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William Elphinstone was born in Glasgow in 1431. There is some question in DNB (at least) about his parentage, it is stated that he is the son of William Elphinstone of the Blythswood family but it has also been suggested that he is the son of an illicitly married cleric, also William Elphinstone, who was canon of Glasgow from 1451 - 1482, dean of the Faculty of Arts in Glasgow in 1468 and who died in 1486. His father in any case appears to have been the student William Elfynston who studied at Louvain in 1433. William Elphinstone Junior was educated in Glasgow and graduated M.A. there. He was then ordained and became a rector of St Michael's church, Trongate in 1465 but from 1469 he studied and taught in Paris and Orleans, and was a diplomat for the courts of James III (1452 - 1488) and IV (1473 - 1513) to England and the continent. In around 1474, he returned to Scotland and was made rector of the University of Glasgow and official of Glasgow. In subsequent years, he became official of Lothian, archdeacon of Lismore and Bishop of Ross in 1481. He was appointed Bishop of Aberdeen in 1483, and in 1488, appointed Lord High Chancellor, a post which he held until the death of James III the following June. In 1492 he was made Keeper of the Privy Seal, a post which he probably held until his death. As an energetic Bishop of Aberdeen, Elphinstone's activities included alterations to St. Machar's Cathedral and starting the Bridge of Dee, but his principal and most famous work was the founding of King's College in Aberdeen, supported by a papal bull of 1494 and a royal charter of 1498. Also notable was his work to introduce printing to Scotland through the firm Chepman and Myllar. In 1514 he was offered the archdiocese of St. Andrew's, but died in Edinburgh in October of that year. He is buried in the grounds of King's College, Aberdeen.
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