Walter Forrester

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Walter Forrester
Bishop of Brechin
ChurchRoman Catholic Church
SeeDiocese of Brechin
In office1407 – 1425 or 1426
PredecessorStephen de Cellario
SuccessorJohn de Crannach
Orders
Consecration11 May 1410 – 10 May 1411
Personal details
Bornc. 1355
Angus
Died1425 or 1426
uncertain
Previous post(s)Subdean of Brechin (occurred 1400–1407)
Archdeacon of Lothian (occurred 1386)
+ other benefices (see text)

Walter Forrester (died 1425 or 1426),

University of Orleans
, he began his career at home by the later 1370s.

He became a royal clerk, and appears to have held the position of

bishopric of Brechin
in 1407. He held this post, along with that of Clerk of the Register, until his death in either 1425 or 1426.

Origins and early education

It is known from later documents that Walter Forrester was from the diocese of Brechin, born sometime in or before 1355.[1] The Forresters were a middle-ranking family of English origin who rose to greater prominence during Walter's lifetime.[2] The name of his father is unrecorded, but his mother's name was Mariota or Marion.[3] He had a brother named Patrick Forrester, a burgess of Dundee, and a half-brother named Patrick de Dalgarnock.[1] John Forrester, variously Archdeacon of Teviotdale, Official of Aberdeen and Official of Glasgow, and Adam Forrester, burgess of Edinburgh, laird of Corstorphine and one of the wealthiest merchants in contemporary Scotland, were his kinsmen, though the detail of this kinship is not recorded.[4]

Forrester attended the

Mortlach, as he can be confirmed holding this church in a document datable to 22 April 1392.[5]

Clerical service and later education

Forrester began a career in the service of the Scottish monarchy, becoming Deputy Clerk of the Wardrobe in the late 1370s and Clerk of the Wardrobe by March 1381.[6] He was Keeper of the Privy Seal for a short period in 1386 (filling in for Duncan Petit), and served an auditor of the exchequer from March 1386.[6] He is found as the officiating clerk in a treaty between Scotland and France sealed at Edinburgh on 1 December 1390.[5] On or before 11 March 1391, he resigned to other members of his family his own land at Inverdovat in Forgan parish, Fife, reserving for himself a life-interest; this perhaps indicates that he had set himself on an ecclesiastical career.[7]

He appears as Archdeacon of Lothian in documents from 1386, an extremely prestigious position (or claim at least) he appears to have lost by 1390, when the position is securely held by another.[8] Other honours held before the episcopate, excluding Mortlach, include the church of Liston (by November 1391), previously held by Gilbert de Greenlaw, and the office of sub-dean of Brechin.[5]

From early 1393 until early 1399, he appears to have resumed his studies on the continent, financed perhaps by the Scottish king.[9] By February 1394 he had an M.A. from Paris, and served as regent in the Arts for several years while once again studying canon law.[1] He was a Bachelor of Decrees by July 1398.[1] He was three times serving proctor of the English nation at Paris, March and April 1395, winter 1396/7, and Summer 1398.[1] He was university rector between October and December 1395.[1] Along with two Germans and one John de Edinburgh, he represented the "English nation" at the Second Council of Paris (August and September 1396), and was the nation's proctor at the Third Council (May to July 1398), meetings aimed at ending the Schism.[1] This Council withdrew support from Pope Benedict XIII ("Antipope"), and there is much evidence that Forrester was an enthusiastic proponent of this position, though he later was to serve as a bishop in obedience to this pope.[10]

Returning to Scotland in 1398, he regained his position as Clerk of the Wardrobe.

bishopric of Brechin.[10]

Episcopate

Walter was elected

consecration until some point between 11 May 1410 and 10 May 1411.[12]

