David Cunningham

David Cunningham or Cunynghame (c. 1540–1600) was a 16th-century Scottish prelate and diplomat. He was the first Protestant Bishop of Aberdeen. His predecessor, William Gordon began as a Roman Catholic bishop, but accepted the Church of Scotland's authority.

Life

Born around 1540, he graduated in the early 1560s as Master of Arts from St Leonard's College, St Andrews. Cunningham also studied Civil Law in France, at the University of Paris and the University of Bourges.

He became a Protestant sometime before 1562, when he was made minister of Lanark; he held this position until 1570, when he took over Lesmahagow, moving to Cadder in 1572 and then to Lenzie in 1574.

After the appointment of Patrick Adamson as Archbishop of St Andrews in December 1576, Cunningham replaced Adamson as the chaplain of James Douglas, 4th Earl of Morton, Regent of Scotland. With access to such high level magnate patronage, on either 5 October or 5 November 1577, Cunningham was elected as Bishop of Aberdeen, receiving consecration at the Kirk of St Nicholas on 11 November. In this year, too, he became Chancellor of King's College, Aberdeen. His role at the baptism was controversial and the Presbytery of Edinburgh had asked kirk ministers to prevent or boycott his participation. Cunningham's speech was problematic for its reference to the English succession, reminding the audience of a controversial poem by Andrew Melville, Principis Scoti-Brittanorum Natalia.

Cunningham helped negotiate reconciliation between the king and the devoutly Catholic George Gordon, 6th Earl of Huntly. In 1598, he was sent as a diplomat with Peter Young to Denmark and Germany to promote King James' claims to the English throne.

David Cunningham died on 30 August 1600, at Aberdeen. He is buried in St Machar's Cathedral. He left assets of £3052 (Scots). He founded a grammar school in Banff.

Family

In 1569 he married Katherine Wallace, but had no children. His widow married Robert Udny of Udny, near Tillicoultry.