John of Whithorn (died 1209) was the medieval Bishop of Galloway. His first appearance as bishop-elect is at the coronation of Richard, Cœur de Lion as King of the English at Westminster Abbey on 3 September 1189.[1] He was consecrated at Pipewell Abbey, Northamptonshire, on Sunday 17 September 1189.[2]
The consecration was performed by the Archbishop of Dublin, the Archbishop of Trier, and the Bishop of Annaghdown, and took place despite the fact that there was a formal vacancy in the Archbishopric of York. Geoffrey Plantagenet was Archbishop-elect of York at the time, and John in fact ordained him as a priest, despite the opposition of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who wished to use the opportunity to force York to make obedience to Canterbury as Primate.[3]
During his ten-year episcopate John appeared often in England as a suffragan of the Archbishop of York, for instance, accompanying the archbishop to a church council held by King Richard in 1191.[4] In Scotland, he witnessed one charter of Alan of Galloway and was appointed a judge-delegate by the papacy in a patronage-related dispute in the diocese of Glasgow.[5] He was believed to have become a canon at Holyrood Abbey in 1206.[6] The Chronicle of Melrose reported his death under the year 1209.[7]