CERL Thesaurus

Elphinstone, William

Record IDcnp01137910

URIhttp://data.cerl.org/thesaurus/cnp01137910

Gendermale

Biographical Data1431 - 1514

Last Edit2024-02-08

General Note

Homme d'État écossais. Évêque d'Aberdeen en 1483. Fondateur de King's College (future Université d'Aberdeen), en 1494. Propagateur de l'imprimerie, introduite en Écosse en 1507.

Source(s) consultée(s) en vain: BN APP, 1991-07-23

William Elphinstone was born in Glasgow in 1431, the son of William Elfynston who was a graduate of St. Andrews University, and grandson of Sir William Elphinstone of Pittendreich (Moray). His mother may have been Margaret Douglas, daughter of one of the Douglases of Drumlanrig. Elfynston studied at Louvain (Belgium) in 1433, and was canon of Glasgow from 1451-1482, dean of the Faculty of Arts in Glasgow in 1468. William Elphinstone was educated in Glasgow and graduated M.A. there. He was then ordained and became a rector of St Michael's Church, Trongate in 1465 but from 1469 he studied and taught in Paris and Orleans, and was a diplomat for the courts of James III (1452-1488) and IV (1473-1513) to England and the continent. In around 1474, he returned to Scotland and was made rector of the University of Glasgow and official of Glasgow. In subsequent years, he became official of Lothian, archdeacon of Lismore and Bishop of Ross in 1481. He was appointed Bishop of Aberdeen in 1483, and in February 1488 appointed Chancellor, a post which he held until the death of James III later that year. In 1492 he was made Keeper of the Privy Seal, a post which he probably held until his death. As an energetic Bishop of Aberdeen, Elphinstone's activities included alterations to St. Machar's Cathedral and starting the Bridge of Dee, but his principal and most famous work was the founding of King's College in Aberdeen, supported by a papal bull of 1494 and a royal charter of 1498. Also notable was his work to introduce printing to Scotland through the firm Chepman and Myllar. In 1514 he was offered the archdiocese of St. Andrews, but died in Edinburgh in October of that year. He is buried in the grounds of King's College, Aberdeen.

Schott. Staatsmann u. Bischof von Aberdeen; Gründer der dortigen Univ.

born Glasgow, prob. illegitimate. educ. at Glasgow and at univ. there, MA 1451-2, ord. & rector of St. Michael's Trongate 1465, regent of univ. Ca.1469 to Paris, canon law degree, lectured at Orleans, to Glasgow ca.1474, rector of Univ.1478 seat in national parliament, 1479 to France on pol. mission, made archdcn of Argyll, 1483 privy councillor, bp of Aberdeen 1487-88, other dip. missions to England, founded King's College, Aber., 1492 Keeper of Privy Seal, had printed Breviarium Aberdonensis

More Information

Further Biographical Data1431-1514

1431-1514

ActivityPersonen der Geschichte (Politiker und historische Persönlichkeiten) (16.5p) (sswd)

Personen zu Kirchengeschichte, Systematischer und Praktischer Theologie, Kirche und Konfession (3.6p) (sswd)

Geographic NoteGB (iso3166)

Großbritannien

Names

HeadingElphinstone, William
used in: Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris

Elphinstone, William
used in: The University of Aberdeen Library

Elphinstone, William
used in: Integrated Authority File (GND), Germany; Early Book Owners in Britain

Variant NameElphinstone, Gulielmus

Guilelmus, Aberdoniensis

Guilelmus, Elphiston

Guilelmus, Elpinstonus

Guilelmus, Episcopus

Guillelmus, Elphinston

Sources

Found inBLNA, 1991-04. — LCNA 1983-1987. — Encycl. britannica. — Mitchell. — DNB. — Macfarlane, L. J. William Elphinstone and the kingdom of Scotland. — M. — LCAuth. — DNB 17, 328

William Elphinstone (Bishop)Caption:WILLIAM ELPHINSTON, BISHOP OF ABERDEEN.
[W. Forbes-Leith / Pre-Reformation Scholars in Scotland in the XVIth Century