Key Evidence

On 12 November 1351, Margaret was recorded as “Margaret, daughter of William Goutry, of the diocese of Ely.” Her name appears within a series of papal indults allowing the recipients to choose confessors empowered to grant them plenary remission at the hour of death, provided they were penitent.

Although the calendar identifies Margaret through her father rather than explicitly calling her “Margaret Goutry,” the entry establishes a direct father–daughter relationship and places both individuals within the Diocese of Ely in England.

Genealogical Significance

This is the earliest possible Guthrie-surname reference found in the fourteen published volumes of the Calendar of Papal Registers. Its value lies primarily in the identification of two generations: William Goutry and his daughter Margaret.

The record does not identify Margaret’s marital status, residence, social standing, or other relatives. Her ability to obtain a papal indult may indicate access to ecclesiastical channels, but it does not by itself establish elevated rank or wealth.

Assessment

“Goutry” is sufficiently close to medieval forms of Guthry or Guthrie to justify its inclusion in a comprehensive surname survey. However, the entry provides no Scottish association and no evidence connecting William and Margaret with the Guthries of Angus.

They should therefore be treated as a potentially distinct English family unless supporting records from the Diocese of Ely demonstrate that Goutry was being used as a form of the Scottish surname.

Reference

Calendar of Papal Registers Relating to Great Britain and Ireland, Volume 3, Regesta 211, 1351–1352, p. 451: British History Online.

Key Evidence

On 2 May 1423, a papal supplication was submitted on behalf of David de Guthry and Janet—or Joneta—Lyndesay, both of the Diocese of St Andrews. The fuller Scottish calendar describes them as nobiles domicelli: young people of noble or gentle birth.

David and Janet wished to marry with the consent of their friends and kinsfolk. The proposed union was said to arise from a longstanding friendship between the two families. A canonical obstacle existed, however, because Janet’s unnamed father had served as David’s godfather at baptism. Medieval canon law regarded that relationship as spiritual kinship, creating an impediment to marriage between David and his godfather’s daughter.

The petition was approved, and the bishop of St Andrews was authorized to dispense the couple so that they could marry. Any children born to them were to be considered legitimate.

Cross-Source Evidence

The Calendar of Papal Registers provides the concise mandate issued to the bishop. The corresponding entry in the Calendar of Scottish Supplications to Rome adds the participation of both kin groups and the longstanding friendship behind the proposed alliance.

Together, the records establish that the match was supported by the Guthry and Lyndesay families rather than being solely a private arrangement between the couple.

Genealogical Significance

The entry identifies a prospective Guthrie–Lindsay marriage and an earlier personal connection between the families: Janet’s father had been chosen as David’s godfather. Although his name is omitted, this places the two family circles in close association from the time of David’s baptism.

The papal approval permitted the marriage but does not prove that it was subsequently solemnized. No children or property settlements are identified in the surviving entry.

Assessment

David de Guthry should presently be kept separate from the later Sir David Guthrie of Kincaldrum and Guthrie. The David named here was already of marriageable age in 1423, whereas the reconstructed Kincaldrum pedigree generally places Sir David’s birth in the following generation and identifies his wives as a Maule and Janet Dundas.

Those dates and identifications are not sufficiently secure to make the distinction absolute. Nevertheless, merging the two men would require additional evidence—ideally a charter, marriage settlement, or later record connecting the Guthries of Kincaldrum with Janet Lyndesay or her family.

References

Calendar of Papal Registers Relating to Great Britain and Ireland, Volume 7, Lateran Regesta 231, p. 250: British History Online.

Annie I. Dunlop, ed., Calendar of Scottish Supplications to Rome, 1423–1428, p. 22: National Library of Scotland.

Key Evidence

On 15 May 1428, Henry Guthrey was identified as a clerk of the Diocese of St Andrews in a dispute involving Hugh, rector of Edzell. Hugh had been suspended by the bishop for refusing to pay money owed to Henry but had continued publicly celebrating mass and other divine offices for more than three years. The pope ordered an investigation that could result in Hugh’s deprivation from the church of Edzell.

