Archbishop of St Andrews


The Bishop of St. Andrews was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of St Andrews and then, from 14 August 1472, as Archbishop of St Andrews, the Archdiocese of St Andrews.
The name St Andrews is not the town or church's original name. Originally it was Cellrígmonaid located at Cennrígmonaid ; hence the town became Kilrymont. Today St Andrews has replaced both Kilrymont as well as the older English term Anderston as the name of the town and bishopric.
The bishopric itself appears to originate in the period 700–900. By the 11th century, it is clear that it is the most important bishopric in Scotland.

List of known abbots

There had been a monastery there since the 8th century. It was probably taken over by Céli Dé monks in the 9th or 10th centuries, and these survive into the 14th century. It is the Gaelic abbey, rather than the continental priory, that the abbot was in charge of; the importance of the Céli Dé abbey has come down into the modern era in the street names of St. Andrews.
Only a few abbots are known. It is often thought that the position of Abbot and Bishop were the same until the Norman era, but clear evidence for this is lacking.
IncumbentDatesNotes
Túathalánd. 747His death in the Annals of Ulster constitutes our first literary evidence of any religious establishment at St. Andrews.
Unknown number of unnamed abbotsProbably all the bishops before Fothad II, and perhaps before Turgot, were also abbots of the Céli Dé community.
Gille Crístfl. 1172–1178That he is called abbot is evidence that the Céli Dé community were maintaining their independence from the priory in the period.

List of known bishops

The pre-11th century "bishop of the Scots" may have had no fixed seat before finally settling at St Andrews.

List of archbishops

The bishopric of St Andrews was elevated into an archbishopric in 1472 by Pope Sixtus IV. The Scottish church broke with Rome in the Scottish Reformation of 1560.