William de Lamberton
Roman Catholic bishop
William de Lamberton, sometimes modernized as William Lamberton, (died 20 May 1328) was Bishop of St Andrews from 1297 (consecrated 1298) until his death. Lamberton is renowned for his influential role during the Scottish Wars of Independence. He campaigned for the national cause under William Wallace and later Robert the Bruce. As Bishop of St Andrews, the most powerful seat in Scotland, Bishop Lamberton along with Bishop Robert Wishart of Glasgow conducted the coronation of Robert the Bruce as King Robert I. Lamberton would go on to have a vital role in the formulation of the Declaration of the Clergy 1310 and the Declaration of Arbroath which would lead to Scottish Independence.
During his tenure Lamberton was excommunicated by Rome for his role in the Wars of Independence along with Robert I and the Clergy of Scotland. However, he was reconciled with the Papacy before his death.
Birth and early life
Details from the National Dictionary of Biography do seem to clarify his origins in the Lamberton family, originally from Berwickshire, but holding lands in north-east Scotland by the late twelfth century and later in Stirlingshire also. Details of his birth, education, and early career are not certain; he had certainly received a university education by early 1293 and become a canon of Glasgow. By the time of his appearance at King John's (Baliol) first parliament in February 1293 he was chancellor of Glasgow Cathedral. He seems to have been sent abroad for further study by Bishop Robert Wishart of Glasgow, probably in the year or two before July 1295.
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This entry incorporates text from “William de Lamberton” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.