William Scheves

{{Short description|British archbishop}}{{Infobox Christian leader | name = William Scheves | title = [[Archbishop of St Andrews]]<br>[[Primate of Scotland]] | death_date = 1497 | archdiocese = [[Archdiocese of St Andrews|St Andrews]] | church = [[Roman Catholic Church]] }}

{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2017}} {{Use British English|date=March 2017}} '''William Scheves''' (sometimes modernized to '''Chivas''' or '''Shivas''') (died 1497)<ref>{{cite web | url = https://research-portal.st-andrews.ac.uk/files/243326981/schevespreprint.pdf | title = A Manuscript Owned by William Scheves Now at Maynooth | website = University of St Andrews Research Portal | publisher = University of St Andrews | access-date = 2024-12-14 }}</ref> was the second [[Archbishop of St. Andrews]].

== Life == His parentage is obscure, but he was probably the illegitimate son of a royal clerk, John Scheves.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Macdougall |first=Norman |title=James III |date=2009 |publisher=Birlinn, Limited |isbn=978-1-78885-242-5 |publication-place=Edinburgh |oclc=1314609130 |pages=146–7}}</ref> Sixteenth-century accounts claim he spent several years abroad and studied at the [[Old University of Leuven|University of Louvain]]. He spent several years at the [[University of St Andrews]] as an administrator. In his earlier ecclesiastical career, he had been ''clericus regiae'' (royal cleric) and master of the hospital of [[Brechin]]. In 1474 he was provided unsuccessfully to the [[Archdeacon of Dunblane|Archdeaconry of Dunblane]], but by the beginning of 1477 he was [[Archdeacon of St Andrews]] and [[coadjutor]] (successor) and vicar-general of the [[archdiocese]]. After the deposition of Archbishop [[Patrick Graham (bishop)|Patrick Graham]] in 1478, he succeeded to the archbishopric, apparently receiving the [[Pope|papal]] [[pall (liturgy)|pall]] while in the presence of King [[James III of Scotland|James III]] and many of the nobility at [[Holyrood Palace|Holyrood]]. The titles of ''[[legatus natus]]'' and [[Primate of Scotland|primate of all Scotland]] were bestowed upon him in 1487.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Patrick |first=David |title=Statutes of the Scottish Church 1225-1559 |year=1907 |location=Edinburgh |pages=Introduction CVII}}</ref>

His rapid rise from junior clergyman to archbishop of St Andrews with a powerful role at court appears to have generated resentment from both ecclesiastical and lay rivals. As a result, he has been associated with the so-called "low-born favourites" or "familiars" who sixteenth-century chroniclers alleged surrounded [[James III of Scotland|James III]] in the years before 1482. Yet Scheves was not especially 'low-born', and was probably the illegitimate son of a former [[Lord Clerk Register|clerk register]], John Scheves. There is little doubt, nevertheless, that he had an unusual level of influence with the King until the [[Lauder]] coup of 1482.<ref>Macdougall 2009, pp.146-7</ref> In a highly unusual practice, he is found countersigning royal letters regularly in the later 1470s. After the coup, he was briefly disgraced, and although he was restored to favour after the king regained power in 1483, his influence was not what it had been.<ref>Macdougall 2009, pp.268-70</ref>

[[George Buchanan]], writing approximately a century later, claimed that Scheves studied medicine and astronomy at Louvain University; he certainly practised as a physician, and was acting as court physician for the king by 1471. He had an extensive library of medical texts and also had a keen interest in [[astrology]].<ref>Macdougall 2009, pp.263-7</ref> He was "one of the earliest book collectors on the grand scale in Scotland."<ref>Bushnell, George H.(1960)."Portrait of a Bibliophile: William Schevez Archbishop of St.Andrews, D. 1497." ''[[The Book Collector]]'' 9 no.1 (Spring):19-29.</ref>

