Robert Capellanus

infobox bishopbiog
name = Robert (I.)


religion= Roman Catholic Church
See = Diocese of Ross
Title = Bishop of Ross
Period = 1214–1249
consecration = February 17 × July 7, 1215
Predecessor = "Andreas de Moravia" /
Reinald Macer
Successor = Robert (II.)
post = Royal Chaplain | ordination =
bishops =
date of birth = unknown
place of birth = unknown
date of death = c. 1249
place of death =

Robert Capellanus ("Robert the Chaplain"; d. c. 1249), was a chaplain of King William I of Scotland and afterwards, Bishop of Ross (1214-1249).

On February 25, 1213, he witnessed a confirmation of the properties of Arbroath Abbey as "Roberto Capellano domini regis", "Robert Chaplain of the lord king". [Barrow (ed.), "Acts of William I", no. 513, at p. 465.] King William had had another chaplain called Robert who became Archdeacon of Glasgow 1195 × 1196, but although neither used surnames, it is certain that they were not the same men. [Barrow (ed.), "Acts of William I", p. 32; Watt, "Fasti Ecclesiae", p. 171.] It would probably be possible to know more about Robert if he had used a surname, but as it happens his details are lost in the those large number of Norman and Anglo-Norman incomers in William's reign using that name. [See, for instance, Barrow (ed.), "Acts of William I", p. 527.]

After reporting the death of the previous Bishop of Ross, Reinald Macer, the "Chronicle of Melrose" related that:

Andreas de Moravia's refusal to accept his own election had led thus to the elevation of the king's chaplain. This election occurred before the death of King William on December 4, 1214.Dowden, "Bishops", p. 211; Watt, "Fasti Ecclesiae", p. 266.] Robert's name occurred as "bishop-elect" on February 17, 1215, but he is a consecrated bishop by July 7, meaning he had received consecration between these respective dates.Watt, "Fasti Ecclesiae", p. 266.]

Robert appeared on various documents during the reign of King Alexander II of Scotland; he appeared on March 30, 1226, again on February 1, 1227, and on June 30, 1228. [Dowden, "Bishops", p. 211.] Pope Gregory IX issued, May 29, 1235, Robert the authority to increase the number of cathedral prebends, augment existing prebends and expand his cathedral. [Anderson, vol. ii, p. 394, n. 3; Watt, "Fasti Ecclesiae", p. 266.] This mandate was repeated, in an expanded form, in 1256, for his successor. According to Professor Donald Watt, it may have been this bishop rather than Robert II whom Bower remembered as the builder of Ross cathedral. Robert Capellanus appears to have died in 1249.

Notes

References

* Anderson, Alan Orr, "Early Sources of Scottish History", 2 vols, (Edinburgh, 1922)
* Barrow, G. W. S. (ed.), "The Acts of William I" ("Regesta Regum Scottorum" vol. ii), (Edinburgh, 1971)
* Dowden, John, "The Bishops of Scotland", ed. J. Maitland Thomson, (Glasgow, 1912)
* Stevenson, Joseph (ed.), "Chronica de Mailros; E Codice Unico in Biblioteca Cottoniana Servato, Nunc Iterum in Lucem Edita. Notulis Indiceque Aucta.", (Edinburgh, 1835)
* Watt, D. E. R., "Fasti Ecclesiae Scotinanae Medii Aevi ad annum 1638", 2nd Draft, (St Andrews, 1969)