A second papal entry, dated 1429–1430, records that the rectory of Fettercairn had become vacant through the death of Henry de Guthry. Bishop Henry of St Andrews had subsequently provided the benefice to David de Ogilbi.

Cross-Source Evidence

The Corpus of Scottish Medieval Parish Churches supplies an important earlier record. Its history of Fettercairn states that Henry de Guthrie was provided to the church in 1401 after the previous appointee, Walter Danielson, failed to obtain ordination.

If all three references concern the same man, Henry held—or at least possessed the right to—the rectory of Fettercairn for nearly three decades.

Genealogical Significance

No parents, siblings, or other relatives are identified. Henry’s importance lies instead in establishing a Guthrie cleric in the Mearns at the beginning of the fifteenth century, earlier than most of the named Guthrie churchmen found in the present collection.

His long association with Fettercairn may eventually help distinguish him from otherwise unidentified members of the contemporary Guthrie families of Angus and the Mearns. For the present, however, his place within any specific Guthrie lineage remains unknown.

Assessment

The Henry Guthrey named as a creditor in 1428 and Henry de Guthry, deceased rector of Fettercairn, were very likely the same man. They bear the same uncommon name, belonged to the same diocese, and appear within a narrow period in neighboring Angus–Mearns ecclesiastical affairs. The description of Henry simply as a “clerk” in 1428 does not conflict with his holding a rectory.

The identification is strongly supported by the independent evidence placing Henry at Fettercairn from 1401, although the 1428 entry does not expressly identify its creditor as the rector.

References

Calendar of Papal Registers Relating to Great Britain and Ireland, Volume 8, Lateran Regesta 278, pp. 8–16, and Lateran Regesta 295, pp. 157–175: British History Online.

“Fettercairn Parish Church,” Corpus of Scottish Medieval Parish Churches.

Key Evidence

On 28 January 1445, John de Guthre was named in a papal mandate concerning the canonry and prebend of Logie in Dunblane Cathedral. He and Adam de Montegomory, both clerks of the Diocese of Glasgow, had challenged the claim of Patrick Leiche, canon of Dunblane.

John’s claim had progressed beyond litigation: he had taken possession of the benefice, continued to detain it, and collected its fruits or revenues. Master Paul de Sanctafide, a papal chaplain and auditor, ultimately ruled in Patrick’s favor. John was ordered to surrender the prebend, repay the fruits he had received, and—together with Adam—pay the legal costs, assessed at thirty-five gold florins. The judgment also imposed “perpetual silence,” barring them from renewing the same claim.

Genealogical Significance

The entry establishes a John Guthre engaged in Scottish ecclesiastical affairs in 1445 and associates him specifically with the Diocese of Glasgow. It does not identify his parents, birthplace, age, or any other benefice he may have held.

The calendar’s notation rectius Guthre—“more correctly Guthre”—confirms that the editor regarded Guthre as the proper reading of his surname.

Assessment

John was a clerk, but the term does not prove that he had been ordained as a priest. His ability to obtain and defend possession of a cathedral prebend nevertheless suggests some standing, legal support, or ecclesiastical patronage, even though the papal tribunal rejected his title.

He should presently be kept separate from John Guthere, the Trinitarian friar who appears in 1447 as administrator of the order’s house at Berwick and the annexed parish of Kettins. The two men lived in the same broad period, but the records provide different diocesan and institutional associations and contain no evidence connecting their careers.

Reference

Calendar of Papal Registers Relating to Great Britain and Ireland, Volume 9, Lateran Regesta 411, pp. 436–445: British History Online.

Key Evidence

Two papal letters dated 11 December 1447 document John Guthere’s appointment as administrator of the Trinitarian house at Berwick-upon-Tweed.

John was a friar of the Order of the Most Holy Trinity and the son of unmarried parents. Following the death of the previous administrator, John Andreston, the order’s master-general had provided John to the vacant office. John accepted and exercised the administration without first obtaining the papal dispensation required because of his illegitimate birth.

The first letter rehabilitated John but required him to resign the office he had obtained irregularly. The second instructed the bishop of Brechin to accept that resignation and, if John were found suitable, collate him to the same administration anew. The pope granted the necessary special dispensation for this purpose.

