Matthew de Glasgu (fl. 1394)

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Biography

Matthew de Glasgu is known from a single papal petition granted at Avignon in 1384. He requested an ecclesiastical benefice in the patronage of the abbot and convent of Kelso Abbey.

The surviving calendar does not state:

• Matthew’s diocese;
• whether he was already ordained;
• any academic degree or existing office;
• his parents or relatives;
• the particular benefice he sought;
• or whether he ultimately obtained possession of it.

His identity is therefore unresolved. He may have been an otherwise unknown cleric using the personal locative de Glasgu. He may also have been Matthew de Glendonwyn, the future bishop of Glasgow, recorded under a temporary or alternative Glasgow designation. The chronology permits that identification, but no source yet proves it.

The 1384 petition

Matthew appears in a roll of petitions composed by Walter Trayl, referendary at the Avignon papal court.

The calendar entry reads:

Matthew de Glasgu. For a benefice in the gift of the abbot and convent of Kelso. Granted. Dated as above.

The preceding petition was granted at Avignon on 13 Kalends of January, equivalent to 20 December 1384. Matthew’s entry is marked Ibid. and “Dated as above”, so it received the same date and place.^[1]

Calendar context

The petitions in the immediate group were:

• Walter Wan or Wau, of the diocese of Glasgow, seeking a benefice in the patronage of Kilwinning Abbey while retaining St Mary’s chapel in Glasgow;
• John Hawyk, of the diocese of Glasgow, seeking a benefice in the patronage of Paisley Abbey;
• Matthew de Glasgu, seeking a benefice in the patronage of Kelso Abbey;
• John Brayfort, of the diocese of St Andrews, seeking a canonry of St Martin of Tours with expectation of a prebend.^[1]

Their presence in one roll shows that the petitions were handled together by Walter Trayl. It does not establish that the petitioners were relatives, members of the same household or holders of the same status.

Date and papal setting

The petition was made during the Western Schism, when rival papal courts operated at Rome and Avignon. The calendar places the entry under:

Petitions, Volume LXIII — 7 Clement VII, Anti-Pope

Scotland recognised the Avignon obedience, so Scottish clerics and patrons routinely petitioned Clement VII and his court. The editor’s use of “anti-pope” reflects the later historical judgement on the competing papal claims; Matthew and his Scottish contemporaries were using the papal administration recognised by their kingdom.

The petition was granted at Avignon, where Walter Trayl was then serving as a referendary. Trayl was a Scottish canon lawyer active in the papal court and was appointed bishop of St Andrews in 1385.^[2]

What the petition means

A benefice in the gift of Kelso Abbey

Matthew was not being given Kelso Abbey itself. He was seeking an ecclesiastical benefice for which the abbot and convent of Kelso possessed the right of patronage or presentation.

A benefice normally combined:

• an ecclesiastical office or pastoral responsibility;
• revenues assigned for the holder’s support;
• and legal rights attached to the church, chapel, prebend or vicarage concerned.

Kelso Abbey possessed patronage over numerous dependent churches and benefices. The calendar does not identify which one Matthew sought.

The petition being marked “Granted” means that Clement VII approved the request in principle. It does not prove that Matthew:

• was subsequently instituted;
• secured actual possession;
• overcame any competing claimant;
• or retained the benefice for any particular period.

A later mandate, letter of provision, local institution record or dispute might provide those details, but none has yet been identified.

Was Matthew a priest?

The entry does not call him:

• priest;
• clerk;
• master;
• canon;
• chaplain;
• or member of a named diocese.

Seeking a benefice strongly suggests that Matthew belonged to, or intended to enter, the clerical profession. It does not establish his degree of ordination.

This distinguishes him from William de Glasgu, whose separate 1394 Kelso petition explicitly describes William as a priest.

The Kelso connection

Kelso Abbey was a major Tironensian monastery in the Scottish Borders. Its community had first been established at Selkirk under David I and moved to Kelso in 1128. The abbey became one of medieval Scotland’s wealthiest and most influential religious houses.^[3]

Matthew’s petition places him within the abbey’s patronage network, but it does not show that he:

• was a monk of Kelso;
• lived at Kelso;
• belonged to the Tironensian order;
• or was related to another person connected with the abbey.

