Thorulf of Orkney

Thorulf or Torulf (fl. mid-11th century) was medieval prelate, a Bishop of Orkney. Although probably a native Scandinavian, he is known only from the account of the German writer Adam of Bremen. Adam reported that he was appointed bishop by Adalbert, Archbishop of Hamburg, the first Orcadian appointee under Hamburg overlordship. Thorulf's period of appointment coincided with the reign of Earl Thorfinn Sigurdsson, alleged builder of the Birsay church and founder of the bishopric of Orkney.

Thorulf
Bishop of Orkney
SeeDiocese of Orkney
In office1043 x 1072
PredecessorUnclear, but Bishop Henry last known
SuccessorJohn
Orders
Consecration1043 x 1072 (perhaps c. 1050)
Personal details
Bornunknown
unknown
Diedunclear

Hamburg and Orkney

Thorulf is known only from one source. According to the late 11th-century Saxon writer Adam of Bremen, he was appointed as bishop of Blascona in Orkney by Adalbert, Archbishop of Hamburg.[1] In the mid-11th century, the Archbishop of Hamburg's jurisdiction extended over Scandinavia.[2] Historians identify Blascona with Birsay (Old Norse: Birgisherað), Blascona a Latinisation perhaps derived from an older form.[3]

Adam leaves no personal details about Thorulf, but supplies some information about the Orkney see, stating that the:

...Orkney Islands, although they had previously been ruled by English and Scottish bishops, our primate [Adalbert] on the pope's order consecrated Thorulf bishop for the city of Birsay [in civitatem Blasconam], and he was to have cure of all.[4]

The date was approximately 1050, though could have been at any point between 1043 and 1072, the episcopate of Adalbert.[5] The date 1050 is suggested as this was around the time that Earl Thorfinn Sigurdsson, ruler of Orkney, visited Rome.[6]

Thorulf and Thorfinn

As Adam mentioned that the Orcadians had sent legates, it is thought that Thorulf was appointed at Orcadian instigation, and it has even be suggested that the earl himself was among these legates.[7] Historian Barbara Crawford thought that Thorulf was a Scandindavian, and a close associate of the earl.[8] The Orkneyinga saga related that Birsay was the permanent residence of Earl Thorfinn, and that the earl built a minster there [dedicated to Christ] as the seat of the first Orkney bishop.[9]

Although this specific claim may not be true [one previous bishop is known], it is nevertheless taken as evidence that Thorfinn's reign was a significant turning point for the earldom,[10] suggesting according to historian Ronald Cant "a deliberate plan on the part of the earl to perfect the organization of the church in Orkney".[11] Thorfinn and Thorulf's Christ Church has been identified with the Romanesque ruins on the tidal island known as Brough of Birsay, but there is also evidence that it was located over in the Mainland next to the Earl's palace.[12]

Religious titles
Preceded by
Unknown
Last known predecessor:
Henry		 Bishop of Orkney
1043 x 1072 (perhaps c. 1050)		 Succeeded by
John

Notes
  1. Watt and Murray, Fasti Ecclesiae, p. 322; Anderson, Early Sources, vol. ii, p. 8; Tschan (ed.), History of the Archbishops, pp. 183, 216
  2. Dowden, Bishops, p. 252
  3. Crawford, "Bishops of Orkney", p. 1, n. 1, for details; Thomson, New History, p. 85
  4. Tschan (ed.), History of the Archbishops, p. 216
  5. Tschan (ed.), History of the Archbishops, p. 216, n. 119; Watt and Murray, Fasti Ecclesiae, p. 322
  6. "Birsay-Peel-Selja", pp. 22–23
  7. Crawford, Scandinavian Scotland, p. 81; Thomson, New History, p. 85; Tschan (ed.), History of the Archbishops, p. 180
  8. Crawford, "Birsay", p. 104
  9. Crawford, "Birsay", pp. 100–04
  10. Crawford, "Birsay", pp. 104–05
  11. Cant, "Church in Orkney and Shetland", p. 2
  12. Thomson, New History, pp. 85–87

References
  • Anderson, Alan Orr, ed. (1922), Early Sources of Scottish History A.D. 500 to 1286 (2 vols), Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd
  • Cant, Ronald G. (1972), "The Church in Orkney and Shetland and Its Relations with Norway and Scotland in the Middle Ages", Northern Scotland: A Historical Journal, Aberdeen: University of Aberdeen Centre for Scottish Studies, 1: 1–18
  • Crawford, Barbara E. (1983), "Birsay and the Early Earls and Bishops of Orkney", Orkney Heritage: Vol. 2: Birsay: A Centre of Political and Ecclesiastical Power (Papers delivered to the 1982 Birsay Conference), Kirkwall: Orkney Heritage Society: 97–118
  • Crawford, Barbara E. (1993), "Birsay-Peel-Selja: Three Norse Bishops' Seats on Off-Shore Islands, A Comparative Study", Kirkearkeologi og Kirkekunst: Studier Tilegnet Sigrid og Håkon Christie, Oslo: Alvheim & Eide, pp. 21–36, ISBN 82-90359-60-8
  • Crawford, Barbara E. (1996), "Bishops of Orkney in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries: Bibliography and Biographical List", Innes Review, 47 (1): 1–13, ISSN 0020-157X
  • Crawford, Barbara E. (1987), Scandinavian Scotland, Studies in the Early History of Britain: Scotland in the Early Middle Ages • 2, Leicester: Leicester University Press, ISBN 0-7185-1197-2
  • Dowden, John (1912), Thomson, John Maitland (ed.), The Bishops of Scotland : Being Notes on the Lives of All the Bishops, under Each of the Sees, Prior to the Reformation, Glasgow: James Maclehose and Sons
  • Thomson, William P. L. (2008), The New History of Orkney (3rd ed.), Edinburgh: Birlinn, ISBN 978-1-84158-696-0
  • Tschan, Francis J.; Reuter, Timothy, eds. (2002), History of the Archbishops of Hamburg-Bremen/ Adam of Bremen, Records of Western Civilization, New York: Columbia University Press, ISBN 0-231-12575-5
  • Watt, D. E. R.; Murray, A. L., eds. (2003), Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae Medii Aevi ad annum 1638, The Scottish Record Society, New Series, Volume 25 (Revised ed.), Edinburgh: The Scottish Record Society, ISBN 0-902054-19-8, ISSN 0143-9448
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