Robert Lauder

Who is Robert Lauder?

Robert Lauder, M.A., Bachelor of Canon Law, was a Scottish prelate and Nuncio of the 15th century. The Lauder family produced a large number of senior churchman in this period, and alongside Robert can be named William Lauder, Bishop of Glasgow, Alexander Lauder and Thomas Lauder, both Bishop of Dunkeld, and George Lauder, Bishop of Argyll.

Almost nothing is known of Robert Lauder, other than his status "of baronial race" and a "kinsman to sundry barons", until he supplicated the Pope, on 5 December 1429, to provide him to the vicarage of Inverkeilor. He was then provided, by John Foster, Chaplain of Honour of the Pope and Apostolic See, with the canonry and prebend of 'Castelcaris' in Glasgow, but this appointment was disputed after Forster's death, by Supplication dated 6 March 1430. This Supplication appears to have failed as Lauder was still in post at Glasgow on 18 January 1434 when a dispute arose over the vicarage of Stitchell. In January 1437 he was present at the Curia with personal requests to the Pope. On 16 February 1437, described as "Canon of Glasgow", he petitioned the Pope for a licence to choose a confessor.