Prior of Coldingham

The Prior of Coldingham was the head of the Benedictine monastic community of Coldingham Priory in Berwickshire, Scotland. The priory was founded during the reign of David I of Scotland, although his older brother and predecessor, King Edgar of Scotland, had granted the land of Coldingham to the Church of Durham in 1098 AD, and a church was built by him and presented in 1100. The first prior is recorded by 1147, although an earlier foundation is likely. The monastic cell was a dependency of Durham until the 1370s, and in 1378 King Robert II of Scotland expelled the Durham monks; for the following century, the cell had two priors: one chosen by Durham and one by the Scots. It later became a dependency of Dunfermline Abbey. It was subject to increasingly secular control from the late 15th century into the 16th century.