[1] Thomas however does not seem to have secured the position, losing out to John de Kylwos, a relative of the Bishop of Ross, Alexander de Kylwos.
[4] His election was overturned by Pope Benedict XIII on the grounds that he had previously reserved the see for his own appointment; on 9 March 1418, he provided John Bullock instead.
[5] On 16 March, Benedict issued a mandate to the Abbot of Arbroath to pay Lyell 40 gold crowns in compensation for the expenditure that Thomas Lyell had undertaken in order to follow up his failed election, which had involved him travelling to the papal curia at Peñíscola in Spain.
[6] Two days later Benedict granted Thomas a canonry with expectation of a prebend in the diocese of Aberdeen, which he was allowed to hold alongside his other benefices.
[7] On 1 June, Benedict deprived one Thomas de Merton of his canonry and prebend in the diocese of Brechin because he was a "schismatic and adherent of Oddo Colonna calling himself Martin V", charges which Lyell had made while at Benedict's court; in two mandates to the Abbot of Arbroath, the latter was instructed to give Merton's canonry and prebend to Lyell, which again Lyell was allowed to hold without giving up his other benefices.