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John Fraser (bishop)
Encyclopedia
John Fraser [also, more commonly then, Frisel or Frisell] (died 1507) was a late medieval Scottish
prelate
. Born about 1429 or 1430 if later tradition can be believed, with strong connections to the burgh
of Linlithgow
, Fraser held a variety of high-level ecclesiastical positions in Scotland, including being the first Dean
of Restalrig
collegiate church
(which he helped to found) before becoming Bishop of Ross
in 1497, a position he held until his death in 1507.
, and he seems to have been the John Fraser who was Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of St Andrews
in 1479. He is found as Provost
of the collegiate church
of Abernethy on 2 February 1476; it is not known when he obtained this position, and the latest documentation of a previous provost occurs all the way back on 13 March 1445. He can be found as the Official of the diocese of Dunblane
on 26 August 1476. He was litigating to gain the precentor
ship of Elgin Cathedral
in 1480, although nothing more of this is heard. He is found as rector
of the parish church
of Douglas
on 28 August 1481. After the election of Robert Blackadder
as Bishop of Aberdeen
, on 14 July 1480, Fraser received provision to the now vacant position of Archdeacon of Aberdeen
; he did not secure the position because of the lack of royal support, but was still claiming the position in 1488.
in Midlothian
. Fraser petitioned the pope for the creation of the collegiate church on 6 May, to be dedicated to the "Holy and Indivisible Trinity" and the Virgin Mary; the church had and was benefiting from the patronage of King James III of Scotland
, and the church was called at the time the "King's chapel" or "chapel royal". Fraser founded a chaplainry in the new collegiate church, to which he donated a tenement he had built in the Canongate
.
. He received papal provision on 14 March 1498. On 5 May, the Florentine clerk Ilarion de Portiis acting in Fraser's name paid the papacy 600 gold florins
. His name appeared in Scottish sources datable to 3 December as "elect and confirmed of Ross. He was granted the temporarlities of the bishopric on 3 January 1499, by which time he had probably received consecration.
On 10 March 1504, Bishop Fraser was present at a meeting of the parliament; on 10 May, Bishop Fraser is recorded as granting his cathedral at Fortrose
an annual rent of £10 from a tenement he owned in the burgh
of Linlithgow
. On 15 September 1506, King James IV of Scotland
, while at the Chanonry of Ross, granted to the bishop part of the lands of the toun of Arkbol, in the earldom of Ross
. The History of the Frazers (Wardlaw MS) claimed that he died on 5 February 1507, aged 78. According to tradition one of the three funeral effigies in Fortrose Cathedral
is that of Bishop Fraser. The tradition - attested in the Wardlaw MS History of the Frazers - that he was Abbot of Melrose
and Prior of Beauly
is now thought to be spurious. Professor Donald Watt
omitted him from his list of chancellors of Glasgow Cathedral
, a position he was also widely believed to have held.
Kingdom of Scotland
The Kingdom of Scotland was a Sovereign state in North-West Europe that existed from 843 until 1707. It occupied the northern third of the island of Great Britain and shared a land border to the south with the Kingdom of England...
prelate
Prelate
A prelate is a high-ranking member of the clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin prælatus, the past participle of præferre, which means "carry before", "be set above or over" or "prefer"; hence, a prelate is one set over others.-Related...
. Born about 1429 or 1430 if later tradition can be believed, with strong connections to the burgh
Burgh
A burgh was an autonomous corporate entity in Scotland and Northern England, usually a town. This type of administrative division existed from the 12th century, when King David I created the first royal burghs. Burgh status was broadly analogous to borough status, found in the rest of the United...
of Linlithgow
Linlithgow
Linlithgow is a Royal Burgh in West Lothian, Scotland. An ancient town, it lies south of its two most prominent landmarks: Linlithgow Palace and Linlithgow Loch, and north of the Union Canal....
, Fraser held a variety of high-level ecclesiastical positions in Scotland, including being the first Dean
Dean (religion)
A dean, in a church context, is a cleric holding certain positions of authority within a religious hierarchy. The title is used mainly in the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church.-Anglican Communion:...
of Restalrig
Restalrig
Restalrig is a suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland. It is located east of the city centre, west of the A199 road, and to the east of Lochend, with which it overlaps. Restalrig Road is the main route through the area, running from London Road at Jock's Lodge, to Leith Links at the south edge of...
collegiate church
Collegiate church
In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons; a non-monastic, or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, which may be presided over by a dean or provost...
(which he helped to found) before becoming Bishop of Ross
Bishop of Ross
The Bishop of Ross was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Ross, one of Scotland's 13 medieval bishoprics. The first recorded bishop appears in the late 7th century as a witness to Adomnán of Iona's Cáin Adomnáin. The bishopric was based at the settlement of Rosemarkie until the mid-13th...
in 1497, a position he held until his death in 1507.