The parish church of Kettins in the Diocese of Brechin was annexed to the Berwick house, and their combined annual value was stated as no more than £50 sterling. The connection with Kettins was therefore institutional and financial; it does not necessarily mean John resided there or personally served as its parish priest.

Genealogical Significance

The entry supplies an unusual detail about John’s parentage but names neither parent. Because he was born to an unmarried couple, the surname Guthere alone cannot establish whether the Guthrie parent was his father or mother.

John’s original appointment by the Trinitarian master-general and his immediate papal reappointment suggest that he possessed the order’s confidence. The problem was not misconduct in office but the absence of a required dispensation before accepting it.

Cross-Source Evidence

A separate transcription of papal consistorial records identifies a John Guthere who was provided to the bishopric of Ross in 1492. The uncommon spelling and ecclesiastical careers make comparison worthwhile.

The forty-five-year interval is substantial, however, and no intervening evidence connects the Trinitarian administrator with the future bishop. The two men should remain separate unless records of the bishop’s earlier career reveal an association with Berwick, Kettins, or the Trinitarian Order.

Assessment

John Guthere should also be kept separate from John de Guthre, the Glasgow clerk who unsuccessfully claimed the prebend of Logie in 1445. Their similar names and close chronology permit the possibility of one identity, but their known institutional associations are different and no record links the two careers.

References

Calendar of Papal Registers Relating to Great Britain and Ireland, Volume 10, Lateran Regesta 434, pp. 287–294: British History Online.

William Maziere Brady, The Episcopal Succession in England, Scotland and Ireland, A.D. 1400 to 1875, entry for John Guthere’s provision to Ross in 1492: Internet Archive.

Evidence from the Papal Registers

On 10 June 1449, Richard Guthre was a secular clerk of the Diocese of Brechin. In preparation for the elderly Abbot Walter’s resignation, the pope ordered that Richard be received as a monk of Arbroath Abbey and allowed to make his monastic profession.

Richard subsequently obtained the abbacy, but a technical defect arose because one of the papal executors had acted through a subdelegate without express authority to do so. On 19 November 1450, the pope confirmed the previous proceedings and provided Richard to the abbey anew, formally granting him its rule and administration.

Richard’s early tenure was troubled by a dispute with Walter over the former abbot’s reserved lifetime pension. In 1451, Walter alleged that Richard was preventing him from possessing the lands assigned for his support. Richard and the convent appealed, arguing that the pension was so excessive that it threatened the abbey’s finances. A further mandate in November 1452 ordered local judges to hear both sides and settle the dispute.

By 22 December 1463, Richard was again styled a monk of Arbroath rather than its abbot. He was now a professor of sacred theology and confessor to King James III. At the joint petition of Richard and the king, the pope appointed him a chaplain of the apostolic see.

Richard later returned to the abbacy. Papal entries dated 1471–1472 record that Pope Paul II had provided him to Arbroath and identify him as a master in theology. Richard died by 6 May 1472 while litigation over the government of the monastery remained pending between him and Malcolm Bridi. A 1476 provision for a later abbot again confirmed that Arbroath had become vacant through Richard’s death outside the Roman court.

Cross-Source Evidence

University evidence places Richard at Cologne in 1442 and later at St Andrews as an arts regent and faculty official. The Arbroath records document his resignation of the abbacy on 18 December 1455, explaining why he was described simply as a monk in 1463.

In 1464, Richard and the Dominican prior John Graham acted under royal and episcopal authority to investigate Arbroath Abbey’s almonry and Spitalfield. Parliament expanded this work in 1469 by appointing Richard principal confessor to James III, general almoner, and royal agent for restoring hospitals to their proper charitable purposes.

Following Malcolm Bridi’s removal, Richard—then prior and professor of theology—was elected Abbot of Arbroath on 3 November 1470. He attended Parliament as abbot on 6 May 1471, confirming his second tenure shortly before his death.

Genealogical Significance and Assessment

The combined records strongly identify one highly educated ecclesiastic whose career included two separate tenures as abbot: approximately 1449–1455 and 1470–1472. His description as the king’s confessor links the 1463 papal chaplain, the royal officer of 1469, and the abbot provided under Paul II.

