Bernard of Kilwinning

Bernard (died c. 1331) was a Tironensian abbot, administrator and bishop active in late 13th- and early 14th-century Scotland, during the First War of Scottish Independence.

A senior figure in the administration of Scotland during the 1310s and 1320s, he is widely said by modern writers to have drafted the Declaration of Arbroath, and although there is no direct evidence for this, he nevertheless probably played a role.

The name "Bernard abbe de Kilwynin" (abbot of Kilwinning) occurs on the Ragman Rolls, 28 August 1296, and he is recorded again in a document of Melrose Abbey on 25 December.

[2] A document dated 1296 x 1305, names one otherwise unknown Roger as Abbot of Kilwinning, meaning that Bernard had ceased to hold this position by 1305 at the latest.

[1] Although once regarded as a historical dead-end, it is now established that this Bernard was the same Tironensian who was later Chancellor of Scotland, Abbot of Arbroath and Bishop of the Isles.

[7] On 1 November 1309, John de Angus was "released" from the responsibility of his office by the Bishop of St Andrews, though he retained Haltwhistle as rector, a parish church in Tynedale, Northumberland, which belonged to the abbey.

[6] John de Angus continued to be styled "Abbot of Arbroath" in English sources, though he became a Scottish prisoner in 1312 and was holding Haltwhistle from the Bishop of Durham by 1313.

[6] King Robert assigned Bernard £100 towards the expenses of his election, and was granted the grain tithes from the lands of the church of Abernethy, for seven years, to complement the meagre income of the diocese of the Isles.