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{{Short description|Bishop of Saint Andrews from 1404 to 1440}}
{{about||the Scottish courtier and administrator|Henry Wardlaw of Pitreavie|the Scottish landowner and courtier|Henry Wardlaw of Torrie|the Aboriginal Australian activist|Council for Aboriginal Rights}}
{{More footnotes needed|date=April 2023}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| name = Henry Wardlaw
| title = [[Bishop of St Andrews]]
| image = Henry Wardlaw.jpg
| caption = Bust of Bishop Henry Wardlaw
| image_size = 190px
| church = [[Roman Catholic Church]]
| see = [[Archdiocese of St Andrews|St Andrews]]
| predecessor = [[Gilbert de Greenlaw]]
| successor = [[James Kennedy (bishop)|James Kennedy]]
| appointed = 10 September 1403
| term_end = 9 April 1440
| consecration = 1404
| death_date = 9 April 1440
}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2012}}

'''Henry Wardlaw''' (died 6 April 1440) was a [[Kingdom of Scotland|Scottish]] church leader, [[Bishop of St Andrews]] and founder of the [[University of St Andrews]].

==Ancestors==
He was descended from an ancient Saxon family which came to Scotland with [[Edgar Atheling]], and was hospitably received by [[Malcolm Canmore]]. His grandfather, Sir H. Wardlaw of [[Torryburn|Torry]], Fifeshire, married a niece of [[Walter Stewart, 6th High Steward of Scotland]], and had by her Andrew, his successor, and [[Walter Wardlaw]] (d. 1390), [[Bishop of Glasgow]], who is said to have been made a cardinal by the [[antipope Clement VII]] in 1381.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} Sir Andrew married the daughter and heiress of James de Valoniis, and had Walter and Henry, the bishop. In 1378 Cardinal Wardlaw petitioned the pope for a canonry of Glasgow with expectation of a prebend for his nephew, who must have been then a mere boy, as he lived for sixty-two years afterwards.

==Early life==
He was educated at the universities of [[University of Oxford|Oxford]] and of [[University of Paris|Paris]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}  In the book of the procurators of the English nation in the latter university his name appears among the 'determinantes' of 1383. In a petition to the pope of 1388 he is described as 'a licentiate in arts who has studied civil law for two years at Orleans.' He afterwards studied the canon law, and took the degree of doctor. During the papal schism Scotland was on the side of the anti-popes, and, through the favour of [[Antipope Clement VII]] and [[Antipope Benedict XIII]] (Peter de Luna), Wardlaw held simultaneously canonries and prebends in Glasgow, Moray, and Aberdeen, the precentorships of Glasgow and Moray, and the church of Cavers.

==Bishop==
He passed some time at [[Avignon]], and it was while at the papal court that he was chosen Bishop of St Andrews; he was consecrated in 1403. Returning to Scotland, he acted as tutor to the future King [[James I of Scotland]], and finished the work of restoring the [[cathedral]] at [[St Andrews]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} He greatly improved the interior and enriched it with encaustic tiles and stained-glass windows. He also built the [[Guardbridge|Gare bridge]] at the mouth of the [[River Eden, Fife|Eden]], which was then considered one of the finest in Scotland.{{Citation needed|date=April 2023}} Having helped to bring about the release of James from his captivity in England, he crowned the king in May 1424, and afterwards acted as one of his principal advisers. He appears to have been an excellent bishop.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} The chief blot on his episcopate was the [[execution by burning|burning]] of [[John Resby]], an English priest, at Perth in 1407, and of [[Pavel Kravař]], a Bohemian, at St. Andrews in 1432, for teaching the tenets of [[John Wyclif|Wycliffe]]. He does not appear to have been himself an active promoter of persecution. Resby was apprehended by Lawrence of Lindores, and the king conferred the abbey of Melrose on John Fogo for his zeal in convicting Kravař. It is no excuse that the spirit of persecution then raged throughout Christendom, and that the Scottish parliament in 1425 enacted that all bishops should make inquisition of Lollards and others considered by Rome to be heretics in their dioceses.

==University of St Andrews==
Wardlaw's chief claim to fame is the fact that he was the founder of the [[University of St Andrews]], the first university in Scotland. He issued the charter of foundation in February 1411, and the privileges of the new seat of learning were confirmed by a [[papal bull|bull]] of [[Antipope Benedict XIII|the Avignon Pope Benedict XIII]], dated 28 August 1413. The university was to be "an impregnable rampart of doctors and masters to resist [[heresy]]."{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

==References==
{{reflist}}
*{{EB1911|wstitle= Wardlaw, Henry|volume=28|page=323}}
*{{cite DNB|wstitle=Wardlaw, Henry |volume=59|first=George Washington |last=Sprott}}
*{{cite ODNB|first=C. A.|last= McGladdery|title=Wardlaw, Henry (c.1365–1440)|id=28722}}

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{{s-rel}}
{{succession box | title=[[Bishop of St Andrews|Bishop of St Andrews <br>(Cill Rìmhinn)]] |
 before=[[Gilbert Greenlaw]] (unconsecrated)|
 after=[[James Kennedy (bishop)|James Kennedy]]| years=1403&ndash;1440}}
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{{s-new| post}}
{{s-ttl
 |title=[[Chancellor of the University of St Andrews]]
 |  years=1413&ndash;1440|
}}
{{s-aft | after=[[James Kennedy (bishop)|James Kennedy]]<br/>Bishop of St Andrews}}
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{{Bishops of St Andrews}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wardlaw, Henry}}
[[Category:1440 deaths]]
[[Category:Bishops of St Andrews]]
[[Category:15th-century English Roman Catholic bishops]]
[[Category:Chancellors of the University of St Andrews]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:Wardlaw family|Henry]]