Samson of Brechin is the first known
Bishop of Brechin
The Bishop of Brechin is a title held successively, since c. 1150: (firstly) by bishops of the Catholic church until the Reformation of 1560; (secondly) by bishops of the Church of Scotland until that church declared itself presbyterian in ...
. He appears as a witness in a charter granted by King
David I of Scotland
David I or Dauíd mac Maíl Choluim (Scottish Gaelic, Modern Gaelic: ''Daibhidh I mac haoilChaluim''; – 24 May 1153) was a 12th century ruler and saint who was David I as Prince of the Cumbrians, Prince of the Cumbrians from 1113 to 112 ...
to the community of
Deer
A deer (: deer) or true deer is a hoofed ruminant ungulate of the family Cervidae (informally the deer family). Cervidae is divided into subfamilies Cervinae (which includes, among others, muntjac, elk (wapiti), red deer, and fallow deer) ...
, recorded in the ''notitiae'' in the margins of the ''
Book of Deer
The ''Book of Deer'' () (Cambridge University Library, MS. Ii.6.32) is a 10th-century Latin Gospel Book with early 12th-century additions in Latin, Old Irish and Scottish Gaelic. It contains the earliest surviving Gaelic writing from Scotland ...
''. The charter dates to some point between the years 1140 and 1153, although it can probably be pinned down to the year 1150. There certainly was a bishopric of Brechin in 1150, as there exists another charter of King David's, this time granted to the bishop (unnamed) and ''Céli Dé'' of Brechin. It is known that Samson was still bishop in the reign of King
Máel Coluim IV (1153–1165), appearing as a witness as late as 1165 in a charter of Richard,
Bishop of St. Andrews.
Samson was a native cleric of Brechin. He was very likely the son of
Léot, an earlier
Abbot
Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...
of
Brechin
Brechin (; ) is a town and former royal burgh in Angus, Scotland. Traditionally Brechin was described as a city because of its cathedral and its status as the seat of a pre-Scottish Reformation, Reformation Roman Catholic diocese (which contin ...
, and father of Domnall, a later Abbot of Brechin.
[See, ]Dauvit Broun
Dauvit Broun (; born 1961) is a Scottish historian and academic. He is the chair of Scottish history at the University of Glasgow. A specialist in medieval Scottish and Celtic studies, he concentrates primarily on early medieval Scotland, and has ...
"Genealogical chart of ruling family of the Church of Brechin"
, Jackson, ''op. cit.'', p. 61 and Lawrie, ''op. cit.'', p. 331. This family story probably explains the origins of the Brechin bishopric, that is, the Bishopric of Brechin, like other Scottish bishoprics, had its origins in the older
Gaelic
Gaelic (pronounced for Irish Gaelic and for Scots Gaelic) is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". It may refer to:
Languages
* Gaelic languages or Goidelic languages, a linguistic group that is one of the two branches of the Insul ...
''Céli Dé'' monastic community, and perhaps a hereditary ruling family.
Notes
References
* Dowden, John, ''The Bishops of Scotland'', ed. J. Maitland Thomson, (Glasgow, 1912)
* Jackson, Kenneth H. (ed), ''The Gaelic Notes in the Book of Deer: The Osborn Bergin Memorial Lecture 1970'', (Cambridge, 1972)
* Lawrie, Sir Archibald, ''Early Scottish Charters Prior to A.D. 1153'', (Glasgow, 1905)
External links
Dauvit Broun's list of 12th century Scottish Bishops
{{DEFAULTSORT:Samson of Brechin
12th-century deaths
Bishops of Brechin (pre-Reformation)
12th-century Scottish bishops
Medieval Gaels from Scotland
Year of birth unknown