ST/JD/6

Bean

Gender

Male

Floruit (period)

10th century

Floruit date range

? - ?

Description

The principal source for Bean is the Life of St Catroe (Vita S. Kaddroe abbatis Metis in Lotharingia), written 982 x 983, a decade after its subject's death. Bean is a paternal uncle of Catroe and is responsible for his instruction; the Life also suggests that Bean was a monk of Iona. Fordun (1370) makes him the first bishop of Morthlach, a diocese extending from the Dee to the Spey, the forerunner of the diocese of Aberdeen. He is said to have been appointed by King Malcolm II (Mael Coluim mac Cinaeda, 1005--1034), but this is unlikely, given the dating-evidence of the Life of St Catroe. Anderson, Early Sources, 433--8.