Early career
Fraser was a university graduate, M. A.Master of Arts (Scotland)
A Master of Arts in Scotland can refer to an undergraduate academic degree in humanities and social sciences awarded by the ancient universities of Scotland – the University of St Andrews, the University of Glasgow, the University of Aberdeen and the University of Edinburgh, while the University of...
, and he seems to have been the John Fraser who was Dean of the Faculty of Arts at the University of St Andrews
University of St Andrews
The University of St Andrews, informally referred to as "St Andrews", is the oldest university in Scotland and the third oldest in the English-speaking world after Oxford and Cambridge. The university is situated in the town of St Andrews, Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It was founded between...
in 1479. He is found as Provost
Provost (religion)
A provost is a senior official in a number of Christian churches.-Historical Development:The word praepositus was originally applied to any ecclesiastical ruler or dignitary...
of the collegiate church
Collegiate church
In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons; a non-monastic, or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, which may be presided over by a dean or provost...
of Abernethy on 2 February 1476; it is not known when he obtained this position, and the latest documentation of a previous provost occurs all the way back on 13 March 1445. He can be found as the Official of the diocese of Dunblane
Diocese of Dunblane
The Diocese of Dunblane or Diocese of Strathearn was one of the thirteen historical dioceses of Scotland, before the abolition of episcopacy in the Scottish Church in 1689. Roughly, it embraced the territories covered by the old earldoms of Strathearn and Menteith. The diocese was founded by the...
on 26 August 1476. He was litigating to gain the precentor
Precentor
A precentor is a person who helps facilitate worship. The details vary depending on the religion, denomination, and era in question. The Latin derivation is "præcentor", from cantor, meaning "the one who sings before" ....
ship of Elgin Cathedral
Elgin Cathedral
Elgin Cathedral, dedicated to the Holy Trinity, sometimes referred to as The Lantern of the North is a historic ruin in Elgin, Moray, north-east Scotland. It was established in 1224 on an area of ground granted by Alexander II that was close to the River Lossie and outside of the burgh of...
in 1480, although nothing more of this is heard. He is found as rector
Rector
The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...
of the parish church
Parish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....
of Douglas
Douglas, South Lanarkshire
Douglas is a village in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is located on the south bank of the Douglas Water and on the A70 road that links Ayr, on the West coast of Scotland, to Edinburgh on the East, around 12 miles south west of Lanark. The placename is of Gaelic origin, derived from the Old Gaelic...
on 28 August 1481. After the election of Robert Blackadder
Robert Blackadder
Robert Blackadder was a medieval Scottish cleric, diplomat and politician, who was abbot of Melrose, bishop-elect of Aberdeen and bishop of Glasgow; when the last was elevated to archiepiscopal status in 1492, he became the first ever archbishop of Glasgow...
as Bishop of Aberdeen
Bishop of Aberdeen
The Bishop of Aberdeen was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Aberdeen, one of Scotland's 13 medieval bishoprics, whose first recorded bishop is an early 12th century cleric named Nechtan...
, on 14 July 1480, Fraser received provision to the now vacant position of Archdeacon of Aberdeen
Archdeacon of Aberdeen
The Archdeacon of Aberdeen was the only archdeacon in the Diocese of Aberdeen, acting as a deputy of the Bishop of Aberdeen. The archdeacon held the parish church of Rayne as a prebend since 1256. The following is a list of known historical archdeacons:...
; he did not secure the position because of the lack of royal support, but was still claiming the position in 1488.
Collegiate church of Restalrig
Fraser was the first Dean of the new collegiate church erected on 13 November 1487 at RestalrigRestalrig
Restalrig is a suburb of Edinburgh, Scotland. It is located east of the city centre, west of the A199 road, and to the east of Lochend, with which it overlaps. Restalrig Road is the main route through the area, running from London Road at Jock's Lodge, to Leith Links at the south edge of...
in Midlothian
Midlothian
Midlothian is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, and a lieutenancy area. It borders the Scottish Borders, East Lothian and the City of Edinburgh council areas....
. Fraser petitioned the pope for the creation of the collegiate church on 6 May, to be dedicated to the "Holy and Indivisible Trinity" and the Virgin Mary; the church had and was benefiting from the patronage of King James III of Scotland
James III of Scotland
James III was King of Scots from 1460 to 1488. James was an unpopular and ineffective monarch owing to an unwillingness to administer justice fairly, a policy of pursuing alliance with the Kingdom of England, and a disastrous relationship with nearly all his extended family.His reputation as the...