Scheves' likeness is preserved in a medallion portrait commissioned from Flemish artist [[Quentin Matsys|Quintin Matsys]] in 1491 during a visit to Rome. Multiple medallions were struck from the design, and examples are held by the [[National Museum of Scotland]] and the [[British Museum]], while a third was sold to an unknown buyer from the [[Neil Goodman]] collection by the auctioneer [[Spink & Son]] between 2016 and 2026 for $24,000 US dollars. A copy held by the [[National Gallery]] is probably a reproduction of a lost original.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Redefining the Legacy of William Scheves – Museums Blog|url=https://museumblog.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/2022/04/11/redefining-the-legacy-of-william-scheves/|website=museumblog.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk|access-date=2026-02-01}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://spink.com/lot/390000168|title=168 - QUENTIN MATSYS [QUINTIN MASSYS] (Flemish, 1466-1530) William Sch...|date=1 February 2026|access-date=1 February 2026|website=Spink & Son|url-status=live}}</ref>

It was suggested by A. P. Forbes, editor of the printed [[Missal of Arbuthnott|Arbuthnott Missall]] in 1864, that a painting of St Ternan contained in the manuscript was 'perhaps the bishop [''sic''] of the diocese, according to a custom not uncommon at the time'. The archbishop when the missal was written in 1491 was William Scheves, but Forbes does not provide any specific evidence to support his suggestion.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Liber Beati Terrenani de Arbuthnott: Missal Secundum Usum Ecclesiae Sancti Andreae in Scotia|last=Forbes|first=A. P.|date=|publisher=Burntisland : E Prelo De Pitsligo|year=1864|location=Burntisland|publication-date=|pages=lxix|trans-title=The Book of St Ternan of Arbuthnott: a Missal According to the Custom of the Church of St Andrews in Scotland}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.renfrewshire.gov.uk/ilwwcm/publishing.nsf/Content/els-cg-arbuthnott-manuscript |title=Renfrewshire Community Website – Arbuthnott Manuscripts |access-date=12 October 2007 |archive-date=21 September 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070921071036/http://www.renfrewshire.gov.uk/ilwwcm/publishing.nsf/Content/els-cg-arbuthnott-manuscript |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The Italian merchant [[Jerome Frescobaldi]] was the factor for his foreign debts, and received payments from the merchant and Conservator of Scottish Privileges [[Andrew Halyburton]].<ref>[[Cosmo Innes]], [https://archive.org/details/ledgerandrewhal00goog/page/n126/mode/2up ''Ledger of Andrew Halyburton, 1492-1503'' (Edinburgh, 1867), p. 6]</ref>{{Original research inline|date=July 2022}}

Scheves died on 28 January 1497.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Watt |first=D. E. R. |title=Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae Medii Aevi ad annum 1638 |publisher=Scottish Record Society |year=1969 |edition=2nd Draft |location=Edinburgh |pages=295}}</ref>

==References== <references/>

==Further reading== *[[John Dowden|Dowden, John]], ''The Bishops of Scotland'', ed. J. Maitland Thomson, (Glasgow, 1912). *{{Cite book |last=Macdougall |first=Norman |title=James III, a political study |date=1982 |publisher=J. Donald Publishers |isbn=0-85976-078-2 |location=Edinburgh |oclc=10949157}} *{{Cite book |last=Macdougall |first=Norman |title=James III |date=2009 |publisher=Birlinn, Limited |isbn=978-1-78885-242-5 |publication-place=Edinburgh |oclc=1314609130 |pages=146–7}}

{{start box}} {{s-rel}} {{succession box | title=[[Bishop of St Andrews|Archbishop of St Andrews]] | before=[[Patrick Graham (bishop)|Patrick Graham]]| after=[[James Stewart, Duke of Ross|James Stewart]]| years=1478–1497}} {{s-aca}} {{succession box|title=[[Chancellor of the University of St Andrews]]|years=1478–1497|before=[[Patrick Graham (bishop)|Patrick Graham]]<br/>Archbishop of St Andrews| after=[[James, Duke of Ross]]<br/>Archbishop of St Andrews}} {{end box}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Scheves, William}} [[Category:15th-century births]] [[Category:1497 deaths]] [[Category:Archbishops of St Andrews]] [[Category:15th-century Roman Catholic archbishops in Scotland]] [[Category:Chancellors of the University of St Andrews]] [[Category:Bibliophiles]]

[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]