Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Hepburn, Patrick (d.1573)
HEPBURN, PATRICK (d. 1573), bishop of Moray, may have been the natural son of Patrick, first earl of Bothwell [q. v.], but has been wrongly identified with Patrick, the third son by lawful wedlock, who is styled in several documents Patrick in Bolton, was for some time master of Hailes, and died in October 1576. The future bishop is stated to have been educated under his relative John Hepburn [q. v.], prior of St. Andrews, whom he succeeded in the priory in 1522. From 1524 to 1527 he held the office of secretary to James V of Scotland. He was one of those who passed sentence against Patrick Hamilton [q. v.] in February 1527 (Calderwood, Hist. of the Church of Scotland, i. 80). The profligacy of Hepburn is the subject of ‘a merry bourd’ or jest, related with somewhat indecorous gusto by Knox (Works, i. 41), and the letters of legitimation made under the great seal for the children of Moray proves that the ‘bourd’ did not seriously malign him. He was advanced to the see of Moray in 1535, and at the same time received the abbey of Scone in perpetual commendam. His name first occurs as a member of the privy council at St. Andrews 2 Oct. 1546 (Reg. P. C. Scotl. i. 43). In 1553 he was a commissioner for settling the affairs of the borders (ib. p. 150). According to Knox, it was to the counsel of Hepburn that the martyrdom of Walter Mylne in 1558 was solely due.
After the city of Perth had come into the possession of the lords of the congregation in 1559, they wrote to Hepburn that unless he would come and assist them ‘they could neither save nor spare his place’ (the palace of Scone). He expressed his willingness to come, but as ‘his answer was long of coming,’ the townsmen of Dundee, who had a special grudge against him for the execution of Mylne, proceeded, notwithstanding the remonstrances of Knox and Lord James Stuart, to sack and burn the church and palace of Scone (Knox, i. 359–61). On the triumph of the Reformation he retained the rents of his benefice and the palace of Scone, but in December 1561, along with other prelates, offered a fourth of the benefices for the queen's service (Reg. P. C. Scotl. i. 193–4), on condition that they were guaranteed in the possession of the remainder. This offer was not accepted, but ultimately an arrangement was come to by which the prelates were allowed to retain two-thirds of their rents during their lifetime. The bishop was one of those who with Huntly sent special commissioners to France to advise the queen in returning to Scotland to land at Aberdeen in order to head a movement for the restoration of catholicism (Lesley, Hist. Scotl. p. 294). James Hepburn, fourth earl of Bothwell [q. v.], husband of Mary Stuart, was brought up by the bishop in Spynie Castle, and on 21 July 1567 the bishop was accused of having resetted him, after the earl's flight northwards, within his license of Spynie and other parts of Moray; and on this account he was deprived of his rents (Reg. P. C. Scotl. i. 531). In addition to this he was prosecuted as accessory to the murder of Darnley, but on 28 Nov. 1567 was acquitted (Cal. State Papers, For. Ser. 1566–8, entry 567). On 1 June 1568 he appeared on summons before the privy council to answer for such things as should be laid to his charge, and he was commanded to remain within the bounds of Edinburgh (Reg. P. C. Scotl. i. 629). In an act of the council of 8 July 1569, in which he is styled ‘ane reverend father in God,’ he and the canons of the cathedral church of Elgin are enjoined, under the threat of being put to the horn, to fulfil their promise of paying a reasonable contribution for the repair of the cathedral (ib. p. 677). He died at Spynie Castle on 20 June 1573, and was buried in the choir of the cathedral. He had seven sons and two daughters, for whom legitimations were passed under the great seal.
[Knox's Works; Buchanan's Detectio; Reg. of the Privy Council of Scotland; Cal. State Papers, For. Ser., reign of Elizabeth; Cal. State Papers, Scott. Ser.; Registrum Episcopatus Moraviensis (Bannatyne Club, 1837); Keith's Scottish Bishops; Gordon's Eccl. Chron. of Scotland, iii. 88.]