DAVID BERNHAM, BISHOP OF ST ANDREWS, 1239-1253

Abstract

David Bernham was the first native-born bishop of St Andrews since the death of Fothad, the last Celtic bishop, in 1193. In a very real sense he represents the coming of age of a new national church in Scotland within the body of western Christendom. His predecessor, William Malvoisin (1202-1238), was the last, and perhaps the greatest, in the line of Anglo-Norman bishops which had begun with the ineffective appointment of Turgot in 1107. Malvoisin, with his close personal and family ties with England and France, was responsible for bringing the reorganization of the diocese along western lines to a successful conclusion. He also created an effective temporal administration and forged links with many of the major new forces at work in the western church. Above all, he was concerned with the definition of the respective jurisdictions represented in the diocese: episcopal, capitular, archidecanal, monastic. Malvoisin had attended the fourth Lateran council and made at least one other journey to the papal court. He regularly referred questions to the papal court for advice or decisions. During his episcopate both major mendicant orders were introduced into Scotland, as well as the austere Valiscaulians. The bishop completed the building of the choir of his cathedral church in a transitional Gothic style, completing the building programme begun by bishop Arnold in the early 1160s. This French bishop attracted into his household a number of young Scottish-born clerks who were to provide the next generation of leaders in the Scottish church. Among these clerks was David Bernham, who appears in the bishop's household by about 1225. He was university trained, although whether at Oxford and /or Paris is not known.1 At some time between 1225 and 1235 he became vicar of Haddington: he retained the seal he used as vicar as his secretum during the early years of his episcopate.2 The living was a wealthy one, valued at forty merks, four times the minimum stipend allowed by the statutes of the Scottish church. The sources of this stipend were subject to an exhaustive inquest shortly after David obtained the benefice.3 From this inquest it appears that the vicar had a number of chaplains to help in the running of the parish, but it cannot be assumed that Bernham was a total absentee, for he