The abbey’s location near Roxburgh and the eastern Borders nevertheless fits the broader distribution of medieval de Glasgu bearers through Glasgow, Dunipace, Melrose, Berwick, Holyrood, Arbroath and Corbridge.

Was Matthew de Glasgu the future Bishop Matthew de Glendonwyn?

The possible identification

Matthew de Glendonwyn later became bishop of Glasgow after the death of Cardinal Walter Wardlaw in 1387. He was consecrated in late 1387 or early 1388 and remained bishop until his death on 10 May 1408.^[4]

His pre-episcopal career makes the identification chronologically possible:

Dowden also records that Matthew de Glendonwyn was a Master of Arts and Bachelor of Civil Law.^[4]

A cleric of that standing could plausibly have petitioned for an additional or alternative benefice in 1384.

Evidence supporting the identification

• Both men were named Matthew.
• Both were Scottish clerics connected with the wider Glasgow and Border ecclesiastical world.
• Matthew de Glendonwyn was already active and beneficed before 1384.
• His church of Cavers was in Roxburghshire and had been presented to him by Melrose Abbey, placing him in the same general Border monastic environment as Kelso.
• The 1384 petition falls neatly between his 1377 and 1386 safe-conducts.
• A locative such as de Glasgu could theoretically have been used to identify a cleric by residence, education, office or cathedral association rather than paternal surname.

Evidence against treating the identification as proved

• The papal entry says Matthew de Glasgu, not Matthew de Glendonwyn.
• It does not call him “Master”.
• It does not mention Cavers.
• It does not mention a degree, diocese or existing benefice.
• No contemporary record located so far explicitly states that Matthew de Glasgu was otherwise called Glendonwyn.
• Other independent people genuinely used de Glasgu as a personal locative or surname.
• Matthew de Glendonwyn was consistently identified by his Glendonwyn territorial surname in the secure records presently known from 1386 onward.

Current assessment

The identity should be recorded as:

> Matthew de Glasgu, fl. 1384; possibly Matthew de Glendonwyn, later bishop of Glasgow, but not proved.

It would be unsafe either to merge them as fact or to declare categorically that they were separate men.

Distinction from Bishop Matthew’s later petition rolls

The 1384 entry must not be confused with later rolls headed:

Matthew, bishop of Glasgow. On behalf of the underwritten, his kinsmen, members of his household, and well beloved ...

Those headings refer to Matthew de Glendonwyn acting as bishop and sponsor of other petitioners. They do not mean that every person listed beneath the heading was a Glendonwyn.

In particular:

• William de Glasgu appears in 1394 as a priest seeking a benefice in the patronage of Kelso Abbey;
• another 1394 entry names William de Glasgu seeking a benefice in the patronage of Kilwinning Abbey;
• Walter Wan or Wau was a different man described as being “of the diocese of Glasgow”;
• and Matthew de Glasgu’s own known petition belongs to 1384, ten years earlier.

Significance for the Glasgow name

The record is important because the calendar presents de Glasgu directly after Matthew’s Christian name. It is not phrased as:

• bishop of Glasgow;
• canon of Glasgow;
• of the diocese of Glasgow;
• or servant of the church of Glasgow.

On its face, therefore, the entry is a personal locative byname.

Its value for surname history depends on the unresolved identity question.

If he was an independent Matthew de Glasgu

The record would provide another distinct medieval bearer between:

• John de Glasgu, recorded in the royal accounts in 1343;
• Master John de Glasgow, active from 1377;
• and William de Glasgu, recorded in 1394.

That would strengthen the evidence that de Glasgu was a recurring personal name rather than an occasional title.

If he was Matthew de Glendonwyn

The entry would instead show that a known Glendonwyn cleric could temporarily be described as de Glasgu. In that case it would be evidence for flexible clerical locatives, not necessarily for a hereditary Glasgow surname.

Either interpretation is relevant to the Glasgow Name Study, but they lead to different conclusions.

