Abbot of Paisley

The Abbot of Paisley (later Commendator of Paisley; Prior of Paisley before 1219) was the head of the Cluniac monastic community of Paisley Abbey and its property. The monastery was founded as a priory at Renfrew in 1163, but moved to Paisley in 1169. It became an abbey in 1219. The founder was Walter fitz Alan, Seneschal (Steward) of Scotland. The line of abbots ended when it was turned into a secular lordship for Lord Claud Hamilton in 1587/1592. The following is a list of abbots and commendators:

List of priors

• ???, 1163 x 1165^[1]
• Osbert, 1173-1180x1192
• Roger, 1195 x 1196 -1208 x 1214

List of abbots

• ???, 1220^[2]
• William, 1225/6 -1238, 1248?
• Stephen, 1272–1285
• Walter, 1296
• A[ ? ],^[3] 1301
• Roger, 1318–1325
• John, 1327
• James, 1349
• John, 1362–1370
• John de Lithgow I, 1384-1408 x 1412
• Alan de Govan, 1412
• John de Lychcar, 1412
• William de Cheshelme, 1414
• Roland, 1414-1415^[4]
• John de Lithgow II (?Lychcar), 1415-1431 x 1432^[5]
• Thomas Morrow, 1418–1444
• Richard Bothwell, 1444–1445
• Thomas de Tarveis, 1445–1459
• Henry Crichton, 1459–1471
• Patrick Graham, 1466–1471
• George Shaw, 1471–1499
• Robert Shaw, 1498–1525

List of commendators

• John Hamilton, 1525-1553^[6]
• Claude Hamilton, 1553–1587
• Robert Lord Sempill, 1569–1573
• William Erskine, 1581-1584^[7]
• Claude Hamilton, 1586-1592 as 1st Lord Paisley

See also

• Paisley Abbey

Notes

1. Was prior at Renfrew. Name not known.
2. First abbot, when Paisley became an abbey in 1219. Name not known.
3. Known only by initial A.
4. Previously abbot of Crossraguel.
5. Previously abbot of Crossraguel.
6. Became bishop of Dunkeld (1544/6-47), then archbishop of St Andrews (1547/9) until he died in 1571; maintained the commend of Paisley until 1553, when he granted it to his nephew.
7. Became archbishop of Glasgow in 1585.

Bibliography

• 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), pp. 64–5
• Watt, D.E.R. & Shead, N.F. (eds.), The Heads of Religious Houses in Scotland from the 12th to the 16th Centuries, The Scottish Records Society, New Series, Volume 24, (Edinburgh, 2001), pp. 167–73