Donald Campbell

Donald Campbell (died 1562) was a 16th-century Scottish noble and churchman. He was the son of Archibald Campbell, 2nd Earl of Argyll and Elizabeth Stewart, daughter of John Stewart, 1st Earl of Lennox. From 1522, he was a student of St Salvator's College, at the University of St Andrews. After graduation, he became a cleric in his home diocese, the diocese of Argyll. In September 1529, the papacy agreed that Campbell could hold the abbey for eight months in commendam, providing that if he did not become a monk in this period the abbey would thereafter be regarded as vacant; The vacancy was caused by the translation of the previous bishop, John Hamilton, to the archbishopric of St Andrews in 1547.

His appointment was opposed by one Robert Crichton. Crichton was the nephew of George Crichton, Bishop of Dunkeld, who had died in 1544, and had been appointed coadjutor and successor to his uncle the year before the latter's death - without the consent of the Scottish government. The government thus ignored the appointment, placing Hamilton in charge. Robert litigated - unsuccessfully - against Hamilton in the Papal see. When Hamilton was translated, Crichton was still litigating. The vacancy had been caused by the death of Bishop John Hepburn in the early summer of 1557. Campbell's proctor in Rome, John Row, attempted to gain permission for his master to abandon the dress Cistercian monk and to hold the bishopric of Brechin with the abbacy of Coupar Angus. Campbell never seems to have been awarded the see. In the following year he attended the Reformation Parliament which severed Scotland's ties with Rome. He is said to have left five illegitimate sons, who were later declared legitimate in order that they might inherit estates of property given to them from the tracts of land formerly belonging to the Catholic Church and redistributed by the state post-Reformation.