The Abbot and then Commendator of Culross was the head of the monastic community of Culross Abbey, Fife, Scotland. The abbey was founded in 1218 on the patronage of Maol Choluim I, Earl of Fife by Cistercian monks from Kinloss Abbey, Moray. Control of the abbey was secularized in the 16th century and after the accession of James Stewart, the abbey was held by commendators. The number of monks under the abbot had also declined by the 16th century, there being only 15 monks by 1557.
List of Abbots Hugh (I), 1217-1227 William de Ramsay, 1230-1232 Hugh (II), 1232-1245 Matthew, 1245-1246 Geoffrey, 1246-1252 Michael, 1252-1260 John de Haddington, 1260 Gilbert, c. 1296 ???, d. 1329 x 1331 Adam de Strivelyn (or Scrawelyn), x 1337-1340 Walter, 1340x1354 Adam de Crail, c. 1399 John de Peebles, c. 1399-1435 Robert de Wedale, 1435-1444 Laurence de Lindores, 1436-1443 x 1444 Richard Marshall, 1449-1467 x 1469 James Rait,abbot of Balmerino, 1466-1468 x 1469 1468 x 1469-1489 x 1490 Laurence Button, x 1486 Andrew Mason, c1486 John Hog, 1490-1492 Andrew Forman, 1492-1493 Thomas, 1492-1493 Andrew Mason (again), 1493-1510 Philip of Luxembourg,Was the Cardinal-Bishop of Albano. c. 1510 James Stewart, 1511-1513
List of Commendators
Thomas Nudry, 1514-1527 Peter de Accoltis,Cardinal of Ancona. 1529 James Inglis, 1529-1531 Sixtus Zuchellus, 1531 William Colville, 1531-1567 John Colville (I), 1535-1550 x 1552 William Colville (again), 1550 x 1552-1567 Francis Stewart, 1567 Alexander Colville, 1567-1581/7 John Colville (II), 1581–1587, Alexander Colville (again), 1587-1597 John Colville (again), 1597-1609
Current ministry
The remaining intact part of Culross Abbey is still used by the Church of Scotland as the local parish church. The current minister of Culross Abbey (since 2009) is the Reverend Jayne Scott.
Notes
Bibliography Cowan, Ian B. & Easson, David E., Medieval Religious Houses: Scotland With an Appendix on the Houses in the Man, Second Edition, (London, 1976), p. 74 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. 50–4