William de Lawedre

Born [date unknown] in Scotland

Ancestors

Died 14 Jun 1425 in Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland.

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William de Lawedre was a member of Scottish Nobility. Join: Scotland Project Discuss: Scotland

Biography

William was the eldest son and heir of Sir Robert de Lawedre of The Bass and his wife Annabella.^[1][2] Cosmo Innes states of William de Lawedre, Bishop of Glasgow, that "his parents were Robert and Annabella de Lawedre and both Crawford and Keith are mistaken to this Bishop's parentage. They both say his father was Alan de Lawedre of Haltoun. They both quote Fordun, who does not mention it, although I find it in Spottiswood, who makes other mistakes."^[3]

William de Lawedre was (by 1405) Archdeacon of Lothian and in 1408 Bishop of Glasgow. In Jan 1422 he was appointed Chancellor of Scotland. The Chancellor, says Sir George Mackenzie,^[4] is by the laws of King Malcolm Canmore, placed before all other officers of state; in effect the first officer in the nation. Alexander Nisbet adds that "The Lord High Chancellor, & Keeper of the Great Seal, is looked upon as the prime minister of state, and the highest person in the kingdom in civil affairs, after the king and princes of the blood, as the Archbishop of Canterbury is in England.^[5]

The archives contain many mentions of him. Much about him can be found in primary and secondary publications.^[6]

His date of death comes from the Registrum Glasguense (vol.ii, p.616) (copied by Cosmo Innes).

Henry Laing states that Bishop Lauder's seal appears in the Melrose Charters: "William Lauder; a griffin segreant".^[7] From this and other seals recorded by MacDonald^[8] it seems that Bishop William Lauder continued using the old Lauder Arms rather than adopting the new Lauder of The Bass Arms with the Double Tressure.

Sources

1. ↑ Registrum Glasguense, vol.ii, p.304. National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh.
2. ↑ A Biographical Dictionary of Scottish Graduates to AD 1410 by D.E.R. Watt, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1977. p.351.
3. ↑ Early Scotch History by Cosmo Innes, Edinburgh, 1861, p.57.
4. ↑ "Precedency", p.39.
5. ↑ Systems of Heraldry, Edinburgh, 1722, vol.ii, part 4, p.61.
6. ↑ "Records of the Scottish Church History Society", vol. xi, Glasgow, 1955, The Ecclesiastical members of the Lauder Family in the 15th Century by the Rev. Duncan Shaw, p.161-4.
7. ↑ Ancient Scottish Seals, Edinburgh,1866.
8. ↑ Scottish Armorial Seals by W.R. MacDonald, Edinburgh,1904, p.196, seals nos. 1550/1551