, and the church was called at the time the "King's chapel" or "chapel royal". Fraser founded a chaplainry in the new collegiate church, to which he donated a tenement he had built in the Canongate
Canongate
The Canongate is a small district at the heart of Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland.The name derives from the main street running through the area: called Canongate without the definite article, "the". Canongate forms the lower, eastern half of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh's historic Old Town....
.
Bishop of Ross
In the 1490s Fraser became a royal councillor and Clerk of the Register. Some time before 10 September 1497, Fraser was elected through royal influence to the bishopric of Ross, vacant at least three, possibly five years, since the death of the previous bishop, John GuthrieJohn Guthrie (Bishop of Ross)
John Guthrie was a 15th century Scottish prelate, who was sometime Bishop of Ross, an office based at Fortrose on the Black Isle in Ross....
. He received papal provision on 14 March 1498. On 5 May, the Florentine clerk Ilarion de Portiis acting in Fraser's name paid the papacy 600 gold florins
Italian coin florin
The Italian florin was a coin struck from 1252 to 1533 with no significant change in its design or metal content standard. It had 54 grains of nominally pure gold worth approximately 200 modern US Dollars...
. His name appeared in Scottish sources datable to 3 December as "elect and confirmed of Ross. He was granted the temporarlities of the bishopric on 3 January 1499, by which time he had probably received consecration.
On 10 March 1504, Bishop Fraser was present at a meeting of the parliament; on 10 May, Bishop Fraser is recorded as granting his cathedral at Fortrose
Fortrose
Fortrose is a burgh in the Scottish Highlands, located on the Moray Firth, approximately ten kilometres north east of Inverness. The town is known for its ruined 13th century cathedral, and as the home of the Brahan Seer. In the Middle Ages it was the seat of the bishopric of Ross...
an annual rent of £10 from a tenement he owned in the burgh
Burgh
A burgh was an autonomous corporate entity in Scotland and Northern England, usually a town. This type of administrative division existed from the 12th century, when King David I created the first royal burghs. Burgh status was broadly analogous to borough status, found in the rest of the United...
of Linlithgow
Linlithgow
Linlithgow is a Royal Burgh in West Lothian, Scotland. An ancient town, it lies south of its two most prominent landmarks: Linlithgow Palace and Linlithgow Loch, and north of the Union Canal....
. On 15 September 1506, King James IV of Scotland
James IV of Scotland
James IV was King of Scots from 11 June 1488 to his death. He is generally regarded as the most successful of the Stewart monarchs of Scotland, but his reign ended with the disastrous defeat at the Battle of Flodden Field, where he became the last monarch from not only Scotland, but also from all...
, while at the Chanonry of Ross, granted to the bishop part of the lands of the toun of Arkbol, in the earldom of Ross
Ross
Ross is a region of Scotland and a former mormaerdom, earldom, sheriffdom and county. The name Ross allegedly derives from a Gaelic word meaning a headland - perhaps a reference to the Black Isle. The Norse word for Orkney - Hrossay meaning horse island - is another possible origin. The area...
. The History of the Frazers (Wardlaw MS) claimed that he died on 5 February 1507, aged 78. According to tradition one of the three funeral effigies in Fortrose Cathedral
Fortrose Cathedral
Fortrose Cathedral was the episcopal seat of the medieval Scottish diocese of Ross. It is probable that the original site of the diocese was at Rosemarkie, but by the 13th century the canons had relocated a short distance to the south-west to the site known as Fortrose or Chanonry...
is that of Bishop Fraser. The tradition - attested in the Wardlaw MS History of the Frazers - that he was Abbot of Melrose
Abbot of Melrose
The Abbot and then Commendator of Melrose was the head of the monastic community of Melrose Abbey, in Melrose in the Borders region of Scotland. The abbey was founded in 1136 on the patronage of David I , King of Scots, by Cistercian monks from Rievaulx Abbey, Yorkshire...
and Prior of Beauly
Prior of Beauly
The Prior of Beauly was the head of the Valliscaulian monastic community and lands of Beauly Priory, Beauly, Inverness-shire. It was probably founded in 1230. It became Cistercian on April 16, 1510...
is now thought to be spurious. Professor Donald Watt
D. E. R. Watt
Donald Elmslie Robertson Watt FRSE was a Scottish historian and Professor Emeritus at St Andrews University....
omitted him from his list of chancellors of Glasgow Cathedral
Glasgow Cathedral
The church commonly known as Glasgow Cathedral is the Church of Scotland High Kirk of Glasgow otherwise known as St. Mungo's Cathedral.The other cathedrals in Glasgow are:* The Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral Church of Saint Andrew...
, a position he was also widely believed to have held.