Hepburn obtained a royal confirmation with mandate for consecration on March 20, 1575, being admitted to the temporalities of the bishopric on November 3; in the same year, on April 22, the exiled Lesley had his provision renewed by the papacy.1 Hepburn died some time between September 17 and October 31, 1578.2
No new bishop of Ross was appointed until 1600, though Lesley was temporarily recognised by the secessionist Scottish church in the period between March 13, 1587, and May 29, 1589, while the famous Lesley had retained international recognition for his episcopate all the way from his accession in 1566 until his translation bishopric of Coutances in 1592.1
