Abbot of Dundrennan

The Abbot of Dundrennan was the head of the Cistercian monastic community of Dundrennan Abbey, Galloway. It was founded by Fergus of Galloway in 1142. Dundrennan was a large and powerful monastery in the context of the south-west. It became secularised and protestantised in the 16th century. In 1606 it was finally turned into a secular lordship in for John Murray of Lochmaben, afterwards earl of Annandale.

Effigy of an early 13th-century abbot of Dundrennan

The royal warrant in 1886 which revived the office of Dean of the Chapel Royal also gave the Dean the titles of Abbot of Crossraguel and Abbot of Dundrennan.[1]

The following is a list of abbots and commendators:

List of abbots
  • Silvanus, fl. 1167[2]
  • William, 1180
  • Nicholas, l196 x 1200
  • [? Egidius], fl. 13th century[3]
  • Gaufridus (Geoffrey), 1209 x 1222
  • Robert Matursal, 1223 x 1224
  • Jordan, 1236
  • Leonius, 1236–1239
  • Ricardus (Richard), 1239
  • Adam I, 1250
  • Brian, 1250–1273
  • Adam II, 1294
  • Walter, 1296
  • John, 1305
  • William, 1332
  • Giles, 1347 - 1358 x 1381
  • Thomas, 1381
  • Patrick MacMen, x 1426
  • Thomas de Levinstone, 1429
  • Patrick Maligussal [Maxwell], 1431
  • Thomas de Levinstone (again), x1440-1454[4]
    • Alexander Brady, 1441
    • John Hunter, 1441
  • William Lowierii (Lilburn), 1454–1472
  • John Fuogo [Fogo], c. 1473-1476
  • Alexander Pettigrew, x 1474-1479
  • John Lockhart, 1476
  • Hugh Foulis, 1479
  • William Bewister, 1485
  • Edward Story (Edward Meldrum), 1488–1515
    • Robert Hunter, 1490
  • James Hay, 1516-1524[5]
    • John Dingwall, 1518
    • Adam Symson, 1518
    • Edward Bangal, 1519
  • John Maxwell, fl. 1524[6]
  • Cristofer Boyd, fl. 1526-1527

List of commendators

Notes
  1. Stair Memorial Encyclopaedia of the Laws of Scotland, Volume 7: The Crown, paragraph 838.
  2. Known when, in 1167, he was elected abbot of Rievaulx, Dundrennan's mother-house.
  3. Known only by a graveslab; graveslab thought to date to the 13th century.
  4. Became abbot on 20 May 1429. He suffered from blindness. He had resigned the abbacy on 30 November 1429, but was abbot again when he became bishop of Dunkeld in 1440. He was perhaps the nomination (to Dunkeld) of the Anti-Pope Felix V; he was probably confirmed by Pope Nicholas V, however he never gained possession of the see, and was deprived of it in 1441 by Pope Eugenius IV for recognizing the Council of Basel. He took a pension in 1454, and he died sometime before 10 July 1460; also Abbot of Coupar Angus and previously Abbot-elect of Newbattle.
  5. Became bishop of Ross in 1524.
  6. Previously abbot of Holyrood.
  7. Had been bishop of Galloway since 1526; was also commendator of Tongland (1530-1541).

Bibliography
  • Thompson, Barbara, "Monks and Other Officers of Dundrennan", (Dundrennan Abbey; unpublished)
  • 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. 63–7
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