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BALTRODDI, WALTER DE (d.
1270), Bishop of Caithness, succeeded Bishop William in 1261. He was
doctor of the canon law, and his diocese included Caithness and
Sutherland, the chapter consisting of ten canons, comprehending dean,
precentor, chancellor, and treasurer. By the constitution created by one
of his predecessors, the eminent prelate Gilbert Murray, he as bishop
held the foremost position in chapter as well as in diocese. Thurso was
the seat of the bishopric of Caithness in Bishop Walter's time, although
it had been temporarily removed to Dornoch between 1222 and 1245. An
historic ruin in the neighbourhood of Thurso still preserves its name of
the 'Bishop's palace;' the ruined church of St. Peter's, within the
town, is on the site of the ancient cathedral, part of which is
incorporated in the existing building of five centuries old or more.
Bishop Walter's surname is suggestive of an Italian origin. He is
characterised as 'a man discreet in counsel and commendable for the
sanctity of his life in the seventeenth century Latin MSS. of Father
Hay, the historian and relative of the Roslin family, preserved in the
Advocates' Library, Edinburgh. According to the collections of Sir James
Dalrymple, an earlier antiquarian, he is one of three Caithness bishops
described as 'of good memory' in a writ dated the 10th of the calends of
October, 1275. The document is a decreet-arbitral between Walter's
successor, Archibald, bishop of Caithness, and William, earl of
Sutherland, as to a dispute that had been open during the prelacies of
Archibald and his predecessors, Walter de Baltroddi, William, and
Gilbert Murray, concerning the rights of the see to certain lands, ferry
tolls, and salmon fishings.
[Alex. Nisbet, in his famous work on 'Heraldry,' published in 1722,
declared that he saw and examined the writ referred to above. In Sir
Robert Gordon's 'Genealogical History of the House of Sutherland,'
written in the reign of James I, its contents are summarised; and part
of its text, which was in Latin, is quoted in Bishop Keith's 'Catalogue
of Scottish Bishops.' A passing notice in Grub's 'Ecclesiastical History
of Scotland,' which probably came from one of the sources already
referred to, mentions Bishop Walter.] |
