 The Diocese of Moray was a regional bishopric unlike the pre @-@ eminent see of the Scottish church , St Andrews , which had evolved from a more ancient monastic Celtic church and administered scattered localities . It is uncertain whether there were bishops of Moray before c . 1120 but the first known <unk> — possibly later translated to <unk> — was Gregory ( or <unk> ) . He was probably bishop in name only , with the first resident diocesan being Richard of Lincoln . Gregory was a signatory to the foundation charter of <unk> Priory , issued by Alexander I ( <unk> mac Maíl <unk> ) between December 1123 and April 1124 , and again in a charter defining the legal rights of the same monastery . He is recorded for the last time when he witnessed a charter granted by David I to <unk> Abbey in c . 1128 . After the suppression of <unk> of Moray 's rebellion in 1130 , King David must have regarded the continued presence of bishops in Moray as essential to the stability of the province . These early bishops had no settled location for their cathedral , and sited it successively at the churches of <unk> , <unk> and Spynie . Pope Innocent III issued an <unk> bull on 7 April 1206 that allowed bishop Bricius de Douglas to fix his cathedral church at Spynie — its inauguration was held between spring 1207 and summer 1208 . A chapter of five dignitaries and three ordinary canons was authorised and based its constitution on that of Lincoln Cathedral . Elgin became the lay centre of the province under David I , who probably established the first castle in the town , and it may have been this castle , with its promise of better security , that prompted Bricius , before July 1216 , to petition the Pope to move the seat from Spynie . 
