Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lauder, William (d.1425)

569345Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 32 — Lauder, William (d.1425)1892James Gainsborough Fotheringham

LAUDER, WILLIAM (d. 1425), lord chancellor of Scotland and bishop of Glasgow, was son of Sir Allan Lauder of Haltoun (or Hatton) in Midlothian. He was appointed archdeacon of Lothian. On 24 Oct. 1405 Henry IV granted him a safe-conduct to traverse England, on his return from France, whither he had gone on public business. He was made bishop of Glasgow by Pope Benedict XIII in 1408. The regent Murdoch, duke of Albany, appointed him lord chancellor in 1423, and on 9 Aug. of that year he was named first commissioner to treat with England for the ransom of James I, which was accomplished during the following year. He added the battlements on the tower of Glasgow Cathedral, made the crypt under the chapter-house, and had the steeple built as far as the first battlement. His arms are still to be seen on these portions of the cathedral. He died on 14 June 1425.

[Fordun's Scotichronicon; Rymer's Fœdera; Spotiswood's Church Hist.; Innes's Origines Parochiales Scotiæ; Chalmers's Caledonia; Gordon's Scotichronicon, ii. 497.]

J. G. F.