Jocelin of Glasgow
JOCELIN OF GLASGOW
Scottish Cistercian, bishop; d. Melrose Abbey, 1199. Jocelin became prior and then abbot of melrose abbey (1170). In 1174 he was elected bishop of Glasgow and immediately asserted his see's independence of york by going to clairvaux for his consecration, which he received at the hands of the papal legate, Archbishop eskil of lund (1175). Resistance to the claims of York over the Scottish Church marked his entire episcopate and in 1181, when roger de pont l'ÉvÊque, Archbishop of York, placed Scotland under an interdict, it was Jocelin who, at the request of the Scottish King William the Lion, went to Rome to secure absolution from the interdict. Not only did he succeed in this, but he also brought back the golden rose as a present from Pope Lucius III to William. As part of his resistance to York he promoted Jocelin of Furness's life of St. kentigern, the patron of Glasgow. He largely rebuilt the cathedral at Glasgow. He was buried at Melrose.
Bibliography: Chronica de Mailros, ed. j. stevenson (Edinburgh 1835). c. l. kingsford, The Dictionary of National Biography From the Earliest Times to 1900, 63 v. (London 1885–1900) 10:833–834.
[d. nicholl]