ELPHINSTONE, William Bishop of Aberdeen, Right Reverend Mr 1
- Born: 1431, Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland 1
- Died: 25 October 1514 1 2
User ID: Y360.
General Notes:
"William Elphinstone was born in Glasgow in 1431. He was one of the first students at the new University of Glasgow in the 1450s. In 1456 he graduated MA and was ordained to the priesthood. He studied in Paris and became an authority in canon law, spending several years as a professor in the subject in Paris and Orleans.
In 1471 Elphinstone returned to Glasgow, where Bishop Andrew Muirhead appointed him Episcopal Judge in the Diocese of Glasgow. He was chosen Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow in 1474.
Elphinstone's connection with Glasgow ceased when he was appointed Official of Lothian in 1478. In 1484 he became Bishop of Aberdeen, a post he held for thirty years. In 1494 he procured a papal bull founding King's College, Aberdeen, Scotland's third university."
from The Glasgow Story
"Bishop Elphinstone, the founder, and, to a large extent, the first endower of King's College, Aberdeen, was a relative of the laird of Glack. He was the son of a priest, William Elphinstoue, rector of Kirkmichael, and Archdeacon of Teviotdale, who belonged to the ennobled branch of the Elphinstones. An uncle (or, most probably, his cousin), Laurence Elphinstone, was, after young William's education at Glasgow had been completed, the means of stimulating him to an ambitious career. He sent him to Paris, where he pursued for a time what was then the chief study of ecclesiastics, viz., the Canon Law, his knowledge of which he subsequently perfected at Orleans, then celebrated in that respect. He is said to have taken his degree of Master of Arts, and, in the same year, priest's orders, at the age of twenty-four. He was nominated bishop in 1483, only after he had shown himself, in public business, capable of great services to his country. He died, 25th October 1514, in the 83d or 84th year of his age. Like more than one occupant of the See of Aberdeen, Bishop Elphinstone was at one time Chancellor of the Kingdom."
from Inverurie and the Earldom 2 3
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