Scotland is drawn under the English concordat

 Scotland was the object of a three-way power struggle between two English archbishops and a Norse one. The English Archbishops of York and Canterbury vied for jurisdiction over the whole country, while the Archbishop for Scandinavia in Lund, and later the Norwegian Archbishop of Trondheim claimed jurisdiction over the Norse possessions of the Orkney and Shetland Islands. [1]

Soon after the Conquest the pope began using the Norman clergy to extend his influence into Scotland. In 1072 a council of prelates at Windsor granted jurisdiction over the whole of present-day Scotland to the first Norman Archbishop of York, Thomas of Bayeux. Under the three archbishops, who followed (all of them Normans [2]), the pope supported York's claim to Scotland. To bolster this against the rival claim of Canterbury, the Archbishops of York established as many Scottish dioceses as possible with bishops who would be “their men”.

Thus by the time Pope Pascal II managed to get a concordat from the English king in 1107, it applied to bishoprics in all of Scotland except the far north. There the Norse church had been established in Shetland and Orkney and the Bishop of Orkney who presided over all the islands, was appointed by the Archbishop of Lund and later of Trondheim. This led to a power struggle where the pope favoured the Scotto-Norman church which he had far better in hand. 

 The miracle stories — written, of course, by the victors — afford us a rare glimpse of this conflict. At the beginning of the 12th century the Norwegian church appointed William the Old to be Bishop of Orkney, but the pope refused to recognise him. The pope had an ally in Magnus, Earl of Orkney, who was close to the Scotto-Norman church. Then in 1116, Magnus got into a succession dispute with his cousin and was felled with an axe. However even posthumously Magnus proved a useful ally, for the pope proclaimed him to be a “martyr”. True, his halo needed a bit of polishing: the Holy Magnus' had been a Viking plunderer, renowned for “robbery and manslaughter”. [3] It had to be carefully explained that when Magnus went a-viking, he refused to go ashore and fight, but stayed aboard singing psalms. [4] And his sanctity was proven by a veritable catalogue of miracles at his grave. [5] Still, William the Old, the Norse Bishop of Orkney, was not impressed, and warned that it was heresy to tell such tales. [6]

The story then recounts how the doubting bishop was mysteriously struck blind at his church — (so there) — and, properly contrite, groped his way to pray at the grave of Magnus, whereupon his sight was miraculously restored — (so there, again). [7]

This tale leaves little doubt about which was the winning side. And not only in the Northern Isles. Everywhere else in Europe, as well, the twelfth and thirteenth centuries saw the older, more independent churches replaced through the pope's relentless new campaign for Vatican control. This was the age of concordats.

 Of course there was resistance, as well, and Scotland had the advantage over England of a more remote location. In 1181 the Scottish king began to challenge the papal concordat powers when William the Lion defended his own candidate for the see of St. Andrews against the one chosen by the pope. Pope Clement III reacted by excommunicating king and country, but with considerably less effect than would be felt by the English King John, when his turn came in 1209: “The pope was too far away, and William feared him no more than Robert Bruce was to do.” [8] A few years later, in 1188, the pope decided to make the troublesome Scottish Church subject, not to York or Canterbury, but directly to Rome. [9]

The two parts of present-day Scotland were finally united in 1472. In February of that year Orkney and Shetland were annexed to the crown of Scotland and in August the pope reacted to this by elevating the Bishop of St. Andrews to an archbishop, thus creating a national church in Scotland. [10] However, this lasted less than a century, for in 1560 the Scottish Reformation led the Scottish church to finally break with Rome.

 

Notes

1. Ecclesiastically, Norway was at first under the direction of the Archbishop of Lund who was in charge of all Scandinavia (from 1103) and later (from 1152) under the Archbishop of Nidaros (the modern Trondheim), who had jurisdiction over the in present-day Norway, Iceland, Greenland, Faroe Islands, Shetland Islands, Orkneys and (until 1266) also Hebrides and the Isle of Man.

2. These were Gerard of Rouen, Thomas (nephew of the first Thomas) and Thurstan.

3. Magnus' Saga the Longer, 8 (Addendum to the Orkneyingers' Saga), Icelandic Sagas, Vol. III. Translated by George W. Dasent, 1894. http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/ice/is3/is308.htm

4. Ibid, 9.

5. Ibid., 34.

6. The Story of Earl Magnus, ibid. 59.  http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/ice/is3/is303.htm

7. Ibid, 60.

8. Andrew Lang, A Short History of Scotland, Chapter VI, 1911. http://infomotions.com/etexts/gutenberg/dirs/1/5/9/5/15955/15955.htm 

9. The pope tactfuly called Scotland “the special daughter of the Roman Church” (“specialis filia romanae ecclesiae”).

10. 20 February 1472: Orkney and Shetland annexed to the crown of Scotland as security for the dowry of Princess Margaret, daughter of Christian I, King of Norway and Denmark, and wife of James III of Scotland.
17 August 1472: The see of St Andrews was made an archbishopric by bull of Pope Sixtus IV.