The Abbot of Fearn was the head of the Premonstratensian monastic community of Fearn Abbey

Fearn Abbey

Fearn Abbey - known as "The Lamp of the North" - has its origins in one of Scotland's oldest pre-Reformation church buildings. Part of the Church of Scotland and located to the southeast of Tain, Ross-shire, it continues as an active parish church .The original Fearn Abbey was established in either...

, Easter Ross

Easter Ross

Easter Ross is a loosely defined area in the east of Ross, Highland, Scotland.The name is used in the constituency name Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, which is the name of both a British House of Commons constituency and a Scottish Parliament constituency...

. The Abbey was founded by canons from Whithorn Priory

Whithorn Priory

Whithorn Priory is located in Wigtownshire, Galloway. It was founded about the middle of the twelfth century, in the reign of David I, by Fergus, Lord of Galloway, with Gille Aldan, Bishop of Galloway, for Premonstratensian Canons, referred colloquially in Britain as the White Canons.The canons of...

 in Galloway

Galloway

Galloway is an area in southwestern Scotland. It usually refers to the former counties of Wigtownshire and Kirkcudbrightshire...

, with the patronage of Fearchar mac an t-Sagairt

Fearchar, Earl of Ross

Fearchar of Ross or Ferchar mac in tSagairt , was the first Mormaer or Earl of Ross we know of from the thirteenth century, whose career brought Ross into the fold of the Scottish kings for the first time, and who is remembered as the founder of the Earldom of Ross.-Origins:The traditional...

, mormaer/earl of Ross

Earl of Ross

The Mormaer or Earl of Ross was the leader of a medieval Gaelic lordship in northern Scotland, roughly between the River Oykel and the River Beauly.-Origins and transfers:...

. The foundation took place in the 1220s, according to the two distinct foundation dates given in the sources, either in 1221 or in 1227. Until about 1238, the Abbey was located at Fearn ("next to Kincaard in Stracharrin"), near Edderton

Edderton

Edderton is a village near Tain, lying on the shores of the Dornoch Firth, Easter Ross. It has approximately 388 inhabitants. It is the location of the Balblair Distillery, and of the Class III Pictish stone, the Edderton Cross Slab, which lies in the old churchyard of the village...

, but it was moved to the Tarbat parish in that year and known thereafter as "nova Furnia". Despite the fact that the head of Whithorn Priory

Whithorn Priory

Whithorn Priory is located in Wigtownshire, Galloway. It was founded about the middle of the twelfth century, in the reign of David I, by Fergus, Lord of Galloway, with Gille Aldan, Bishop of Galloway, for Premonstratensian Canons, referred colloquially in Britain as the White Canons.The canons of...

 was a prior

Prior

Prior is an ecclesiastical title, derived from the Latin adjective for 'earlier, first', with several notable uses.-Monastic superiors:A Prior is a monastic superior, usually lower in rank than an Abbot. In the Rule of St...

 and Fearn an abbot, Fearn seems to have remained subordinate to Whithorn until at least the end of the 14th century, and even in 1440 Abbot Fionnlagh II was confirmed by the prior of Whithorn

Prior of Whithorn

The Prior of Whithorn was the head of the monastic community at Whithorn Priory, attached to the bishopric of Galloway at Whithorn. It was originally an Augustinian establishment, but became Premonstratensian by the time of the second or third known prior...

.

Little is known about the history of the abbots, and not all seem to be known by name. Fearn served for several centuries as a small but productive abbey, and served as the burial site for the Earls of Ross. Monastic life began to decline after the Bishop of Caithness

Bishop of Caithness

The Bishop of Caithness was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Caithness, one of Scotland's 13 medieval bishoprics. The first referenced bishop of Caithness was Aindréas, a Gael who appears in sources between 1146 and 1151 as bishop. Aindréas spent much if not all of his career outside his...

, then a corrupt Church official named John Sinclair, put Fearn in Commendam

In Commendam

In canon law, commendam was a form of transferring an ecclesiastical benefice in trust to the custody of a patron...

 by use of a falsified ecclesiastical document in 1490 and removed Fearn's abbot, Thomas MacCulloch, O. Praem. Several commendatory (and non-ecclesiastical) abbots ruled Fearn for several decades, but only for its financial benefits. Ross-shire went officially Presbyterian in 1560, and monastic life vanished completely. The Abbey property was taken over by the bishopric of Ross

Bishop of Ross

The Bishop of Ross was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Ross, one of Scotland's 13 medieval bishoprics. The first recorded bishop appears in the late 7th century as a witness to Adomnán of Iona's Cáin Adomnáin. The bishopric was based at the settlement of Rosemarkie until the mid-13th...

 in 1609. The following is a list of abbots and commendators:

List of abbots

• Maol Choluim (I) of Whithorn, 1220s or 1230s
• Maol Choluim (II) of Nigg, x 1251
• Macbeathad ("Machabeus") "Makhersin", 1251 x 1274
• Colin, 1255 x 1271
• Martein (Martin), 1299x1311
• John, 1299x1321
• Mark Ross, 1321 -1338
• Domhnall ("Donaldus") Pupill, 1345x1371 -1373
• Adam Monilaw, 1380 -1407
• Thomas Kiethirnathie, 1407x
• Fionnlagh (I) (or Finlay), 1436
• Fionnlagh (II) (Finlay McFaed), 1439-1483 x 1486
• Thomas MacCulloch
  MacCulloch
  Clan MacCulloch is a Lowland Scottish clan. As it no longer has a Clan chief, Clan MacCulloch is an Armigerous clan.-MacCulloch of Myreton:...
  
  , 1486-1490
• Nicholas Slugy, fl. 1491

List of commendators

• Andrew Stewart, 1508-1517
• Patrick Hamilton, 1517-1526
• Donald Denoon, 1525-1541
• Robert Cairncross, 1541-1545
• David Paniter, 1545
• James Cairncross, 1545-1550
• Nicholas Ross, 1550-1569
• Thomas Ross, 1566-1596
• Walter Ross of Morangie, 15 84
• Patrick Gordon of Letterfourie, 1591
• Patrick Murray of Geanies, 1598