Robert Reid (died 1558) was Abbot of Kinloss, Commendator-prior of Beauly, and Bishop of Orkney. He was born at Aikenhead in Clackmannan parish, the son of John Reid (killed at the Battle of Flodden) and Elizabeth Schanwell. His formal education began in 1511 at St Salvator's College in St Andrews University under the supervision of his uncle, Robert Schanwell, dean of the faculty of arts. Reid graduated in 1515 and by 1524 was subdean at Elgin Cathedral, where, by 1527, he was OfficialThe pre-Reformation official of a diocese was a canon who was also a qualified lawyer trained in canon law and very often in civil law also. He was the judge of the bishop's consistorial court, and there was generally no appeal to the bishop over his judgments. These courts dealt with questions relating to divorce, legitimacy, illegitimacy and dowry—also, problems arising from intestacy, the interpretation of wills and their authenticity. At times, the court would hear cases relating to contracts made under oath. Hearings might also involve patronage, non-payment of tithes or dues, interference with church property, assaults on clerics and brawling in holy areas. of Moray. Thomas Chrystall, the abbot of Kinloss, chose Reid as his successor in 1526. In 1527, as abbot-designate, he attended the court of Pope Clement VII on business related to his abbacy. While returning via Paris in 1528, Reid met the Piedmontese humanist scholar Giovanni Ferrerio who accompanied him back to Scotland. Following Chrystall's resignation in July 1528, Reid was blessed as abbot in September and received the Priory of Beauly, in commendam, in 1531. In that same year, Ferrerio left the court of James V to join Reid at Kinloss as tutor to the monks of both Kinloss and Beauly. Reid held many offices of state between 1532 and 1542, including ambassadorial roles to England and France, as well as senior law offices. He considerably improved the external and internal fabric of both monasteries in 1538.
In the spring of 1541, James V nominated Reid to the vacant bishopric of Orkney, with his consecration taking place in late November. King James died in 1542, and James Hamilton, Earl of Arran was appointed regent during Queen Mary's minority. Bishop Reid aligned himself with Cardinal Beaton in his dislike of the pro-English stance of Arran. Beaton's resistance to the regent's viewpoint led to his arrest, and the cardinal's supporters chose Reid to negotiate with Arran for Beaton's release in 1543. Reid's attempts were rejected but the cardinal's freedom was gradually restored. Despite his support of Beaton, Reid was elected to the influential Lords of the Articles committee of parliament. This position also brought with it membership of the regent's privy council. Parliament approved the Treaty of Greenwich, concluded in July 1543, which paved the way for a betrothal between Queen Mary and Prince Edward of England. On 11 December, a renunciation of the treaty was passed by parliament and resulted in the English King Edward's declaration of war on Scotland that lasted nearly eight years and came to be known as the Rough Wooing.
In August 1544, Bishop Reid travelled to Kirkwall's St Magnus Cathedral, the seat of his Orkney bishopric. He immediately began structural improvements to the diocesan buildings and reforms to the cathedral chapter. Reid became president of the College of Justice in February 1549. He relinquished his abbacy of Kinloss to his nephew Walter Reid in 1550 and that same year sat at the heresy trial of Adam Wallace. His services continued to be in demand, and in June 1551, he was appointed as commissioner to treat for peace with England. In May 1554, Reid was a curator to the young Queen Mary. Shortly before embarking for France to attend the Queen's wedding to the Dauphin in 1558, Reid made out his last will and testament that allowed for a college to be established in Edinburgh that was to consist of grammar, arts and law schools with all necessary accommodation. Reid's ship was wrecked near Boulogne, but both he and his fellow commissioner, the Earl of Rothes, survived to witness the royal marriage at Nôtre-Dame Cathedral. Upon reaching Dieppe on his journey home, Reid and fellow commissioners fell ill, and on 6 September 1558, he died and was buried in Dieppe's Church of St Jacques.
