Thomas Spens

Thomas Spens [de Spens] (c. 1415–15 April 1480) was Scottish statesman and prelate. The son of John Spens of Glendouglas, he received his education at Edinburgh before becoming a royal servant and councilor under James II and James III.

Biography

By his exceptional abilities, he attracted the notice the Scottish king, James II, who sent him on errands to England and to France, where he negotiated several treaties. About 1450 he became bishop of Galloway; soon afterwards he was made Keeper of the Privy Seal of Scotland, and in 1459 he was chosen bishop of Aberdeen.

Much of his time, however, was passed in journeys to France and to England, and in 1464 he and Alexander Stewart, duke of Albany, a son of James II, were captured at sea by some English sailors. Edward IV, to whom the bishop had previously revealed an assassination plot, set him at liberty, and he was perhaps partly responsible for the treaty of peace made about this time between the English king and James III.

He died in Edinburgh on 15 April 1480 and was buried in the north aisle of Trinity College Kirk close to the hospital which he founded.