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Hugh the Chaplain (or Hugo Capellanus) was the royal Chaplain of King William I of Scotland before becoming Bishop of Cell Rígmonaid (St Andrews), the highest ranking Scottish see of the period. After the death of Bishop Richard, King William selected Hugh to succeed to the bishopric in 1178. However, unbeknown to the king, the chapter elected their archdeacon, John l'Escot, as bishop. The king saw to Hugh's election and consecration in the same year. There followed a five-year struggle for the bishopric. John travelled to appeal to Pope Alexander III, who quashed the case of Hugh and sent to Scotland a man named Alexius as legate. Alexius obtained entrance to William's kingdom, and consecrated John at Holyrood Abbey in the presence of four other Scottish bishops, in the year 1180. Nevertheless, the struggle continued, and in 1183, both John and Hugh resigned their rights. Despite the fact that Hugh received the bishopric and John took the Bishopric of Dunkeld in compensation, dispute over revenues continued. When Hugh refused to answer his summons to Rome in 1186, he was suspended and excommunicated, with the diocese being put under interdict. Hugh travelled to Rome and obtained absolution, but he died of the pestilence in that city a few days later.

References

• Dowden, John, The Bishops of Scotland, ed. J. Maitland Thomson, (Glasgow, 1912)
• Owen, D.D.R., The Reign of William the Lion: Kingship and Culture, 1143-1214, (East Linton, 1997)

v t e Bishops and archbishops of St Andrews
Known pre-Norman era bishops	Cellach I Fothad I Máel Ísu I Cellach II Máel Muire Máel Ísu II Ailín Máel Dúin Túathal Fothad II Giric Cathróe
Scoto-Norman era bishops	Turgot of Durham Eadmer Robert of Scone Ernald Richard the Chaplain Hugh the Chaplain John Scotus Roger de Beaumont Geoffrey de Liberatione William de Malveisin David de Bernham Robert de Stuteville Abel de Gullane Gamelin William Wishart William Fraser William de Lamberton James Bane William Bell William de Landallis Stephen de Pa Walter Trail Thomas Stewart Walter de Danielston Gilbert de Greenlaw Henry Wardlaw James Kennedy Patrick Graham
Pre-Reformation archbishops	Patrick Graham William Scheves James Stewart, Duke of Ross Alexander Stewart John Hepburn Cardinal Innocenzo Cybo Andrew Forman James Beaton Cardinal David Beaton John Hamilton Gavin Hamilton
Post-Reformation archbishops	John Douglas Patrick Adamson George Gledstanes John Spottiswoode James Sharp Alexander Burnet Arthur Rose
Afterwards, see also: Episcopal Archbishops of St Andrews, Bishops of St Andrews, Dunkeld and Dunblane (etc.) & Roman Catholic Archbishops of St Andrews and Edinburgh (etc.)

• 12th-century births
• 1188 deaths
• Bishops of St Andrews
• People excommunicated by the Catholic Church
• English bishops
• 13th-century Scottish Roman Catholic bishops