Andrew Bruce (c.1630–1699) was a 17th-century

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

churchman who served as both Protestant

Bishop of Dunkeld The Bishop of Dunkeld is the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Dunkeld, one of the largest and more important of Scotland's 13 medieval bishoprics, whose first recorded bishop is an early 12th-century cleric named Cormac. However, the firs ...

and Protestant

Bishop of Orkney The Bishop of Orkney was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Orkney, one of thirteen medieval bishoprics of Scotland. It included both Orkney and Shetland. It was based for almost all of its history at St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall. The ...

Life

He was the second son of William Bruce of Balquharg, Commissary for

St Andrews St Andrews (; ; , pronounced ʰʲɪʎˈrˠiː.ɪɲ is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fourth-largest settleme ...

. He was educated at

St Andrews University The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, following the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, t ...

graduating MA in 1658. He gained a second degree of Master of Humanities in 1660. He then became "regent" giving lectures at St Salvator's College in St Andrews. In May 1665 he began ministering in the

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland (CoS; ; ) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While mem ...

serving the parish of Kilrenny on the eastern edge of

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

. He appears as Professor of Divinity at

in August 1672, being additionally admitted as minister of

in January 1673. In 1674 he was appointed Rector of

. He was also created Chaplain in Ordinary to King Charles II. He was made

in 1679, being consecrated at St Andrews Cathedral on 28 October 1679 but was deprived of the bishopric in 1686 for disapproving of certain newly enacted laws. Two years later, in July 1688, he was made

, but only held this position for a few months, as the

Glorious Revolution The Glorious Revolution, also known as the Revolution of 1688, was the deposition of James II and VII, James II and VII in November 1688. He was replaced by his daughter Mary II, Mary II and her Dutch husband, William III of Orange ...

brought an end to the Restoration Episcopate of the Scottish church. Bruce retired to Kilrenny and died there on 18 March 1699.

Family

He married Elizabeth Bethune, youngest daughter of John Bethune, 12th of Balfour, and his wife Catherine Haliburton, and they had a son James Bruce born in 1676.

References

* Keith, Robert, ''An Historical Catalogue of the Scottish Bishops: Down to the Year 1688'', (London, 1824) {{DEFAULTSORT:Bruce, Andrew 17th-century births 1699 deaths Alumni of the University of St Andrews Academics of the University of St Andrews Bishops of Dunkeld (Church of Scotland) Bishops of Orkney Scottish Restoration bishops Members of the Parliament of Scotland 1681–1682 Members of the Parliament of Scotland 1685–1686 Members of the Convention of the Estates of Scotland 1689