Bishop Archibald must have been dead before 1279, for in that year the Pope addressed a letter to the Bishops of St. Andrews and Aberdeen,[[156]] setting forth that the see of Caithness being vacant, the chapter had proceeded to the election of R., the Dean of Caithness, and had constituted Henry of Nottingan[[157]] (in Caithness) their procurator to obtain confirmation of the said election, and that the said Henry, in the Pope’s presence, had confessed that the said dean had a son thirty years old or more, and that he was said to have another, although he (Henry of Nottingan) did not believe it; and, moreover, that he had been stricken with paralysis, and was old and debilitated. The bishops are enjoined to use their influence to oblige him to resign.
Alan de St. Edmund, eighth bishop, was an Englishman, elected by the influence of Edward I. of England. In 1290 he signs the letter addressed to that king, proposing a marriage between the Maid of Norway and the young Prince Edward. Alan was a favourite with King Edward, and was made Chancellor of Scotland in 1291. In that year a writ[[158]] was addressed by the king to Alexander Comyn, keeper of the royal forest of Ternway, in Moray, ordering him to give Bishop Alan 40 oaks suitable for material for the fabric of the cathedral church of Caithness, which the king had granted for the souls of Alexander, King of Scotland, and Margaret, his queen, the sister of King Edward. Bishop Alan died in 1291, and on his death King Edward ordered the Bishops of St. Andrews and Glasgow to commit the vacant cure to some cleric in the king’s allegiance.[[159]] The fulfilment of this mandate is not on record, but we learn from the letter of Pope Boniface VIII.[[160]] addressed to Bishop Adam in 1296, that on the death of Alan the chapter of Caithness had chosen the Archdeacon of Caithness, whose name is given as I(oannes?) to be his successor, but because the election had not been in canonical form it was not confirmed by the Pope, who preferred to the vacant diocese Adam, then precentor of the church of Ross.
Adam, ninth bishop, as we learn from the Pope’s letter above mentioned, was not elected in the usual way, but preferred by the Pope and consecrated by the Bishop of Ostia. The letter addressed by the Pope[[161]] “to the chapter of Caithness, to the people of the district and diocese of Caithness, and to our dearest son in Christ the King of Scots,” in 1296, announces his preferment, and the reasons that led to it. He died at Sienna very shortly after the date of this letter.[[162]]
Andrew, abbot of the Cistercian monastery of Cupar,[[163]] was now preferred to the see of Caithness; and because, “on account of the wars that are imminent in those parts, and the dangers of the way, which is long and perilous, it is impossible for him to approach the apostolic seat for consecration,” a mandate was addressed to the Bishops of Aberdeen, Glasgow, and Ross, to give him consecration.
Ferquhard, Bishop of Caithness, appears in 1310, among the other bishops of Scotland, acknowledging Robert Bruce as King of Scotland. In 1312, along with Magnus, Earl of Caithness and Orkney, he attests the payment of 100 marks sterling (the annual tribute payable for the Hebrides) by King Robert Bruce to the King of Norway, in St. Magnus’ Cathedral, Kirkwall. He was dead and the see vacant in 1328.[[164]]
Nicolas, a deacon, was bishop-elect in 1332.[[165]]
David was the next bishop, but of him we have no record except that he was dead before 1340.[[166]]
Alan, Archdeacon of Aberdeen, was confirmed as Bishop of Caithness in 1341 by Pope Benedict XII.[[167]] He died in 1342.
Thomas de Fingask was elected on the death of Alan, and his confirmation by Pope Clement VI. is dated in November 1342.[[168]] He is witness to a writ by William, Earl of Ross, in 1355, declaring the abbey of Ferne exempt from all the king’s taxes.[[169]] He appears as witness to a deed with Ingelram of Caithness, Archdeacon of Dunkeld, in 1359.[[170]] He died at Elgin in 1360, and was buried in our Lady’s aisle of the chanonry church of Elgin, under the bishop’s seat.
Malcolm is the next bishop of whom we have any authentic account.[[171]] His confirmation by Pope Urban V. is dated Feb. 21, 1369.[[172]] A bull of Pope Gregory XI., dated at Avignon in March 1376, confirms to Dr. William of Spynie the chanonry and prebendary of the church of Orkney, which had become vacant by the preferment of Malcolm to be Bishop of Caithness.[[173]]