Oswald of Glenluce

Who is Oswald of Glenluce?

Oswald O. Cist. was a Cistercian monk and bishop in the late 14th century and early 15th century. There is an Oswald Botelere granted a safe-conduct, along with 12 others, to enter England and study at the University of Oxford, in 1365, but this Oswald Butler cannot be shown to be the same as the later Oswald of Glenluce.

The outbreak of the Western Schism meant that when Adam de Lanark, Bishop of Galloway, died in 1378, the two popes, Urban VI and Clement VII, supported alternative successors to the see. Oswald, whose earlier details are badly documented, at this point was claustral prior of Glenluce Abbey and was elected locally to fill the vacant diocese.

Sometime after 18 April 1378, he was provided to the bishopric by Urban, and consecrated before 26 March 1379, when he received a safe-conduct from King Richard II of England to pass through England on business with Urban. He was supported by Urban, but with the Kingdom of Scotland allied to Clement, Oswald had difficulties retaining possession of his see. After Ingram de Ketenis rejected his own provision to the diocese by Clement, the Franciscan friar and staunch Clementine Thomas de Rossy became Oswald's rival.