Richard and Sir David Guthrie of that Ilk occupied the same academic and governmental circles. Both studied at Cologne; David witnessed Richard’s resignation in 1455; and both attended Parliament in 1469 while holding senior royal offices. These associations make kinship possible, but no known record names Richard’s parents or identifies him as a member of the Kincaldrum family.

References

Calendar of Papal Registers, Volume 10 — reception as a monk, provision to the abbacy, and dispute with Abbot Walter, 1449–1452.

Calendar of Papal Registers, Volume 11, pp. 683–686 — royal confessor and papal chaplain, 1463.

Calendar of Papal Registers, Volume 13 — second provision, death, and later confirmation of the vacancy.

Arbroath Abbey Register, Volume II, pp. 86–88 — resignation of the first abbacy, 1455.

Arbroath Abbey Register, Volume II, pp. 141–143 — almonry investigation, 1464.

Records of the Parliaments of Scotland, 1469 — principal royal confessor, general almoner, and hospital reform.

Records of the Parliaments of Scotland, 1471 — attendance as Abbot of Arbroath.

Evidence from the Papal Registers

On 21 March 1466, David Guttre and his unnamed wife received a papal indult permitting each of them to use a portable altar and have mass celebrated upon it before daybreak. David was described as a nobleman, lord of Kyncaudrum—Kincaldrum—in the Diocese of Brechin, and treasurer to King James III.

The indult was issued only four days before the royal charter of 25 March 1466 that confirmed David’s acquisition of the lands of Guthrie. His designation as lord of Kincaldrum rather than Guthrie therefore accurately reflects his territorial status immediately before he became Guthrie of that Ilk.

The papal register next identifies David retrospectively. On 19 May 1479, his son Alexander petitioned for the formal erection of the parish church of Guthrie into a collegiate church. The petition stated that the late David, Alexander’s father, had initiated the project. The resulting institution comprised a provostship and four canonries or prebends, with Kirkbuddo united to one of them. Patronage was reserved to the succeeding lords of Guthrie.

Cross-Source Evidence

Sir David was a son of Sir Alexander Guthrie, first of Kincaldrum, and Marjory Guthrie. His royal career included service as sheriff of Forfar, treasurer, comptroller of the household, Clerk of the Rolls, diplomat, and justiciar.

The royal charter of 25 March 1466 restored the lands of Guthrie to the family. Sir David subsequently enlarged or altered the parish church as the intended setting for the collegiate foundation and a dynastic burial place. He died before completing the canonical arrangements, leaving his son and heir, Sir Alexander Guthrie, to secure papal approval.

Compiled pedigrees identify Sir David’s first wife as an unnamed daughter of Sir Thomas Maule of Panmure and his second as Janet Dundas, mother of Alexander and Elizabeth Guthrie. The papal indult’s unnamed “present wife” may have been Janet Dundas, but the document does not establish her identity. Nor does the word “present” independently prove an earlier marriage.

Genealogical Significance and Assessment

The two papal entries document the transition of this family from the Guthries of Kincaldrum to the territorial line of Guthrie of that Ilk. They also provide a direct father–son connection: David, the late initiator of the collegiate foundation, was father of Alexander, temporal lord of Guthrie in 1479.

The 1479 letter confirms that Sir David was already deceased by 19 May of that year. It is consistent with the traditionally reported death in 1474 but does not prove that exact year. It does, however, rule out accounts describing him as alive after the papal erection of the church.

The frequently repeated date of 14 June 1479 for the papal bull should also be reviewed. The calendar dates the surviving entry 19 May 1479—14 Kalends of June—which may explain how the date was later misread as 14 June.

References

Calendar of Papal Registers, Volume 12, pp. 812–818 — portable-altar indult, 21 March 1466.

Calendar of Papal Registers, Volume 13, pp. 136–139 — erection of the Collegiate Church of Guthrie, 19 May 1479.

Guthrie Parish Church, Corpus of Scottish Medieval Parish Churches — acquisition of Guthrie and development of the collegiate church.

Guthrie of Kincaldrum — family structure and cross-source career summary.