After becoming bishop, Walter remained a prominent royal servant, continuing his duties as Clerk of the Rolls and Clerk of the Register, and enjoyed a strong relationship with the ruler of Scotland, now Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany.[9] He officiated at every exchequer audit between May 1409 and July 1422.[9] He also continued his ambassadorial role, serving as leader of a mission to England in 1408 to negotiate the release of James I, the nominal king.[9] He appears to have gone on further missions in May 1412, April 1413 and September 1413, though the evidence we have is for the grants of safe-conduct rather than the expeditions themselves.[9] He was in Rome 1423–1424, and made a separate trip to Flanders later in 1424.[13] After James I's return in 1424, he served once more as exchequer auditor, 7 May 1425.[14]

Like other bishops of Brechin, Forrester does not seem to have been very active in his diocese, on several occasions obtaining papal indults legitimizing procurations without visitation.[14] He is recorded presiding over statutes issued by his cathedral chapter in 1410, and later in the year pursued land claims successfully with the support of Governor Albany and his sheriff in Angus.[14] Albany granted him the second tenth of crown revenues from the sheriffdom of Kincardine in 1413 and 1417.[14] He was present at a provincial council of the Scottish church at Perth on 16 July 1419.[14] Historian D. E. R. Watt has summarised that "though he did visit Brechin from time to time and [did] take some interest in [the] organisation and property of his see, it does not add up to much".[14]

His appearance at the exchequer audit of May 1425 was his last in the records.[15] By 7 June 1426, when his successor John de Crannach was provided to the see at the papal court, he must have been dead for some time.[15] He was probably dead by the exchequer audit of 15 April, when John de Scheves was acting as Clerk of the Rolls and Register (an indication that Bishop Forrester was no longer available to perform this office).[16]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Watt, Dictionary, p. 197
  2. ^ Ewan, "Forrester family"
  3. ^ a b Ewan, "Forrester family"; Watt, Dictionary, p. 197
  4. ^ Ewan, "Forrester family"; Watt, Dictionary, pp. 195, 197; Watt & Murray, Fasti Ecclesiae, pp. 31, 223, 228, 245
  5. ^ a b c d e Watt, Dictionary, p. 198
  6. ^ a b Ewan, "Forrester family"; Watt, Dictionary, p. 198
  7. ^ Watt, Dictionary, pp. 198–9
  8. ^ Watt & Murray, Fasti Ecclesiae, pp. 401–02; Watt, Dictionary, p. 198
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h Watt, Dictionary, p. 199
  10. ^ a b c Watt, Dictionary, pp. 197–98
  11. ^ Watt, Dictionary, p. 198; Watt & Murray, Fasti Ecclesiae, p. 55
  12. ^ Dowden, Bishops, p. 184; Watt, Biographical Dictionary, p.198 ; Watt and Murray, Fasti Ecclesiae, p. 55
  13. ^ Dowden, Bishops, p. 184; Watt, Biographical Dictionary, pp. 200–01
  14. ^ a b c d e f Watt, Biographical Dictionary, p. 200
  15. ^ a b Dowden, Bishops, pp. 184–85; Watt, Biographical Dictionary, p. 200; Watt and Murray, Fasti Ecclesiae, p. 55
  16. ^ Watt, Biographical Dictionary, p. 200; Watt and Murray, Fasti Ecclesiae, p. 55

References

  • Dowden, John (1912), Thomson, John Maitland (ed.), The Bishops of Scotland : Being Notes on the Lives of All the Bishops, under Each of the Sees, Prior to the Reformation, Glasgow: James Maclehose and Sons
  • Ewan, Elizabeth (2004), "Forrester family (per. c.1360–c.1450)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, retrieved 26 September 2010
  • ISBN 0-19-822447-8
  • Watt, D. E. R.; Murray, A. L., eds. (2003), Fasti Ecclesiae Scotinanae Medii Aevi ad annum 1638, The Scottish Record Society, New Series, Volume 25 (Revised ed.), Edinburgh: The Scottish Record Society,
    ISSN 0143-9448
Catholic Church titles
Preceded by
David of Mar
 Archdeacon of Lothian
1383 x 1386–1386 x 1390 		Succeeded by
James Borthwick
Preceded by
Radulf Wilde
 Subdean of Brechin
1372 x 1400–1407 		Succeeded by
Walter de Lichton
Preceded by Bishop of Brechin
1407 – 1425 or 1426 		Succeeded by
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