Bishop William Elphinstone

Scholar and founder of King’s College, Aberdeen

Influencer, entrepreneur, scholar and negotiator, Bishop William Elphinstone’s extraordinary impact on British culture has stretched over six centuries. He was a key player in introducing the first printing press to Scotland, founded Aberdeen’s King’s College in 1495 and served as a royal diplomat for both King James III and King James IV.

Elphinstone Founds City’s First University

William Elphinstone saw a need for more clergy, doctors and teachers to serve the North-East, and for more lawyers to serve the Crown. And so, with the support of James IV, he founded a university in Aberdeen’s Old Town in 1495. Looking to Europe, he modelled this new centre of learning – King’s College – on the universities of Paris and Bologna which importantly accepted people from many walks of life. King’s College embraced every branch of learning, with faculties of arts, theology, law and medicine. With its open outlook and willingness to embrace the ideas of the European Renaissance, King’s College flourished. It was eventually united with Marischal College in 1860 to form the University of Aberdeen.

Bishop’s Breviary Hits the Headlines

William Elphinstone’s greatest legacy, not just to the city but to the nation, was the introduction of printing. In 1509 he commissioned the Aberdeen Breviary. The book chronicled the lives of the Scottish saints and was used within the Scottish church. In response, King James IV granted a printing licence to Scotland’s first printing house, Chepman and Myllar of Edinburgh, and in 1510 the Aberdeen Breviary became the first major book to be printed in Scotland.