Key Evidence

On 28 November 1466, Alexander Guthri petitioned for the perpetual vicarage of Auchterhouse in the Diocese of Dunkeld. He was identified as a priest of the Diocese of Brechin and as being of noble birth through both parents.

The benefice was already entangled in prolonged litigation. After two earlier claimants resigned while their dispute remained unresolved, it was granted to David Dishington. David allegedly agreed to resign in favor of Thomas Rogerson in exchange for money. Alexander challenged this arrangement as simoniacal.

The pope instructed local judges to investigate. If Alexander proved his allegations, Rogerson’s appointment was to be declared invalid and the vicarage, valued at no more than £9 sterling annually, assigned to Alexander. This was a conditional mandate rather than an immediate provision, so it does not prove that Alexander obtained possession.

The dispute continued in 1469. On 14 May, Rogerson acknowledged the improper bargain and petitioned for absolution, rehabilitation, and a fresh appointment. On 8 August, a new claimant, Maurice Ra, alleged that the true value of Auchterhouse exceeded the amount stated in both Alexander’s and Rogerson’s papal letters. If that allegation were proved, both sets of letters were to be annulled and the vicarage granted to Maurice.

Alexander’s name appeared again retrospectively in a mandate dated 27 April 1474. His possible resignation was listed among several alternative grounds by which Auchterhouse might be vacant. This formula does not prove that Alexander had possessed and resigned the benefice.

Cross-Source Evidence

A Forfarshire contract dated 24 December 1478 was witnessed by “sir Alexander Guthre, priest.” The shared name, clerical status, county, and close chronology make him a possible later appearance of the Auchterhouse claimant. The record names no benefice, however, so the identification remains unconfirmed.

Genealogical Significance

The description of Alexander as noble through both parents is particularly valuable. It places him within a Guthrie family of recognized gentle or noble standing, although neither parent is named.

One candidate for comparison is Master Alexander Guthrie, brother of Marjory Guthrie of Kincaldrum. That Master Alexander was active in Scottish legal affairs from at least the 1430s and joined Marjory in resigning Kincaldrum to its superior in February 1466/67—only a few months after the papal petition.

The overlap of name, period, region, education or clerical standing, and noble status makes this a worthwhile theory. Nevertheless, the papal letters never call the priest “Master,” identify Marjory, or connect him with Kincaldrum. The two identities should not yet be merged.

Assessment

Alexander was a serious claimant with sufficient status and support to pursue a complicated benefice case through the papal administration. The surviving mandates establish his participation but do not show that he became the undisputed vicar of Auchterhouse.

He was not Sir Alexander Guthrie of that Ilk, a contemporary lay landholder with a wife and children. He should also remain separate from Alexander Gutere, the deceased vicar of Coull recorded in 1471, unless additional evidence connects the two clerical careers. Because the 1474 Auchterhouse reference is retrospective, it does not establish that its Alexander was still alive at that date.

References

Calendar of Papal Registers, Volume 12, pp. 253–269 — Alexander’s petition and conditional provision, 28 November 1466.

Calendar of Papal Registers, Volume 12, pp. 708–714 — Rogerson’s rehabilitation, 14 May 1469.

Calendar of Papal Registers, Volume 12, pp. 680–685 — Maurice Ra’s challenge, 8 August 1469.

Calendar of Papal Registers, Volume 13, pp. 27–31 — retrospective reference to Alexander’s possible resignation, 27 April 1474.

National Records of Scotland, GD121/3/47 — “sir Alexander Guthre, priest,” witness in 1478.

Evidence from the Papal Registers

On 11 May 1467, Pope Paul II provided James Guthery to the abbacy of Kinloss in the Diocese of Moray. The monastery had become vacant through the death of its previous abbot, John Ellem, and its next provision had been specially reserved to the pope.

James was already a professed Cistercian monk of Coupar-Angus, a priest of lawful age, and a Bachelor of Sacred Theology. Before assuming the administration, he was required to take the customary oath of fealty before the bishops of St Andrews and Brechin. He also received permission to obtain the abbatial blessing from any Catholic bishop of his choice. Concurrent letters were sent to King James III and the abbot of Melrose.