Early life
Robert Reid's date of birth is unrecorded, but he began his university education in 1511. Like most students of the time, entry usually occurred between the ages of twelve and fifteen, which would have placed his probable year of birth between 1496 and 1499.Cuthbert, A Flame in the Shadows, 1998, p. 16. Robert's parents, John Reid and Elizabeth (sometimes known as Bessata) Schanwell, had six children of whom Robert was the third born—his two older brothers were David and James, and his three younger sisters were Christian, Helen and Margaret.Cuthbert, A Flame in the Shadows, 1998, p. 17.Elizabeth Schanwell had at least three siblings—John who became abbot of Couper Angus, William who was a secular cleric, and Robert who in 1501 was Vicar of Kircaldy, and Dean of the faculty of arts at St Andrews University from 1512 to 1517. From 1517 to 1519, Robert Schanwell served as Deputy Rector and Rector of the university.Cuthbert, A Flame in the Shadows, 1998, pp.16 – 17. Reid entered St Salvator's College in St Andrews University in 1511 during the period that his uncle, Robert Schanwell, held high office.Kirk, Reid, Robert, ODNB Under the tutelage of Hugh Spens, Professor of Sacred Theology, he graduated as a Bachelor of Arts in 1513 or 1514, followed by his Master of Arts on 28 May 1515.Henderson, Reid, Robert, DNBLyon, History of St AndrewsVol I, 1843, p. 345.Cuthbert, A Flame in the Shadows, 1998, p. 18.Dunlop, Acta Facultatis Artium, p. 313. St Salvador's College introduced the study of canon law as part of the curriculum in 1500, when it required that a Bachelor of Canon Law deliver three lectures per week. Hugh Spens had become a Doctor of Canon Law in 1508, but it was not until 1538 that degrees in civil law were offered.Dunlop, Acta FacultatisArtium. pp.cliii – cliv By the 1430s, for those aspiring to the higher echelons of the church or service to the king, or both, a postgraduate degree in canon or civil law was essential.Macfarlane, William Elphinstone and the Kingdom of Scotland, p. 18. Reid is almost always described as being a postgraduate law student at the University of Paris, but no record of this has been uncovered.Cuthbert, A Flame in the Shadows, p. 20. Moreover, Reid's future distinguished law career with expertise in both canon and civil law would rule out Paris as it was specifically barred from offering civil law.Boyle, History of University of Oxford, pp.536 – 8. Instead, other universities provided this discipline; for instance, the University of Orléans, situated only 110 km southwest of Paris, offered a three-year course on civil law for those qualified in canon law.Macfarlane, William Elphinstone and the Kingdom of Scotland, p. 38. Reid was appointed as a Notary public in the diocese of Moray in 1518 and then described as a court procurator in Fife and as a cleric of St Andrews diocese, both in 1519. In 1520, he acted as a notary public of St Andrews diocese.Fraser, Registrum Monasterii Cambuskenneth, p. 23. He was subdean in the Diocese of Moray at Elgin Cathedral by 1524 and then officialis or official of the diocese by 1527—the official of a diocese was a lawyer who was the judge in the bishop's consistorial court and needed not only in-depth knowledge of canon law but frequently, civil law also.Watt, Fasti, p.xiiDowden, Medieval Church, p. 288.
Abbot of Kinloss
The abbey of Kinloss, founded by King David I in 1151,Cowan, Medieval Religious Houses, p. 76. is situated only a few miles from Elgin Cathedral where Robert Reid was its subdean and official, was governed by Abbot Thomas Crystall since his appointment on 13 January 1500. Chrystall had been very successful in retrieving misappropriated property belonging to the abbey and reinstating teinds that had been neglected and by doing so doubled the abbey income.Dilworth, Crystall, Thomas, ODNB Crystall performed numerous charitable acts in the distribution of alms and even provided impoverished ladies with money as dowries to enable suitable marriages. The upkeep of his abbey properties was important to him, carrying out repairs and new building work at Kinloss while also improving the church furnishings and library. The external properties in Ellon and Strathisla were also well maintained. The additional income that Chrystall achieved allowed him to increase the number of monks from fourteen to twenty or more. Crystall was fully committed to the abbacy, refusing offers of elevation to the larger abbacies of Melrose and Dryburgh and then to the bishopric of Ross.Stuart, Records of Kinloss, pxlvii. Reid's abilities were drawn upon by the Pope when he was chosen to resolve an internal church dispute between the Abbot of Cambuskenneth and the Vicar of Stirling in 1526.Cuthbert, Flame in the Shadows, p. 24. With the abbey's proximity to the cathedral, Chrystall was ideally placed to observe Reid at first-hand, and so it was that it was the cathedral's subdean that he chose as his successor in 1526.Cuthbert, Flame in the Shadows, pp.23 – 4.
Rome was sacked on 6 May 1527 by the forces of Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, resulting in Pope Clement VII's imprisonment in the Castel Sant'Angelo. His release was finally negotiated, and on 6 December 1527, he left Rome for the Umbrian city of Orvieto, 120 km to the North. Abbot-elect Reid faced a winter journey to meet the Pope, probably in the furtherance of his position at Kinloss, and left Elgin, ostensibly for Rome, sometime after 10 November 1527, but it may have been in Orvieto that he met the Pontiff.Cuthbert, Flame in the Shadows, pp.25 – 6. Reid's return journey took him via Paris, where he was introduced to the humanist scholar Giovanni Ferrerio by the Scottish scholar and Augustinian canon, Robert Richardson. Following his studies at Turin, the Piedmontese Ferrerio arrived in Paris in 1525, where he became a companion of not only Richardson but also other Scottish scholars such as Hector Boece, George Buchanan and William Gordon. Ferrerio accompanied Reid back to Scotland to the court of King James V, where he would spend the next three years.Holmes, The Meaning of History, pp.89 – 90. In Pope Clement VII's bull of 4 July 1528, he acknowledged having received Chrystall's request to resign, which he granted. he declared that the appointment of a successor to any monastery within the see of Moray lay solely with him and that he had therefore appointed Reid, Abbot of Kinloss.Cuthbert, Flame in the Shadows, pp.169 – 174.Watt, Heads of Religious Houses, p. 133. This was conditional on Reid accepting the Cistercian monk's habit within six months of taking up the rule of the abbey; he received the habit and blessing from the bishop of Aberdeen at a ceremony at the church of the Grey Friars in Edinburgh in the autumn of 1528. Crystal retired to the tower house that he had built in 1525, at Strathisla in the abbey estates, having retained the fruits of the abbey. Crystall lived on for a further six years before he died at Strathisla on 29 December 1535 and was buried the next day at Kinloss.Shaw, History of Province of Moray, p. 178.