Possibly from a Lanark burgess family, he was a Dominican and a priest by 1356, and by 1364 was styled Magister, indicating the completion of a long university education.
[2] In 1363, Adam de Lanark was elected Bishop of Galloway and received papal provision to the vacant bishopric on 17 November 1363.
[3] While seeking confirmation at the papal court, he probably presented a roll of petitions on behalf of King David II and did receive a number of faculties in order to grant dispensations in the bishopric of Galloway.
[4] Bishop Adam's return to Scotland is signalled by the grant of safe-conduct through England issued to him on 20 February.
[4] Bishop Adam is thereafter a harder figure to trace, and little more is known about his activities besides the fact that he is said to have died at the papal court in Avignon during the vacancy of the papacy; that is, Bishop Adam died between the death of Pope Gregory XI on 27 March 1378 and the consecration of Avignon Pope Clement VII on the following 31 October.