The Prior, then Abbot and then Commendator of Dunfermline was the head of the Benedictine monastic community of Dunfermline Abbey, Fife, Scotland. The abbey itself was founded in 1128 by King David I of Scotland, but was of earlier origin. King Máel Coluim mac Donnchada ("Malcolm III") had founded a church there with the help of Benedictines from Canterbury. Monks had been sent there in the reign of Étgar mac Maíl Choluim (Edgar, 1097–1107) and Anselm had sent a letter requesting that Étgar's brother and successor King Alaxandair mac Maíl Coluim (Alexander I, 1107–1124) protect these monks. By 1120, when Alaxandair sent a delegation to Canterbury to secure Eadmer for the bishopric of St Andrews, there is a Prior of the Dunfermline monks by the name of Peter leading the delegation. Control of the abbey was secularized in the 16th century and after the accession of James Stewart in 1500, the abbey was held by commendators. In the second half of the 16th century, the abbey's lands were being carved up into lordships and it was finally annexed to the crown in July, 1593.
Peter, 1120
Geoffrey I, 1128–1154
Geoffrey II, 1154–1178
Archibald, 1178–1198
Robert de Berwick, 1198–1202
Patrick, 1202–1217x1223
William I, 1223
William II, 1223 x 1226–1238
Geoffrey III, 1238–1240
Robert de Keldeleth, 1240–1252
John, 1252–1256
Matthew, 1256
Simon, 1267–1275
Radulf de Greenlaw, 1275–1296
Hugh, 1304x1306-1313
Robert de Crail, 1314–1328
Alexander Ber, c. 1328-9-1350 x 1351
John Black, 1351
John de Stramiglot, 1351–1383x1388
William de Angus, 1383
John de Torry, 1388–1409
William de St Andrews (Anderston), 1413–1426
Robert de Scotland, 1418–1419
William Brown, 1427
Andrew de Kirkcaldy, 1427–1444
Richard de Bothwell, 1444–1468
Alexander Thomson, c. 1470
Henry Crichton, 1471–1482
Adam Cant, 1483–1490
George Crichton, 1490–1500Opposed by Raphael Riario, 1491–1492
Opposed by Robert Swinton, 1492
Opposed by Thomas Cranston, 1492
Opposed by Andrew Pictoris, 1492
James Stewart, 1500–1504
Gilbert Strachan, 1504
James Beaton, 1504–1509
Alexander Stewart, 1509–1513
James Hepburn, 1513–1516
Peter de Accoltis, 1514
Andrew Forman, 1514–1521
James Beaton (again), 1522–1539
George Durie, 1526/39-1572
Robert Pitcairn, 1553/72-1584
Henry Pitcairn, 1582/4-1593
Patrick, Master of Gray, 1585–1587
George, Earl of Huntly, 1587
Abbot of Dunfermline Wikipedia (Text) CC BY-SA