Robert Crichton (bishop)

infobox bishopbiog
name = Robert Crichton


religion=Roman Catholic Church
See = Diocese of Dunkeld
Title = Bishop of Dunkeld
Period = 1554–1571
1584–1585
consecration = November, 1399
Predecessor = John Hamilton
"see also"
Donald Campbell
Successor = James Paton
"2nd successor:"
Peter Rollock
post = Provost of St Giles Collegiate Church | ordination = x 1571
bishops = None
date of birth = early 1500s
place of birth = Scotland
date of death =
place of death = Scotland, March, 1585

Robert Crichton (d. 1585) was a 16th century Scottish Catholic cleric. He was the son of Sir Patrick Crichton, Laird of Cranstoun. Robert was a younger son and chose an ecclesiastical career. From 1517 he was Provost of St Giles Collegiate Church. [Watt, "Fasti Ecclesiae", p. 357.] Additionally, he was Precentor of Dunkeld Cathedral between 1530 and 1534, [Watt, "Fasti Ecclesiae", p. 109.] and in 1532 almost took part in an exchange with Walter Maxwell for the Chancellorship of the diocese of Moray. [Watt, "Fasti Ecclesiae", p. 277.]

Crichton was the nephew of George Crichton, Bishop of Dunkeld, and in 1543 had been appointed coadjutor and successor to his uncle. As it turned out, 1534 was the year before Bishop George's death, and so when the latter event took place in January 1544, Robert regarded himself as the rightful bishop. However, this had taken place without the consent of the Scottish government.Dowden, "Bishops of Scotland", pp. 88-92; Watt, "Fasti Ecclesiae", p. 100.] The government thus ignored the appointment, and placed John Hamilton in charge instead. Robert litigated against Hamilton in the Papal see, [Dowden, "Bishops of Scotland", pp. 88-92] until in 1547 Hamilton was translated to the archbishopric of St Andrews Instead of giving into Crichton's claims, however, in 1549 the Governor of Scotland, James Hamilton, Duke of Châtellerault, gave the crown nomination to Donald Campbell, Abbot of Coupar Angus.Watt, "Fasti Ecclesiae", p. 100.]

The dispute continued into 1553, with Campbell failing to secure papal recognition. When Mary of Guise took over the government from Châtellerault in 1554, she acknowledged Crichton's position and Campbell appears to have given up his claims to the bishopric. Crichton was therefore uncontested Bishop of Dunkeld, and accordingly resigned his position as Provost of St Giles. Towards the end of the decade Protestantism took hold in Scotland, and in 1560 the Scots formally broke their ecclesiastical ties with Rome. Crichton, along with John Hamilton, Archbishop of St Andrews, William Chisholm, Bishop of Dunblane, and Gavin Hamilton, Abbot of Kilwinning, were the only prelates to dissent from the Reformation Parliament of 1560. [Dowden, "Bishops of Scotland", p. 93; Watt & Shead, "Heads of Religious Houses", p. 130.] When the Jesuit Nicholas de Gouda visited Scotland in the summer of 1562 to initiate a Counter-Reformation, Crichton was the only cleric to give him an interview. [Dowden, "Bishops of Scotland", p. 94; Foggie, "Hamilton, John (1510/11–1571)".] Crichton's solid catholicism was further revealed four years later when he assisted with the Catholic baptism of the infant Prince James in 1566. [Dowden, "Bishops of Scotland", p. 94.]

Crichton was a firm supporter of Mary, Queen of Scots, and was one of the castilians who held Edinburgh Castle in her name between 1570 and 1573. [Hewitt, "Castilians in Edinburgh (act. 1570–1573)".] For this he was forfeited by Parliament in 1571 and when in 1573 the castle was captured by James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton, Crichton was imprisoned in Blackness Castle.Dowden, "Bishops of Scotland", p. 93; Hewitt, "Castilians in Edinburgh (act. 1570–1573)".] In 1576 he was transferred to Edinburgh and kept in the ward of Lord Seton. He was restored to the bishopric of Dunkeld on August 22, 1584, but died in March 1585. He was buried, with the King's permission, in the St Giles', Edinburgh. [Dowden, "Bishops of Scotland", p. 93; Watt, "Fasti Ecclesiae", p. 100 ]

Notes

References

* Dowden, John, "The Bishops of Scotland", ed. J. Maitland Thomson, (Glasgow, 1912)
* Foggie, Janet P., "Hamilton, John (1510/11–1571)", in the "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/12102 , accessed 19 Feb 2007]
* Hewitt, G. R., "Castilians in Edinburgh (act. 1570–1573)", in the "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/69952 , accessed 19 Feb 2007]
* Kirk, James, "Campbell, Donald (d. 1562)", in the "Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/4492 , accessed 19 Feb 2007]
* Watt, D.E.R., "Fasti Ecclesiae Scotinanae Medii Aevi ad annum 1638", 2nd Draft, (St Andrews, 1969)
* 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)