An unfinished and cancelled registration of the same provision appears elsewhere in the papal registers. It was abandoned because it had been entered under the wrong heading and represents no separate appointment.

On 15 June 1481, the pope provided William Galbraith to Kinloss. The letter states that the abbey had become vacant at the apostolic see through James’s formal resignation to the pope. His tenure can therefore be dated securely from May 1467 until no later than June 1481.

Cross-Source Evidence

The sixteenth-century Kinloss historian John Ferrerius describes James as a learned theologian and former cellarer of Coupar-Angus. As cellarer, James would have held substantial responsibility for the monastery’s provisions and domestic administration.

Ferrerius records that David Bane, Abbot of Coupar-Angus and Cistercian visitor for Scotland, presided over James’s election at Kinloss. John Tellen, one of the senior Kinloss monks, cast the first vote for him. The subsequent papal provision was still necessary because the abbey had been reserved to the pope’s appointment.

During his abbacy, James completed building work begun by his predecessor, including the bell tower, and constructed a new stable. He also exercised authority within the wider Cistercian order, reportedly compelling Richard Marshall to resign as Abbot of Culross following a visitation.

Ferrerius records James’s death at Forfar on 16 March 1482/83 and states that he was buried there. He also repeats an allegation that James received money from William Galbraith while arranging his succession and hoped afterward to obtain the abbacy of Coupar. The papal record confirms the resignation and Galbraith’s succession but says nothing about payment or James’s motives. The accusation should therefore be treated as a later report, not an established fact.

Genealogical Significance

Neither the papal letters nor the Kinloss chronicle names James’s parents or identifies his birthplace. His profession at Coupar-Angus places his earlier religious career in Angus but does not prove that he belonged to one of the nearby landed Guthrie families.

Ferrerius also names a John Guthery who became a monk of Kinloss during James’s abbacy. Their shared surname makes a family connection worth investigating, particularly if James influenced John’s admission, but the chronicle states no relationship between them.

Assessment

James was one of the most highly educated and senior Guthrie churchmen of the fifteenth century. His theological degree, administrative experience, election at Kinloss, papal provision, and authority as a monastic visitor indicate a substantial ecclesiastical career.

He should not be identified with the contemporary James Guthrie of Halkerton, a lay landholder with a wife and family. No evidence presently connects the abbot genealogically with the Guthries of Kincaldrum or Guthrie of that Ilk.

References

Calendar of Papal Registers, Volume 12, pp. 561–565 — provision to Kinloss, 11 May 1467.

Calendar of Papal Registers, Volume 12, pp. 812–818 — unfinished and cancelled duplicate registration.

Calendar of Papal Registers, Volume 13, pp. 720–722 — James’s resignation and William Galbraith’s provision, 15 June 1481.

John Ferrerius, Historia Abbatum de Kynlos, pp. 31–33 — election, administration, resignation tradition, death, and John Guthery’s admission as a monk.

Key Evidence

On 8 December 1471, Pope Sixtus IV ordered the official of Aberdeen to provide George Carabris with the perpetual vicarage of Quoll—Coull—in the Diocese of Aberdeen. The benefice, valued at £9 sterling annually, was vacant through the death of its previous holder, Alexander Gutere.

The mandate supplies no date for Alexander’s appointment or death. It establishes only that he had held the vicarage and was deceased by December 1471.

Coull was an Aberdeenshire parish whose church had belonged to Arbroath Abbey since its grant by King William the Lion in 1188. Alexander’s association was nevertheless with the Diocese of Aberdeen rather than the abbey’s Angus locality.

Genealogical Significance

The entry names no parents, relatives, birthplace, or additional benefice. The spelling Gutere supports his inclusion in the Guthrie surname survey, but the record does not connect him with a particular Guthrie family.

Assessment

Alexander should presently be kept separate from Alexander Guthry, the Brechin priest who claimed the vicarage of Auchterhouse between 1466 and 1469. The chronology permits them to have been the same man, since the Auchterhouse claimant could have died before December 1471. However, the different diocesan and benefice associations and absence of any connecting record make consolidation premature.

