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Adam of Melrose (died 1222) was Abbot of Melrose and Bishop of Caithness, famously burned to death by the husbandmen of Caithness. At the time, Caithness was part of the Jarldom of Orkney, which formed part of the Kingdom of Norway.
Adam rose to the position of Abbot in 1207, and on 5 August 1213, was elected to the bishopric of Caithness, then based at Halkirk. On 11 May 1214, he was consecrated by William de Malveisin, Bishop of St. Andrews, with Walter, Bishop of Glasgow, and Bricius , Bishop of Moray assisting. Adam, along with Bishop Walter and Bishop Bricius, visited Rome in 1218, to obtain absolution from Pope Honorius III for the sentence of excommunication imposed on the Scottish King, Alexander II, and the whole Kingdom of Scotland.
When Adam returned to Caithness in 1219, he began to encounter problems from the inhabitants of his diocese. Bishop Adam had increased the episcopal "tax" imposed on the province's husbandmen, raising it from a span of butter from every twenty cows, to one from every ten. The husbandmen complained to the Jarl, Jon Haraldsson. Disinterested in their complaint, but annoyed by the Bishop for other reasons, he declared:
On 11 September 1222, a group of husbandmen gathered at Halkirk to protest against the bishop's tax increase, shouting Roast him alive!. Serlo, Dean of Newbattle (near Dalkeith), the Bishop's friend and advisor, was sent out to calm the crowd down, but after some initial discussions, the mob killed Serlo. Adam attempted to offer terms, but the infuriated husbandmen forcibly dragged the bishop into his kitchen, and burned the kitchen down with him in it. Adam's body was interred in the church of Skinnet.
A contemporary chronicler, Boethius the Dane, blamed the jarl for Adam's death. Nevertheless, the jarl swore oaths to his own innocence. He was the last jarl to be ethnically Norse.
The events of Adam's death are recounted in the Old Norse short narrative (þáttr) Brenna Adams byskups .
On hearing of the events, Alexander II took the opportunity to assert his claims to the mainland part of the jarldom, by visiting Caithness in person, and hanging the majority of the husbandmen, while mutilating the remainder. Alexander's actions were applauded by Pope Honorius III, and a quarter of a century later, he was continuing to receive commendation, as in a bull of Celestine IV.
In 1239, Adam's successor Gilbert de Moravia (otherwise known as Saint Gilbert of Dornoch) moved the body to the newly established Cathedral at Dornoch.
Alexander II was King of Alba (Scotland) from 1214 until his death. He concluded the Treaty of York (1237) which defined the boundary between England and Scotland, virtually unchanged today.
Halkirk is a village on the River Thurso in Caithness, in the Highland council area of Scotland. From Halkirk the B874 road runs towards Thurso in the north and towards Georgemas in the east. The village is within the parish of Halkirk, and is said by locals to be Scotland's first planned village.
Caithness is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland.
Earl of Orkney, historically Jarl of Orkney, is a title of nobility encompassing the archipelagoes of Orkney and Shetland, which comprise the Northern Isles of Scotland. Originally founded by Norse invaders, the status of the rulers of the Northern Isles as Norwegian vassals was formalised in 1195. Although the Old Norse term jarl is etymologically related to "earl", and the jarls were succeeded by earls in the late 15th century, a Norwegian jarl is not the same thing. In the Norse context the distinction between jarls and kings did not become significant until the late 11th century and the early jarls would therefore have had considerable independence of action until that time. The position of Jarl of Orkney was eventually the most senior rank in medieval Norway except for the king himself.
Dornoch Cathedral is a Church of Scotland parish church serving the small Sutherland town of Dornoch, in the Scottish Highlands. As a congregation of the Church of Scotland, which is Presbyterian, the church is not the seat of a bishop but retains the name due to being, historically, the seat of the Bishop of Caithness. The cathedral's churchyard is adjoined by Dornoch Castle, the somewhat reconstructed remains of the medieval palace of the Bishops of Caithness. It was formerly a Catholic Cathedral.
Malise V, Earl of Strathearn and Caithness, Jarl of Orkney was the last of the native Gaelic earls of Strathearn.
