Henry Wardlaw

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Henry Wardlaw
Roman Catholic Church
See	St Andrews
Appointed	10 September 1403
Term ended	9 April 1440
Predecessor	Gilbert de Greenlaw
Successor	James Kennedy
Orders
Consecration	1404
Personal details
Died	9 April 1440

Henry Wardlaw (died 6 April 1440) was a

.

Ancestors

He was descended from an ancient Saxon family which came to Scotland with

Sir Andrew married the daughter and heiress of James de Valoniis, and had Walter and Henry, the bishop. In 1378 Cardinal Wardlaw petitioned the pope for a canonry of Glasgow with expectation of a prebend for his nephew, who must have been then a mere boy, as he lived for sixty-two years afterwards.

Early life

He was educated at the universities of Oxford and of Paris.^[1] In the book of the procurators of the English nation in the latter university his name appears among the 'determinantes' of 1383. In a petition to the pope of 1388 he is described as 'a licentiate in arts who has studied civil law for two years at Orleans.' He afterwards studied the canon law, and took the degree of doctor. During the papal schism Scotland was on the side of the anti-popes, and, through the favour of Antipope Clement VII and Antipope Benedict XIII (Peter de Luna), Wardlaw held simultaneously canonries and prebends in Glasgow, Moray, and Aberdeen, the precentorships of Glasgow and Moray, and the church of Cavers.

Bishop

He passed some time at

. He does not appear to have been himself an active promoter of persecution. Resby was apprehended by Lawrence of Lindores, and the king conferred the abbey of Melrose on John Fogo for his zeal in convicting Kravař. It is no excuse that the spirit of persecution then raged throughout Christendom, and that the Scottish parliament in 1425 enacted that all bishops should make inquisition of Lollards and others considered by Rome to be heretics in their dioceses.

University of St Andrews

Wardlaw's chief claim to fame is the fact that he was the founder of the University of St Andrews, the first university in Scotland. He issued the charter of foundation in February 1411, and the privileges of the new seat of learning were confirmed by a bull of the Avignon Pope Benedict XIII, dated 28 August 1413. The university was to be "an impregnable rampart of doctors and masters to resist heresy."^[1]

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Wardlaw, Henry". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 323.
• Sprott, George Washington (1899). "Wardlaw, Henry" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 59. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
• McGladdery, C. A. "Wardlaw, Henry (c.1365–1440)".
  doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/28722. (Subscription or UK public library membership
  required.)

Religious titles
Preceded by Gilbert Greenlaw (unconsecrated)	Bishop of St Andrews (Cill Rìmhinn) 1403–1440	Succeeded by James Kennedy
Academic offices
New post	Chancellor of the University of St Andrews 1413–1440	Succeeded by James Kennedy Bishop of St Andrews