The Bishop of St. Andrews (Scottish Gaelic: Easbaig Chill Rìmhinn, Scots: Beeshop o Saunt Andras) was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of St Andrews in the Catholic Church and then, from 14 August 1472, as Archbishop of St Andrews (Scottish Gaelic: Àrd-easbaig Chill Rìmhinn), the Archdiocese of St Andrews.
The name St Andrews is not the town or church's original name. Originally it was Cellrígmonaid ("church of the king's mounth" hence Cill Rìmhinn) located at Cennrígmonaid ("head of the king's mounth"); hence the town became Kilrymont (i.e. Cellrígmonaid) in the non-Gaelic orthography of the High Middle Ages. Today St Andrews has replaced both Kilrymont (and variants) as well as the older English term Anderston as the name of the town and bishopric.
The bishopric itself appears to originate in the period 700–900. By the 11th century, it is clear that it was the most important bishopric in Scotland.
There had been a monastery there since the 8th century. It was probably taken over by Céli Dé monks in the 9th or 10th centuries, and these survive into the 14th century. It is the Gaelic abbey, rather than the continental priory, that the abbot was in charge of; the importance of the Céli Dé abbey has come down into the modern era in the street names of St. Andrews.
Only a few abbots are known. It is often thought that the position of Abbot and Bishop were the same until the Norman era, but clear evidence for this is lacking.
The pre-11th century "bishop of the Scots" may have had no fixed seat before finally settling at St Andrews.
The bishopric of St Andrews was elevated into an archbishopric in 1472 by Pope Sixtus IV. The Scottish church broke with Rome in the Scottish Reformation of 1560.
