The Medieval Bishops of Whithorn, Their Cathedral and Their Tombs

Abstract

First paragraph: Although the diocese of Whithorn is amongst the more poorly documented of Scotland's medieval sees, its bishops have been the subject of considerably more historical research than their counterparts in wealthier, more influential and better documented dioceses such as Moray, Aberdeen, St Andrews or Glasgow. Much of this research has been stimulated by the successive programmes of modern excavation at the ruins of their cathedral at Whithorn, commencing in 1949 with CA Ralegh Radford's work in the nave and at the extreme east end of the choir (Radford 1956). In conjunction with that work, which formed part of a Ministry of Works project aimed at improving public access to, and interpretation of, the ruins of the cathedral priory and the Early Christian remains at St Ninian's Cave and Kirkmadrine, the late Gordon Donaldson produced a re-analysis of the medieval bishops and priors which considerably expanded upon the pioneering study of all Scottish pre-Reformation bishops by Bishop John Dowden (1912). Donaldson's work was undertaken at the beginning of Ralegh Radford's excavations and subsequently formed the core of the historical sections of the Ministry of Works' 'Blue Guide' to Whithorn and Kirkmadrine: indeed, it still does in its current revised form (Donaldson 1949; Radford & Donaldson 1953; Radford & Donaldson 1984).