The Bishop of Caithness was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Caithness, one of Scotland's 13 medieval bishoprics. The first referenced bishop of Caithness was Aindréas, a Gael who appears in sources between 1146 and 1151 as bishop. Aindréas spent much if not all of his career outside his see.
Jon Haraldsson was a Norwegian noble who served as the Jarl of Orkney between 1206 and 1231. Jon Haraldsson and his brother David were the sons of Harald Maddadsson with his second wife Hvarflod, daughter of Earl Máel Coluim of Moray. Jon and David were joint Earls of Orkney after the death of their father in 1206. David Haraldsson died of sickness in 1214, leaving Jon Haraldsson to rule alone. William the Lion, king of Scotland, took Jon's daughter hostage in August 1214 as part of a peace agreement with the new sole Earl.
John of Caithness is the second known bishop of Caithness, based then at Halkirk. He witnessed various charters in Scotland between the years 1187 and 1199.
Gilbert de Moravia, later known as Saint Gilbert of Dornoch, or Gilbert of Caithness, was the most famous Bishop of Caithness and founder of Dornoch Cathedral. His name may suggest that he came from the semi-Gaelicized family of Flemish origin who were Lords of Duffus, and who during Gilbert's episcopate would create the Earldom of Sutherland under Gilbert's possible cousin, William de Moravia, 1st Earl of Sutherland.
Bricius was prior of Lesmahagow and afterward bishop of Moray.
Andreas de Moravia was a 13th-century Scottish bishop. He was a younger son of Hugh de Moravia, from the family of Flemish origin who were lords of Duffus and other areas in the Greater Moray region in this period. In the time of Bishop Bricius' episcopate (1203–1222), there was a man called "Andreas" who was rector of the church of St. Peter at Duffus, and this may well have been this Andreas. He may also have been a native Scot.
Jocelin was a twelfth-century Cistercian monk and cleric who became the fourth Abbot of Melrose before becoming Bishop of Glasgow, Scotland. He was probably born in the 1130s, and in his teenage years became a monk of Melrose Abbey. He rose in the service of Abbot Waltheof, and by the time of the short abbacy of Waltheof's successor Abbot William, Jocelin had become prior. Then in 1170 Jocelin himself became abbot, a position he held for four years. Jocelin was responsible for promoting the cult of the emerging Saint Waltheof, and in this had the support of Enguerrand, Bishop of Glasgow.
Walter Capellanus was a prominent Roman Catholic bishop and political figure in the Kingdom of Scotland during the reigns of William the Lion and Alexander II.
Alan de St Edmund was a 13th-century English cleric and administrator of the Roman Catholic Church. His name suggests a connection with Bury St. Edmunds Abbey in Suffolk, but there is no direct evidence. He was the chaplain of Hugh of Evesham, another Englishman, from the diocese of Worcester, who in 1282 was made Presbyter-Cardinal of St Laurence in Lucina by Pope Martin IV. After Hervey de Dundee, bishop-elect of Caithness, died while seeking confirmation at the Roman curia, the pope chose Alan - still in Rome - for the bishopric. Alan was provided by Pope Martin on 13 April 1282.
The Diocese of Moray was one of the most important of the medieval dioceses of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland. Its territory was in central northern Scotland.
Gilbert was a 13th-century Cistercian monk, abbot and bishop. His first appearance in the sources occurs under the year 1233, for which year the Chronicle of Melrose reported that "Sir Gilbert, the abbot of Glenluce, resigned his office, in the chapter of Melrose; and there he made his profession". It is not clear why Gilbert really did resign the position of Abbot of Glenluce, head of Glenluce Abbey in Galloway, in order to become a mere brother at Melrose Abbey; nor is it clear for how long Gilbert had been abbot, though his latest known predecessor is attested last on 27 May 1222. After going to there, Gilbert became the Master of the Novices at Melrose.
Alexander Vaus [Vause, de Vaus] was a late 14th century and 15th century Scottish prelate. Said to have been the younger son of one Patrick Vaus, he apparently held "church livings" in Galloway as early as 1421.
William de Moravia was a Scottish nobleman, Earl of Sutherland and chief of the Clan Sutherland, a Scottish clan of the Scottish Highlands.
Events from the 1220s in the Kingdom of Scotland.