He also cannot be the “sir Alexander Guthre, priest” who witnessed an Angus contract in 1478, because the vicar of Coull was already dead.

References

Calendar of Papal Registers, Volume 13, p. 12 — provision following Alexander’s death, 8 December 1471.

Historic Environment Scotland: Coull Parish Church — early history of the church and its connection with Arbroath Abbey.

Evidence from the Papal Registers

On 15 February 1482, Pope Sixtus IV ordered the abbot of Arbroath to collate Master David Guthre to the provostship of the Collegiate Church of Guthrie. David was already a canon of Aberdeen and Master of Arts.

The collegiate church had been erected in 1479 but its first provostship remained vacant. Alexander, temporal lord of Guthrie, had presented David within the lawful period, but the bishop of Brechin had refused to institute him for an unstated reason. The pope therefore intervened and ordered David’s collation. The provostship was valued at £6 sterling annually, and David was permitted to retain his Aberdeen canonry and prebend.

The mandate authorized David’s appointment but does not alone prove that it was executed. Later records, however, explicitly style him Provost of Guthrie, confirming that he eventually obtained the office.

Cross-Source Evidence

University records place a David Guthrie—apparently the same educated cleric—as Dean of the Faculty of Arts at St Andrews during the session of 1486–1487. He had personal experience of academic practice at Cologne.

On 12 December 1496, Master David Guthre, Doctor of Both Laws, was appointed procurator in an Arbroath Abbey ecclesiastical case. In 1497 he acted for Bishop William Elphinstone and the University of Aberdeen and lectured there. By 1499 he was also rector of Aberdour and a member of the Aberdeen Cathedral chapter.

Records of the Lords of Council bring the academic lawyer and the provostship together. During litigation in 1500–1501, Master David appeared both as a doctor and as “provest of that ilk.” He represented Elizabeth Guthrie, widow of Alexander Maule, and participated in disputes concerning the Guthrie family estates.

These records resolve an important ambiguity. The title “provost of that ilk” refers to the Provost of the Collegiate Church of Guthrie—not to the civic Provost of Aberdeen. Aberdeen’s municipal provostship was held by other men during the years in which David appears.

Genealogical Significance

Alexander Guthrie’s presentation of a same-surname cleric to the headship of his family’s collegiate foundation suggests close confidence and probably kinship. Master David is a plausible candidate for the David traditionally identified as Sir Alexander Guthrie’s eldest son and heir.

The chronology supports that possibility. David was already a Master of Arts in 1482 and later represented members of the Guthrie family in litigation. If he was Sir Alexander’s son, however, his mother must have been Alexander’s unidentified earlier wife rather than Margaret Lyon, whom Alexander married only after 1500–1501.

No surviving record yet calls the provost Alexander’s son, identifies him as heir of Guthrie, or connects him with Andrew Guthrie, the next territorial successor.

Assessment

The combined evidence strongly supports identifying the canon presented in 1482 with the later university teacher, Doctor of Both Laws, and Provost of Guthrie. His education, Aberdeen offices, legal career, and direct involvement in Guthrie family affairs form a coherent professional history.

He cannot be Sir David Guthrie who founded the collegiate church, since that David was already deceased before the 1479 erection. His proposed identification with Sir Alexander’s son David—traditionally said to have died at Flodden in 1513—remains promising but unproven. Evidence concerning his ordination, any marriage, and the parentage of Andrew Guthrie would be required before merging the cleric securely into the territorial pedigree.

References

Calendar of Papal Registers, Volume 13, pp. 815–823 — proposed appointment to the first provostship of Guthrie, 15 February 1482.

Annie I. Dunlop, ed., Acta Facultatis Artium Universitatis Sanctiandree, 1413–1588 — deanship at St Andrews and academic experience at Cologne, 1486–1487.

Arbroath Abbey Register, Volume II, pp. 298–299 — Doctor of Both Laws and ecclesiastical procurator, 1496.

Fasti Aberdonenses — University of Aberdeen activity and rectory of Aberdour, 1497–1499.

Acts of the Lords of Council — appearances as doctor and Provost of Guthrie in family litigation, 1500–1501.