Thomas de Buittle
Thomas de Buittle | |
---|---|
Roman Catholic Church | |
See | Diocese of Galloway |
In office | 1415–1420; 1422 |
Predecessor | Gilbert Cavan |
Successor | Alexander Vaus |
Orders | |
Ordination | on or before 1388 |
Consecration | 14 June - 5 September 1415 |
Personal details | |
Born | unknown Probably Galloway |
Died | c. 1420–1422 |
Previous post(s) | Provost of Maybole Archdeacon of Galloway |
Thomas de Buittle [Butil, Butill, Butyll, Butyl, Bucyl] (died c. 1420–1422) was a
Background and education
Thomas' name suggests a strong likelihood that he came from Buittle in Kirkcudbrightshire, Galloway, lands in the control of the Douglas family.[1] In 1388, it was claimed that he had been a scholar of Decrees (i.e. Canon law) at the University of Oxford for five years, a claim to some extent confirmed by the grant of safe-conduct from the English crown on 18 February 1380, to travel and study at Oxford for a year.[2]
By 18 April 1390, he had obtained a
First provost of Maybole
On 1 February 1388, a letter from
He held the vicarage of
Archdeacon of Galloway
On 2 March 1391, Thomas was provided by the papacy to be Archdeacon of Galloway.[12] On 23 May a mandate was sent to the senior clergy of the bishopric of Glasgow authorising them to collate Thomas to the archdeaconry of Galloway, at that point occupied "unlawfully" by Patrick Smerles; the mandate gave dispensation for Thomas to retain control of both the provostship of Maybole and the vicarage of Lochrutton.[13] He was still litigating with Smerles on 9 August 1393, by which point in time he had resigned Lochrutton; he was in firm possession of the archdeaconry by 21 October 1394.[14] During his time as Archdeacon of Galloway, the church of Penninghame was annexed as a prebend of the office.[3]
Papal career and other benefices
He resigned the vicarage of Maybole through a proxy (Patrick de Houston) at the papal court on 16 February 1398, in exchange with Gilbert Adounane for the church of
He did however successfully obtain provision to the church of
Bishop of Galloway
As a reward for his service to the "Avignon Pope", now only recognised in Scotland, Sicily, Aragon and Castile, Thomas was provided to the bishopric of Galloway following the death of Elisaeus Adougan, the previous bishop. This occurred on 14 June 1415.[17] Although the local chapter had elected one Gilbert Cavan, a clerk of the Earl of Douglas, to fill this position, Benedict overturned this election and put Thomas there instead.[18] This probably occurred against the will of the Douglas family, to whom Cavan was a senior clerk.[19] Thomas resigned the archdeaconry of Galloway, with Gilbert Cavan succeeding him there. Presumably in compensation, Gilbert also received Thomas' previous holdings in the dioceses of Moray and Aberdeen.[20] It had been supposed by some authorities that Thomas supported the capitulation of Narbonne, renounced his allegiance to Pope Benedict and supported the adherence to the Council of Constance in December 1415, but this is based on a misreading of the evidence.[16]
It is not clear that, with possible Douglas opposition, Thomas obtained possession of the bishopric smoothly. There is a mandate, dated 5 September 1415, to the subdean of Glasgow Cathedral, ordering the latter to protect "Thomas and his successors in possession of the lands and heredities of Innermasan, Dyrmor, Innysmocrinyl, Kykkenot, Mirtum and Nicoltum in Candida Casa [i.e. Whithorn] diocese ... which are being molested".[21] No more of such problems are heard. Thomas is next found testifying to an inspeximus at Perth on 17 March 1416.[22] This was made by Bishop Henry de Wardlaw of St Andrews on the request of the Council of Constance, a sign of the waning loyalty in Scotland and perhaps in Thomas to the Avignon papacy.[16] Bishop Thomas appears to have been suffering ailing health by 1420. In this year he failed to attend a provincial council of the Scottish church at Perth, although he did send a proctor.[23] He died at some point between 16 July 1420 (date of the council) and 4 December 1422, when Alexander Vaus, Bishop of Caithness, was translated to be Thomas' successor as Bishop of Galloway.[24] Professor Donald Watt believes that his death probably occurred sometime in 1422.[16]
Notes
- ^ Watt, Dictionary, p. 70.
- ^ Burns (ed.), Papal Letters, p. 139; Watt, Dictionary, pp. 70–1.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Watt, Dictionary, p. 71.
- ^ Burns (ed.), Papal Letters, p. 139.
- ^ Burns (ed.), Papal Letters, p. 82; Cowan & Easson, Medieval Religious Houses, p. 224.
- ^ Cowan & Easson, Medieval Religious Houses, p. 224.
- ^ Burns (ed.), Papal Letters, pp. 139, 152, 163; Watt, Dictionary, p. 71; see below.
- ^ a b Watt, Fasti Ecclesiae, p. 366.
- ^ Burns (ed.), Papal Letters, p. 139; Watt, Dictionary, p. 71; Maybole parish church had been given to North Berwick nunnery in the reign of Alexander II of Scotland by Donnchadh, Earl of Carrick.
- ^ Burns (ed.), Papal Letters, p. 152.
- ^ Watt, Dictionary, p. 71; Watt, Fasti Ecclesiae, p. 366.
- ^ Watt, Fasti Ecclesiae, p. 137.
- ^ Burns (ed.), Papal Letters, p. 163.
- ^ Watt, Dictionary, p. 71; see also McGurk (ed.), Papal Letters, p. 33;
- ^ McGurk (ed.), Papal Letters, p. 82; Watt, Dictionary, p. 71.
- ^ a b c d e f Watt, Dictionary, p. 72.
- ^ Watt, Fasti Ecclesiae, p. 131.
- ^ Dowden, Bishops, p. 367; Watt, Dictionary, pp. 71, 72; Watt, Fasti Ecclesiae, p. 131.
- ^ Brown, Black Douglases, p. 195.
- ^ McGurk (ed.), Papal Letters, p. 319; Watt, Dictionary, p. 94; Watt, Fasti Ecclesiae, p. 137.
- ^ McGurk (ed.), Papal Letters, p. 326.
- ^ Dowden, Bishops, pp. 367–8.
- ^ Dowden, Bishops, p. 368; Watt, Dictionary, p. 94.
- ^ Dowden, Bishops, p. 368; Watt, Fasti Ecclesiae, p. 131.
References
- Brown, Michael, The Black Douglases: War and Lordship in Late Medieval Scotland, 1300–1455, (East Linton, 1998)
- Burns, Charles (ed.), Papal Letters to Scotland of Clement VII of Avignon, 1378–1394, (Edinburgh, 1976)
- Cowan, Ian B. & Easson, David E., Medieval Religious Houses: Scotland With an Appendix on the Houses in the Isle of Man, Second Edition, (London, 1976)
- Dowden, John, The Bishops of Scotland, ed. J. Maitland Thomson, (Glasgow, 1912)
- McGurk, Francis (ed.), Calendar of Papal Letters to Scotland of Benedict XIII of Avignon, 1394–1419, (Edinburgh, 1976)
- Watt, D. E. R., A Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Graduates to A. D. 1410, (Oxford, 1977)
- Watt, D. E. R., Fasti Ecclesiae Scotinanae Medii Aevi ad annum 1638, 2nd Draft, (St Andrews, 1969)