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BALMYLE or BALMULE,
NICHOLAS DE (d. 1320), chancellor of Scotland and bishop of Dunblane,
was brought up as a clerk in the monastery of Arbroath. By 1296 he had
been appointed parson of Calder, for in the September of this year his
name appears in that capacity among a list of Scotchmen to whom Edward I
restored their estates on their swearing fidelity to him (Rot. Scot. i.
25). He is said to have been made chancellor of Scotland in 1301, and
somewhere about that year is found in the St. Andrews register
confirming a donation of the archbishop of that see to the church of
Dervisyn. But even before this Balmyle seems to have
been acting a very prominent part in an interesting Scotch
ecclesiastical quarrel. In 1297 William Lamberton had been elected
archbishop of St. Andrews by the canons regular of that foundation. It
so happened, however, that the Culdees had long claimed the right of
electing to this see, and as they now opposed the appointment of
Lamberton, both parties appealed to Boniface VIII at Rome, and he gave a
final decision in favour of Lamberton and the canons. So the once famous
name of Culdee vanishes from history. Fordun, however, tells us that
while the bishopric was vacant, its jurisdiction remained entirely in
the hands of the chapter, and that this body appointed Nicholas de
Balmyle, one of its officers, to execute all its functions, a duty
which, the same chronicler adds, was discharged by him with the utmost
vigour throughout the diocese. Balmyle is said to have been removed from
the chancellorship in 1307, and it is certain that about this time he
was appointed bishop of Dunblaiie. For in 1309 we find his name, in
company with those of many other prelates, prefixed to a document
declaring Robert Bruce to be the rightful king of Scotland (Act. ParL
Scot. i. 100). Here he is described simply as bishop of Dunblane. His
successor in the great office of state was Bernard, like Nicholas, a
member of Arbroath Abbey, and for seventeen years the faithful
councillor of Robert Bruce, till he, too, retired from political life to
a bishopric. In the seventh year of Robert Brace's reign the names of
both the late and present chancellor are found attached to one of the
deeds of the chartulary of Scone; and this seems to be the last document
in which Nicholas's name occurs before his death. He is said to have
died in 1319 or 1320; but he must have been already dead for some time
by 25 June of the latter year, for Rymer has preserved a letter of this
date, written by Edward II to the pope, begging John XXII to appoint
Richard de Pontefract, a Dominican, to the see of Dunblane, and alluding
to many previous letters on the same subject. In this suit, however, the
king of England was unsuccessful, for Nicholas's successor appears to
have been a certain Maurice. |
