gnd §, No11,, Mar. 15. °56.] 
he himself, undoubtedly the most powerful of the 
Barls of Orkney, is said to have been monarch of 
all the north of Scotland. He built the first 
bishop’s kirk in Orkney, Christ’s Kirk in Birsay, 
portions of the walls of which still exist as a part 
of the parish kirk in Birsay. 
The early introduction of Christianity in Ork- 
ney is spoken of doubtfully by Dr. Barry, but, in 
addition to the historical evidence, has received 
some support from archeology within these few 
days. The kirk of Hgilshay, from its round tower 
and style of architecture, as well as some churches 
in Zetland, have been assigned to a date prior to 
the Norwegian invasion and colonisation in the 
end of the ninth century, and referred to as 4 
model in the Irish churches of an earlier date. 
The Archbishop of York seems to have claimed 
and exercised a right of consecrating bishops in 
Scotland, originating at a remote period. This 
right at the nomination of Turgot, Bishop of the 
Séots and St. Andrews, on the death of Godric in 
1107, always denied by the Scots, was also con- 
tested by the Archbishop of Canterbury, and 
séttled by compromise through the mediation of 
Henry I. and Alexaiider I., Kings of England and 
Scotland, saving the rights of either church, and 
the consecration was perforitied in 1109 by tlie 
Archbishop of York. (Chalmers’s Caledonia, vol.i. 
pp: 674-5.) When noticing this I may mention 
that the question of stiperiority and right to con- 
secrate Scottish bishops, claimed by the Arch- 
bishops of York, was finally settled and decided 
against them, and the church of Scotland declared 
to be exempt from all jurisdiction except that of 
Roine, by papal bull of Alexander III. in 1164, 
given in Keith's Scottish Bishops, p.139. I see it 
stated in Torfzeus’s Orcades, beginning of book ii. 
pp- 157-61., that Thomas, Archbishop of York, 
from 1070 to 1090, consecrated Rodolfus or Ralph 
Bishop of Orkney ; Archbishop Gerliard, 1090 to 
1107, consecrated Roger Bishop of Orkney ; and 
a younger Thoinas, Archbishop of York, 1107 to 
1114, consécrated Rodolfus Novellus, or Ralph 
Nowell, who acted as Vicegerent of Archbishop 
Thurston of York at the battle of the Standard 
in 1138. A note to vol. i. p.675. of Chalmers’s 
Caledonia, mentions the letter of Pope Nicholas 
to the King of Norway, admonishing him ih the 
Lord to place the Bishop of Orkney and the 
Isles under the See of York. Names and date 
not given, but reference to Anglia Sacra, ii. 
234—236. 
In the same part of the Orcades it is mentioned 
by Torfieus, referring to Adam of Bremen (His- 
toria Ecclesiastica, lib. ut. cap. xliv.), that Adal- 
bert, Archbishop of Hamburgh, who died -1072, 
ordained and sent to Orkney a bishop called 
Thoralf, and afterwards one named Adalbert, both 
in the time of Earl Thorfin. Among other 
northern nations Orkney is said to have applied 
NOTES AND QUERIES. 217 
to Archbishop Adalbert for preachers of the 
divine word: 
“Tstum Thorolfum in Oréadum descriptione idem 
auctor jussu Pontificis in civitate Blaseona ordinatum 
refert: on tamen dissimulat, eas insulas prius ab Anglorum 
et Scotorum Episcopis directas, Memorat etiam postea 
Episcopum, qui eas insederit. His ut videtur priorem 
Henricum, qui in Anglia Danie Anglisque Regis Knuti 
Magni Sacellarits fuerat postea a Sveino Estrithio Scaniz 
Episcopus constitutus, Lundensiq; dicecesi praefectus, 
verum ab Archiepiscopo Hamburgensi initiatum negat.” 
— Orcades, p. 157. 
However this may be, it is very doubtful if any 
of these bishops were in Orkney. The Orkneyinga 
Saga, p. 136., says that, — 
“At this time (Martyrdom of Saint Magnus, 1110) 
was William bishop in Orkney. He was the first bishop, 
and had his bishop’s cathedral at Christ’s Kirk in Ber- 
gisherad (or Birsay). William was bishop sixty-six 
years.” 
He is supposed to have been bishop from 1102 to 
1168. The plate with the inscription may be 
mentioned as strengthening the evidence — that 
would make him the first resident bishop. His 
remains in a wooden coffin were found at the 
north side of the altar, in the choir of St. Magnus, 
in the addition made to the east end of that ca- 
thedral about the beginning of the sixteenth cen- 
tury; and the plate must have been deposited at 
the time of his exhimation, probably near the 
former altar at the re-interment, for the purpose 
of identification. It was found in the breast of 
the doubled skeleton in presence of myself and 
others, and is at this moment in the possession of a 
gentleman at Kirkwall. Torfius says (p. 159.), as 
to the different bishops of Orknéy at the same time: 
« Annales Islandici obitum ejus (Vilhelmi) in annum 
Christi motxvit. referant, factus itaq; erat Episcopus 
anno mot. Rogeriq; et Radulphi tempore, floruit. Ad 
hee respondeo, utrumq; posse subsistere; Eboracenses 
enim Archiepiscopi, jam dudum sibi jus per Scotiam=et 
Orcades Episcopos constituendi arrogarunt, quorum aucto- 
ritati Scoti acquiescere noluerunt, Orcadenses etiam licet 
maxime vellent, ab Episcopis tamen Hamburgensibus id 
iis permissum non est, scribit enim Adamus Bremensis, 
ubi de insulis extra Norwegiam agit. 
“Post Normanniam que est ultima aquilonis pro- 
vincia, nihil habitationis humane, nisi teribilem visu, et 
infinitum oceanum, qui tottim mundum amplectitur, inve- 
nies, is habét ex adverso Normannie, insulas multas, non 
ignobiles, qu nunc fete omnés Normannorum ditioni sub- 
jacent, ideoq; a nobis non sunt pretereunde, quoniam 
Hamburgensem parrochiam et ipsi respiciunt, quarum prime 
sunt Oreades insule, quas Barbari vocant Organas ritu 
Cycladum, ill& stunt dispersze per Oceahum. 
“Patet hine electionem Episcoporum Orcadensibus 
aliter permissam fion fuisse, ab Archiepiscopis Hambur- 
gensibus probaretur, ab iisq; Episcopus ipse inaugura- 
retur.” i 
It will be news to any Orkney reader to see 
Orkney looked on as a parish of Hamburgh. And 
as to the competing appointments of Orkney 
bishops, it has been shown that the archbishops of 
York claimed a supremacy over Scotland; and 
