Roger de Beaumont (died 1202) was a 12th and 13th centuryBishop of St Andrews.

He was the son ofRobert de Beaumont, 3rd Earl of Leicester. Roger's position as a younger son of theEarl of Leicester meant that Roger had to seek a fortune elsewhere, and did so within the church. Robert was a second cousin ofWilliam I of Scotland, being the great-grandson and grandson ofElizabeth of Vermandois respectively.^[1] At Williiam's court Beaumont managed to obtain favour, eventually reaching the position ofChancellor of the King, a post which usually functioned as a prelude to ascending a high-ranking bishopric.

So it was that, atPerth in April 1189, he was elected Bishop of St. Andrews. Roger, nevertheless, had to wait nine years for consecration, which was finally performed in 1198 atSt. Andrews by theBishop of Moray and theBishop of Aberdeen.

During his time as chancellor, Beaumont had been party to the negotiations surrounding the nullification of the treaty ofFalaise, and had lobbied the Pope to secure the independence of the Scottish church from the claims of bothNidaros andYork to superiority. These demands of the pope were both met, withClement III issuing aBull in 1188 confirming that church in Scotland was answerable only to the Holy See. The following year, 8 months after Beaumont's election as bishop, the English KingRichard I nullified the Treaty of Falaise, and recognised the independence of the Church.

Bishop Roger was witness to the foundation charter ofInchaffray Abbey in 1200, as earlier he had been for theAbbey of Arbroath in 1178, and it was during his tenure as Bishop that the firstSt Andrews Castle was built as an episcopal palace.

His episcopate came to an end when he died atCambuskenneth on 7 July 1202. He was buried at St. Andrews. The next bishop of the see wasWilliam de Malveisin.

• Cowan, Samuel,The Lord Chancellors of Scotland Edinburgh 1911.[1]
• Dowden, John,The Bishops of Scotland, ed. J. Maitland Thomson, (Glasgow, 1912)

• 12th-century births
• 1202 deaths
• Bishops of St Andrews
• Beaumont family
• Younger sons of earls
• Lord chancellors of Scotland
• 13th-century Scottish Roman Catholic bishops
• 12th-century Scottish Roman Catholic bishops

• Use dmy dates from August 2021
• Year of birth unknown