Robert was a 13th century prelate

Prelate

A prelate is a high-ranking member of the clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin prælatus, the past participle of præferre, which means "carry before", "be set above or over" or "prefer"; hence, a prelate is one set over others.-Related...

 based in the Kingdom of Scotland

Kingdom of Scotland

The Kingdom of Scotland was a Sovereign state in North-West Europe that existed from 843 until 1707. It occupied the northern third of the island of Great Britain and shared a land border to the south with the Kingdom of England...

. He was successively Archdeacon of Ross

Archdeacon of Ross

The Archdeacon of Ross was the only archdeacon in the medieval Diocese of Ross, acting as a deputy of the Bishop of Ross. The following is a list of archdeacons:-List of archdeacons of Ross:* Robert, x 1223-1249 x 1250* Robert de Fyvie, x 1269-1275...

 and Bishop 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...

; he is the second Robert to have held the bishopric of Ross.

Robert can be found as Archdeacon of Ross as early as 6 July 1223, when his name occurred in a document relating to Durham Cathedral

Durham Cathedral

The Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St Cuthbert of Durham is a cathedral in the city of Durham, England, the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Durham. The Bishopric dates from 995, with the present cathedral being founded in AD 1093...

; it is not known how long he had been holding that position in 1223, but he is the first known Archdeacon of the diocese.

He probably became Bishop of Ross sometime in 1149; he was consecrated sometime between 21 June 1249 and 20 June 1150.

Turner interpreted a papal mandate of 1256 as sanctioning the increase in the number of canons

Canon (priest)

A canon is a priest or minister who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule ....

 in the cathedral

Cathedral

A cathedral is a Christian church that contains the seat of a bishop...

 chapter

Chapter (religion)

Chapter designates certain corporate ecclesiastical bodies in the Roman Catholic, Anglican and Nordic Lutheran churches....

 and authorising the relocation of the cathedral [from Rosemarkie

Rosemarkie

Rosemarkie is a village on the south coast of the Black Isle peninsula in northern Scotland.-Geography:Rosemarkie lies a quarter of a mile east of the town of Fortrose...

] to Fortrose

Fortrose

Fortrose is a burgh in the Scottish Highlands, located on the Moray Firth, approximately ten kilometres north east of Inverness. The town is known for its ruined 13th century cathedral, and as the home of the Brahan Seer. In the Middle Ages it was the seat of the bishopric of Ross...

. Cowan and Easson thought that the cathedral had always been located at Fortrose, but it was simply called Rosemarkie.

Bishop Robert appears, from the evidence of Walter Bower

Walter Bower

Walter Bower , Scottish chronicler, was born about 1385 at Haddington, East Lothian.He was abbot of Inchcolm Abbey from 1418, was one of the commissioners for the collection of the ransom of James I, King of Scots, in 1423 and 1424, and in 1433 one of the embassy to Paris on the business of the...

 (using an earlier source), to have died in the year 1171. Walter Bower confuses the man who died that year and the builder of the new cathedral with Robert II's predecessor, Robert I

Robert Capellanus

Robert Capellanus , was a chaplain of King William I of Scotland and afterwards, Bishop of Ross ....

.