John Woodman

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John Woodman
Senior posting

Denomination	Roman Catholic Church
See	Diocese of Ross
Title	Bishop of Ross
Period in office	1476–1480 × 1481
Consecration	unknown
Predecessor	Henry Cockburn
Successor	William Elphinstone
Religious career
Previous post	Abbot of Jedburgh (1468–1478)
Personal
Date of birth	unknown
Place of birth	unknown
Date of death	Before August 3, 1481

John Woodman [Wodman] (d. 1480 × 1481) was a 15th century churchman based in the Kingdom of Scotland. Woodman was a canon of the diocese of St Andrews, and as such was locally made Prior of Pittenweem on the death of the previous prior, James Kennedy, Bishop of St Andrews; however, he was opposed by one Walter Monypenny, while the new bishop, Patrick Graham, desired the position for himself.^[1] Woodman had lost litigation for this post to Monypenny by September 17, 1466, and possession to the bishop, though Woodman was still claiming this priory as late as 1477 when he became Bishop of Ross.^[2]

Some time after November 1465, he was collated as Prior of Restenneth by Bishop Patrick Graham, which involved him in unsuccessful litigation against the sitting prior James Dunmain.^[3] In 1468, while still litigating with Dunmain in the papal curia, he was provided as Abbot of Jedburgh.^[4] The death of the previous abbot Andrew Bolton led the Bishop of Glasgow to try to imposed Robert Turnbull as abbot, but it was Woodman who secured papal provision.^[5]

Woodman was provided to the bishopric of Ross sometime before August 20, 1476, but after July 22. He occurs as Bishop-elect on August 17, 1477, and on October 16 made a payment to the papacy of 321 gold florins through Nicholas de Rabatis and Rayner de Ricolis.^[6] He occurs again as Bishop-elect of Ross (though unnamed) on May 4, 1478.^[7] Woodman was in the archdiocese of York in 1480, allegedly acting as a suffragan, though this may be doutbful.^[7] We have no knowledge of his consecration, and his successor William Elphinstone was provided to the (now vacant) bishopric of Ross on August 3, 1481 following the death of Woodman, though it is not possible to date Woodman's death more narrowly than either 1480 or 1481.^[7]

[edit] Notes

^ Watt & Shead, Heads of Religious Houses, p. 146.
^ Watt & Shead, Heads of Religious Houses, pp. 146-7.
^ Watt & Shead, Heads of Religious Houses, p. 184.
^ Watt & Shead, Heads of Religious Houses, pp. 119, 184.
^ Watt & Shead, Heads of Religious Houses, p. 119.
^ Dowden, Bishops, p. 220; Watt, Fasti Ecclesiae, p. 269.
^ ^a ^b ^c Watt, Fasti Ecclesiae, p. 269.

[edit] References

Dowden, John, The Bishops of Scotland, ed. J. Maitland Thomson, (Glasgow, 1912)
Keith, Robert, An Historical Catalogue of the Scottish Bishops: Down to the Year 1688, (London, 1824)
Watt, D. E. R., Fasti Ecclesiae Scotinanae Medii Aevi ad annum 1638, 2nd Draft, (St Andrews, 1969)
Watt, D. E. R. & Shead, N. F. (eds.), The Heads of Religious Houses in Scotland from the 12th to the 16th Centuries, The Scottish Records Society, New Series, Volume 24, (Edinburgh, 2001)\

Religious titles
Preceded by Andrew Bolton	Abbot of Jedburgh 1468–1478	Succeeded by Robert Turnbull
Preceded by Henry Cockburn	Bishop of Ross 1476–1480 × 1481	Succeeded by William Elphinstone