John Scotus

Who was John Scotus?

John Scotus was a 12th-century Bishop of St. Andrews and Dunkeld.

John had studied at the University of Oxford and the University of Paris before beginning his ecclesiastical career at St. Andrews, entering the service of Bishop Richard. The latter made him Archdeacon of the see. His nickname would usually be taken to indicate that he was either a Gaelic-speaker or from Scotland-north-of-the-Forth, but according to John of Fordun, he was from the villa of Podoth in Cheshire. He certainly had Scottish connections in his family. For instance, he was the nephew of both Robert of Scone, a previous bishop of Cell Rígmonaid, and Matthew, Bishop of Aberdeen.

After the death of his patron Richard, he was elected by the cathedral chapter in either 1177 or 1178 in the presence of Cardinal Viviano of S. Stefano in Monte Celio, the Papal legate. His election, however, was not approved of by the king, William I of Scotland, who wanted his chaplain Hugh to succeed to the bishopric. John travelled to appeal to Pope Alexander III, who quashed the case of Hugh and sent to Scotland a man name Alexius as legate.