Robert Blackadder
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Robert Blackadder (died 28 July 1508) was a
medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...
Scottish
prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Minister (Christianity), Christian clergy who is an Ordinary (church officer), ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which me ...
, diplomat and politician, who was Abbot of Melrose, Bishop-elect of Aberdeen and Bishop of Glasgow; when the latter was elevated to an archbishopric in 1492, he became the first ever Archbishop of Glasgow. Blackadder died while ''en route'' to
Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
on
pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a travel, journey to a holy place, which can lead to a personal transformation, after which the pilgrim returns to their daily life. A pilgrim (from the Latin ''peregrinus'') is a traveler (literally one who has come from afar) w ...
.


Education and early career

Robert was the younger brother of Patrick Blackadder of Tulliallan, a middling
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 ...
laird Laird () is a Scottish word for minor lord (or landlord) and is a designation that applies to an owner of a large, long-established Scotland, Scottish estate. In the traditional Scottish order of precedence, a laird ranked below a Baronage of ...
. Robert studied at the
University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...
(where his name is listed among the students in either 1461 or 1462), and in 1464 he was received as a bachelor in the
University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...
. The following year, 1465, he graduated as licentiate. In 1471 King James III of Scotland sent him as a messenger to Pope Paul II. It was probably while at Rome that Robert secured from the pope the abbacy of Melrose. This was the first time a non-Cistercian had become abbot at Melrose, and moreover, the pope granted Blackadder leave to take the abbacy without becoming a monk. This did not go down well with the monks at Melrose. One monk, Richard Lamb, challenged this decision at the papal court. Lamb had the support of the bishop of Glasgow, John Laing, and of the monks at Melrose. Several years of litigation followed, and after being offered a substantial pension, Blackadder resigned the abbacy in 1476. In 1477 Blackadder's name is recorded in a letter of
Pope Sixtus IV Pope Sixtus IV (or Xystus IV, ; born Francesco della Rovere; (21 July 1414 – 12 August 1484) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 9 August 1471 until his death in 1484. His accomplishments as pope included ...
, where it is said that the pope had received a petition from "Robert Blakidir", a rector of the church of Lasswade in the diocese of St Andrews, requesting permission to build a hospital near the church. Permission and funds were granted, and so came into being the Hospital of St Mary of Consolation. A year later, the pope granted Blackadder permission to convert the church of Lasswade into a
prebend A prebendary is a member of the Catholic or Anglican clergy, a form of canon with a role in the administration of a cathedral or collegiate church. When attending services, prebendaries sit in particular seats, usually at the back of the choir ...
of the church of St Salvador in
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 ...
, specifying that the holder must have a licentiate or doctorate. He was elected as bishop of Aberdeen sometime in 1480. The exact date of Robert's election to Aberdeen is uncertain but at a meeting of the Lords of Council which took place between 12 and 23 June he is named "Robert, bishop of Aberdeen". He does not seem to have been consecrated to the Aberdeen see before 19 March 1483, when he was translated to the then-vacant bishopric of Glasgow. Blackadder traveled to Rome to receive consecration at the hands of Pope Sixtus IV. The consecration happened sometime in either May or June. By 20 November he is back in Scotland witnessing a royal
charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the ...
at
Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...
. Blackadder's trip to Italy had cost him a lot of money and he fell heavily into debt. On 31 March 1487 a
papal bull A papal bull is a type of public decree, letters patent, or charter issued by the pope of the Catholic Church. It is named after the leaden Seal (emblem), seal (''bulla (seal), bulla'') traditionally appended to authenticate it. History Papal ...
was issued by
Pope Innocent VIII Pope Innocent VIII (; ; 1432 – 25 July 1492), born Giovanni Battista Cybo (or Cibo), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 29 August 1484 to his death, in July 1492. Son of the viceroy of Naples, Cybo spent his ea ...
granting Blackadder half of the diocese's benefices and ordering Blackadder's subordinates to pay a "benevolence", i.e. a tax, to pay back the debt.


