Background and early life It was said by
John Spottiswood that his surname was "Dermoch", but that is not corroborated by contemporary sources and is probably a mistake. His last name appears in contemporary
Latin sources as
Colini, representing
MacCailein, meaning "son of Cailean"; it may mean that Cailean was the name of his father, but if it was a surname it probably means he was a Campbell, a family also known at the time as
MacCailein, believing as they did that they were descended from one
Cailean Mór. He held a
bachelor's degree in
canon law by 13 December 1400. On 15 September 1402
Pope Benedict XIII provided Fionnlagh to a
canonry (with the expectation of a
prebend) in the
diocese of Dunkeld; the mandate of provision contains information much about Fionnlagh, informing us that he was a priest, confirming that he possessed a bachelor's degree in canon law, while also stating that he was
Archdeacon of Dunblane. He was said in the papal document to have held the hospital of
Uthrogle and "a certain perpetual office or benefice without cure in the secular collegiate church of Abernethy"; the latter, we know from another papal source, was the
lectorship of
Abernethy called "ferlinn", i.e.
fer léighinn (literally "man of letters"), a position which existed at Abernethy collegiate church into the 16th century. By this period he was the
chaplain of
Robert Stewart, Duke of Albany. The patronage of the Duke of Albany, who importantly was also
Earl of Menteith, was crucial to Fionnlagh's whole career; Fionnlagh's bishop at Dunblane was
Dúghall de Lorne, another Albany man. His unattested consecration, which was probably performed at the papal see, had certainly occurred by 28 April 1404. He was at
Dunblane on 29 November 1406, witnessing a charter of the Duke of Albany; he is next found on 18 July 1408, at a church council of the church held at
Perth, and then again on 28 October that year witnessing another charter of the Duke of Albany. The resignation of the
earldom of Ross by
Euphemia II, Countess of Ross, to the Duke of Albany on 12 June 1415 (probably at
Stirling) was witnessed by Bishop Fionnlagh. He is found again on 17 March 1416 at a general council of the church held at Perth. He is last known to have been alive on 25 March 1419 but was dead by 30 October when a papal mandate ordered the translation of
William Stephani,
Bishop of Orkney, to the now vacant see of Dunblane. The chronicler
Walter Bower, writing a few decades after Fionnlagh's death, claimed that Bishop Fionnlagh was responsible for the building of a bridge over the
river Allan at Dunblane. ==Notes==