David Arnot (before 1497 – 1536 or 1537) was a Scottish prelate of the Catholic Church. He was the Bishop of Galloway (Scotland) from 1509 to 1526. He was from the Arnot family of Arnot, Fife.^[1]

In November 1508, after the translation of James Beaton from Bishop of Galloway to Archbishop of Glasgow, Arnot received crown nomination to the papacy to fill the vacant see of Galloway.^[6] He was provided to the bishopric on 29 January 1509, and granted the temporalities of the see on 27 May as "Bishop of Candida Casa [Whithorn] and of the Chapel Royal".^[7] Since 1504, the position of Bishop of Galloway and that of Dean of the Chapel Royal at Stirling went together.^[8]

Arnot's position was supplemented in 1509, when he received crown nomination to receive Tongland Abbey in commendam, after the resignation of the previous Abbot of Tongland Peter Damian de Falcutiis.^[9] Bishop Arnot was provided as Commendator of Tongland on 18 April 1510, for which on 7 May he paid the papacy 50 florins.^[10]

Arnot was sent on an embassy on behalf of King James V of Scotland in April 1516 to Henry VIII of England, for which he received a royal letter of protection on 3 April 1516; he was accompanied by, among others, the Bishop of Dunblane, the Bishop of Caithness, the Earl of Cassillis, the Earl of Morton and the Earl of Eglinton.^[11]

Arnot witnessed a royal charter on 18 February 1517, and another on 28 March 1522.^[1]

Arnot resigned his bishopric on 23/4 January 1526, to Henry Wemyss, with right of return and for a pension.^[12] Although Arnot also resigned Tongland for lifelong pension with right of return on vacancy, Arnot may have effectively held on to Tongland for a few more years; repeated crown nominations of Wemyss to Tongland failed, apparently because of Arnot, while William Stewart, a secular canon of Glasgow Cathedral, also got crown nomination until the Pope finally agreed to give Wemyss the commend in 1530, with Stewart resigning his rights.^[13]

Arnot is found consenting to a deed of Bishop Henry on 7 June 1535, and to another on 10 July 1536.^[1] This was the last time Arnot can be found in the sources; he was dead by 25 August 1537, though he could have died at any time before this and after 10 July 1536.^[6]