Bishop to Archbishop

During Blackadder's reign as bishop of Glasgow, the bishopric was elevated to archiepiscopal status in 1492. Twenty years earlier, in 1472, a papal bull of Sixtus IV elevated the
Bishop of St Andrews The Bishop of St. Andrews (, ) was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of St Andrews in the Catholic Church 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 ...
to Archbishop. This was the first time any Scottish bishopric had received metropolitan status from the papacy. However, the move was not popular amongst the entire Scottish ecclesiastical establishment. The other bishops of Scotland resented having to do homage to the bishop of St Andrews, especially wealthier sees like Glasgow, Dunkeld, and Aberdeen. It was Blackadder's predecessor at Aberdeen, Thomas Spens, who in February 1474 raised the first significant opposition by obtaining lifetime exemption from the jurisdiction of St Andrews over either himself or his diocese. Nevertheless, on 27 March 1487 Innocent VIII made the archbishop of St Andrews "Primate of All Scotland". The latter was especially intolerable for the bishops of Glasgow, who would become subject to the visitations, inspections, and the rule of St Andrews. The following year, however, on 25 March 1488, an exemption was granted to Glasgow from this kind of interference from St Andrews, when this privilege was granted by the pope for Blackadder's own lifetime. However, this was still not enough. Moreover, Blackadder had the sympathy of the king, James IV, who himself was worried about so much power resting in the hands of one bishop. Letters to the pope were sent by the king and the Scottish parliament, requesting that Glasgow be given the same status as the Archbishopric of York. Finally, on 9 January 1492, a bull of Pope Innocent VIII elevated Glasgow to an archbishopric, holding as
suffragan A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations. In the Catholic Church, a suffragan bishop leads a diocese within an ecclesiastical province other than the principal diocese, the metropolitan archdiocese; the diocese led ...
s the bishop of Dunkeld, the bishop of Dunblane, the bishop of Argyll, and the bishop of Galloway. Dunblane was reassigned to St Andrew's while Blackadder was still archbishop, in 1500; Blackadder may have lost Dunkeld too, for we know that by 1515 Dunkeld was back within the jurisdiction of St Andrews.


Diplomatic missions

Archbishop Robert was one of the leading figures of the regime of King James IV. Robert was involved in a number on embassies of James' behalf, including embassies to England, France, Italy, and Spain. In September 1491 he went to France with Patrick Hepburn, 1st Earl of Bothwell and the Dean of Glasgow to renew the Auld Alliance. He then traveled on to the Court of the Sforza in Milan, where the Madonna Bona showed him the sights.''Calendar State Papers Milan'', vol. 1 (1912), 279–283. On 24 August 1495 he arrived at the court of King
Ferdinand II of Aragon Ferdinand II, also known as Ferdinand I, Ferdinand III, and Ferdinand V (10 March 1452 – 23 January 1516), called Ferdinand the Catholic, was King of Aragon from 1479 until his death in 1516. As the husband and co-ruler of Queen Isabella I of ...
and Queen Isabella I of Castile. A letter, dated 12 September that year, was written by these monarchs to the pope urging that Archbishop Robert be made
Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...
. Nothing seems to have come of it. Blackadder was back in Scotland by Christmas but returned to Spain the following spring. His business was obtaining a bride for his king. The same business also took him to France. However, it was in England that a bride was eventually obtained,
Margaret Tudor Margaret Tudor (28 November 1489 – 18 October 1541) was List of Scottish royal consorts, Queen of Scotland from 1503 until 1513 by marriage to King James IV. She then served as regent of Scotland during her son's minority, and fought to exte ...
, the daughter of King
Henry VII of England Henry VII (28 January 1457 – 21 April 1509), also known as Henry Tudor, was King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizure of the crown on 22 August 1485 until his death in 1509. He was the first monarch of the House of Tudor. Henr ...
.


Notes


References

* * Dowden, John, ''The Bishops of Scotland'', ed. J. Maitland Thomson, (Glasgow, 1912) * Fawcett, Richard, & Oram, Richard, ''Melrose Abbey'', (Stroud, 2004)


External links


Norman F. Shead, "Robert Blackadder" (THE GLASGOW STORY)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blackadder, Robert 15th-century births 1508 deaths Abbots of Melrose Alumni of the University of St Andrews Roman Catholic archbishops of Glasgow Bishops of Aberdeen Bishops of Glasgow Scottish diplomats Clergy from Fife University of Paris alumni 15th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Scotland Court of James IV of Scotland Scottish expatriates in France 15th-century Christian abbots