from dice and cards. He had also a vulgar habit of making trivialrhyme s. In giving his advice to the queen-regent,Mary of Guise , regarding a concourse ofprotestant preachers that had assembled inEdinburgh , he is reported to have said: "Madame, because they are come without order, I rede ye, send them to the border". [Quoted in Fotheringham, "Durie, Andrew (d 1558).]Bishop of Galloway
On
July 2 1541 he was made an extraordinary lord of session, and was on the following day recommended to the pope for thesee of Galloway . The king stipulated that before receiving the bishopric he should resign Melrose, although he might hold the abbey of Tungland. He is, however, spoken of as bishop andabbot of Melrose in 1556. He accompanied the queen-regent on her visit toFrance in 1550. He was an inveterate enemy toprotestantism , and vowed openly that, in despite of God, so long as they that then were prelates lived, that word called the gospel should never be preached within the realm.He died in September 1558 from the shock occasioned by a
riot in Edinburgh when the Protestants broke up the procession in honour ofSt Giles . Knox gives Durie a very bad character. [KNOX, "Hist.", p. 105.] He was succeeded in the bishopric by Alexander Gordon.SourcesNotes
References
:"This article incorporates text from the
Dictionary of National Biography (1888)"
* Fotheringham, J. G., "Durie, Andrew (d 1558), bishop of Galloway and abbot of Melrose", "Dictionary of National Biography", (Oxford, 1888) [This article lists the following in its citations: "State Papers, Henry VIII", vol. iv.; "Vatican Papers", Caligula B. vi. 420; Brunton and Haig's "Senators of the College of Justice", p. 68; Keith's "Scottish Bishops", p. 278.]
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