Bishop_of_Orkney

Bishop of Orkney

Bishop of Orkney

Head of the Scottish diocese, c. 1035–1688


The Bishop of Orkney was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Orkney, one of thirteen medieval bishoprics of Scotland. It included both Orkney and Shetland. It was based for almost all of its history at St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall.

The Romanesque interior of St Magnus Cathedral, the seat of the bishops of Orkney

The bishopric appears to have been suffragan of the Archbishop of York (with intermittent control exercised by the Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen) until the creation of the Archbishopric of Trondheim (Niðaros) in 1152. Although Orkney itself did not unite with mainland Scotland until 1468, the Scottish kings and political community had been pushing for control of the islands for centuries. The see, however, remained under the nominal control of Trondheim until the creation of the Archbishopric of St Andrews in 1472, when it became for the first time an officially Scottish bishopric.

The Bishopric's links with Rome ceased to exist after the Scottish Reformation. The bishopric continued, saving temporary abolition between 1638 and 1661, under the episcopal Church of Scotland until the Glorious Revolution of 1688. Episcopacy in the established church in Scotland was permanently abolished in 1689, but a Scottish Episcopal Church bishopric encompassing Orkney was created in 1865, as the Bishopric of Aberdeen and Orkney. In 1878, the Catholic Church in Scotland re-established the bishopric system, and Orkney came under the resurrected and reformatted Diocese of Aberdeen.

Parishes in the medieval period

[1]

Orkney

  1. Birsay (Mainland)
  2. Burness (Sanday)
  3. Burray
  4. Cross (Sanday)
  5. Deerness (Mainland)
  6. Eday
  7. Egilsay
  8. Evie (Mainland)
  9. Firth (Mainland)
  10. Flotta
  11. Graemsay
  12. Harray (Mainland)
  13. Holm (& Pablay) (Mainland)
  14. Hoy
  15. Lady (Sanday)
  16. Lady (Stronsay)
  17. North Ronaldsay
  18. Orphir (Mainland)
  19. Papa Westray
  20. Rendall (Mainland)
  21. Rousay
  22. Sandwick (Mainland)
  23. Shapinsay
  24. St Andrews (Mainland)
  25. St Mary's (South Ronaldsay)
  26. St Nicholas (Stronsay)
  27. St Peter's (South Ronaldsay)
  28. St Peter's (Stronsay)
  29. Stenness (Mainland)
  30. Stromness (Mainland)
  31. Walls
  32. Westray

Shetland

  1. Aithsting (Mainland)
  2. Baliasta (Unst)
  3. Bressay
  4. Burra
  5. Cunningsburgh (Mainland)
  6. Delting (Mainland)
  7. Dunrossness (Mainland)
  8. Fair Isle
  9. Fetlar
  10. Foula
  11. Hillswick (Mainland)
  12. Laxavoe (Mainland)
  13. Lerwick (Mainland)
  14. Lund (Unst)
  15. Lunnasting (Mainland)
  16. Nesting (Mainland)
  17. Northmavine (Mainland)
  18. Northrew (Mainland)
  19. Norwick (Unst)
  20. Ollaberry (Mainland)
  21. Olnafirth (Mainland)
  22. Papa Stour
  23. Quarff (Mainland)
  24. Sandness (Mainland)
  25. Sandwick (Mainland)
  26. Tingwall (Mainland)
  27. Walls (Mainland)
  28. Weisdale (Mainland)
  29. Whalsay
  30. Whiteness (Mainland)
  31. Yell

List of known bishops of Orkney

More information Bishops of Orkney, Tenure ...

References

  • Dowden, John, The Bishops of Scotland, ed. J. Maitland Thomson, (Glasgow, 1912)
  • Keith, Robert, An Historical Catalogue of the Scottish Bishops: Down to the Year 1688, (third expanded edition: Edinburgh, 1824; reprinted Piscataway, NJ, 2010)
  • Watt, D. E. R., Fasti Ecclesiae Scotinanae Medii Aevi ad annum 1638, 2nd draft, (St Andrews, 1969)
  1. "Parish List – Scottish Place-Name Society". Retrieved 1 February 2021.
  2. "Houses of Benedictine monks: Abbey of Colchester | British History Online". British-history.ac.uk. Retrieved 27 February 2017.

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