Alexander Stewart (bishop of Moray)

For other people with the same name, see Alexander Stewart.

Alexander Stewart (1477 – 19 December 1537) was a Scottish prelate; also known as Alexander Stewart of Pitcairn. He was the son of Alexander Stewart, Duke of Albany, and his first wife Catherine Sinclair, daughter of William Sinclair, Earl of Orkney and Earl of Caithness.^[1][2] The marriage of his parents was dissolved in 1478 and his father remarried, but it was not until 1516 that an act of parliament made the marriage unlawful and ensured that Alexander Jr. would be regarded as legally illegitimate and unable to inherit his father's title.^[2]

His high birth, however, enabled a successful career in the church. He held Inchaffray Abbey from 1514,^[1] and Scone Abbey from 1518 in commendam.^[1] Between 1516 and 1518 he held a right to the commend of Whithorn Priory, a right he gave up to the papally-backed Silvio Passarini.^[2] He held the Collegiate Church of Dunbar from 1504 until at least 1510, and almost certainly beyond. He was Dean of Brechin from at least 1523, and perhaps as early as 1512. He was given crown nomination to the bishopric of Moray and then papal provision on 13 September 1529,^[1] after the failure of the candidature of Alexander Douglas I. He was probably not consecrated until 1532. He was allowed to retain control of his monastic commends. He died on 21 December 1537.^[1]

In popular culture

• The Spanish Princess

References

1. John Dowden (1912). J. Maitland Thomson (ed.). The Bishops of Scotland. James Maclehose and Sons.
2. Robert Keith & John Spottiswoode (1824). An Historical Catalogue of the Scottish Bishops: Down to the Year 1688.

• Watt, D.E.R., Fasti Ecclesiae Scotinanae Medii Aevi ad annum 1638, 2nd Draft, (St Andrews, 1969)
• 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)

Catholic Church titles
Preceded by Alexander Gifford	Dean of Dunbar Collegiate Church 1499 x 1504–1510 x 1524	Succeeded by Thomas Hay
Preceded by Hugh Douglas	Dean of Brechin 1512 x 1523–1534	Succeeded by Henry White
Preceded by Peter Accoltis	Commendator of Inchaffray 1514–1537	Succeeded by Gavin Dunbar
Preceded by Henry MacDowell	Commendator of Whithorn 1514–1537	Succeeded by Silvio Passarini
Preceded by James Abercrombie	Commendator of Scone 1518–1537	Succeeded by Patrick Hepburn
Preceded by Robert Shaw	Bishop of Moray 1529–1537	Succeeded by Patrick Hepburn