Possible connections to other bearers

Matthew was contemporary with several other men using the Glasgow name:

• Master John de Glasgow, chancellor of Dunkeld by 1377 and later canon of Moray;
• William de Glasgu, petitioner for Kelso and Kilwinning benefices in 1394;
• and the unidentified John de Glasgu recorded in the royal accounts in 1343.

All belonged to Scottish clerical, royal or monastic networks. No record currently describes Matthew as their:

• son;
• brother;
• nephew;
• cousin;
• heir;
• or household member.

The shared locative and professional setting make association possible but do not prove kinship.

Chronology

Evidence summary

Research priorities

The original supplication register

The highest priority is examination of the original Vatican entry underlying Bliss’s calendar:

• Supplications, volume LXIII;
• 7 Clement VII;
• apparently folio 85;
• dated Avignon, 13 Kalends January 1384.

The original Latin may preserve details omitted from the English calendar, such as:

• Matthew’s diocese;
• clerical grade;
• academic status;
• an existing benefice;
• the exact type or value of the requested benefice;
• a patron or sponsor;
• or marginal notes identifying the provision.

Search for the resulting provision

A granted petition could generate a separate papal letter or mandate. The registers of Clement VII should be searched for:

• Matheus de Glasgu;
• Matheus de Glasgw;
• Matheus de Glasgo;
• Matheus de Glendonwyn;
• Matheus de Glendoning;
• Kelso patronage;
• and grants dated from late 1384 into 1385.

Compare Matthew de Glendonwyn’s records

The following records should be checked at manuscript or full-transcription level:

• his presentation to Cavers before 1376;
• the safe-conduct of 29 October 1377;
• the ambassadorial safe-conduct of 7 April 1386;
• his first acts as bishop-elect in 1387;
• and his early episcopal petition roll.

A record using both Glasgu and Glendonwyn, or one repeating the Kelso benefice, would resolve the identification.

Kelso and Cavers records

Search:

• Liber S. Marie de Calchou;
• Melrose Abbey records concerning Cavers;
• Kelso patronage lists;
• Glasgow diocesan institution records;
• and disputes over Kelso churches after 1384.

The target is a Matthew instituted to a specific Kelso benefice or resigning it on elevation to Glasgow.

Research conclusion

Matthew de Glasgu is securely documented once, in a successful papal petition dated 20 December 1384. The record establishes that a man using the personal designation de Glasgu sought ecclesiastical advancement through the patronage of Kelso Abbey.

Almost everything beyond that remains open. His orders, origin, family, benefice and subsequent career are unstated.

The possibility that he was the future Bishop Matthew de Glendonwyn is stronger than a mere match of Christian names because Glendonwyn was already an educated and beneficed Glasgow-diocese cleric active in the Borders. The absence of any explicit alias or shared benefice prevents the identification from being accepted as fact.

For surname research, Matthew should therefore remain in the medieval register with a qualification:

> Attested bearer of the name de Glasgu; identity with Matthew de Glendonwyn unresolved.

Sources

Primary and edited sources

• Bliss, William Henry, ed. Calendar of Entries in the Papal Registers Relating to Great Britain and Ireland: Petitions to the Pope. Vol. I, A.D. 1342–1419. London: H.M. Stationery Office, 1896, p. 566.
  • British History Online
  • Internet Archive

• Dowden, John. The Bishops of Scotland: Being Notes on the Lives of All the Bishops, Under Each of the Sees, Prior to the Reformation. Edited by J. Maitland Thomson. Glasgow: James MacLehose and Sons, 1912, pp. 316–318.
  • Internet Archive

Contextual sources

• Historic Environment Scotland. “Kelso Abbey: History and Stories”.
• Burns, Charles, ed. Calendar of Papal Letters to Scotland of Clement VII of Avignon, 1378–1394. Scottish History Society, 4th series, vol. 12. Edinburgh, 1976.

Related pages

• Bearers of the de Glasgu Name, c.1175–1500
• Master John de Glasgow
• William de Glasgu
• Glasgow Origins Research
• Glasgow Surname Origins
• Glasgow Name Study