y of Scotland_. On the
day before her execution, Queen Mary wrote to Philip of Spain,
beseeching him to show kindness to the Bishop of Ross for his faithful
and devoted services to her. The request was complied with, and he was
able to end his days tranquilly in a monastery near Brussels. It is said
that the bishop persuaded the Queen in 1565 to grant to all men a
liberty of conscience.[177]

9. DIOCESE OF CAITHNESS

The early history of the Church in Caithness points to a time before the
Northmen had any footing there, and connects it with the missionaries of
Ireland and Scotland. The legend of St. Finbar or St. Barr marks the
settlement of some Irish colonists, who brought with them the veneration
they had rendered in their old country to the patron saint of their
tribe or province.[178] SS. Duthac and Fergus are also associated with
the church of the district during the Celtic period, and during the
time of the former Keledei they may have been introduced here. The early
church of Dornoch was dedicated to St. Bar or Finbar, and before 1196
the Culdees had disappeared, and the clerical element was reduced to a
single priest.[179] The deed establishing a cathedral chapter of ten
canons, with dean, precentor, chancellor, treasurer, and archdeacon,
proceeds on the narrative "that in the times of his (Bishop Gilbert's)
predecessors there was but a single priest ministering in the cathedral,
both on account of the poverty of the place and by reason of frequent
hostilities; and that he desired to extend the worship of God in that
church, and resolved to build a cathedral church at his own expense, to
dedicate it to the Virgin Mary, and, in proportion to his limited means,
to make it conventual."[180] This benefactor of Dornoch was Bishop
Gilbert de Moravia (1222-1245), who organised the chapter after the
pattern of Elgin, which again had Lincoln for its model; and although
the see of Caithness is first heard of about 1130, to him is due the
credit of rebuilding the cathedral, which consisted of an aisled nave,
transept, choir, and massive central tower, with dwarfish spire. The old
cathedral town, with its society of learned churchmen, maintaining a
high position by their influence and example, cultivating letters,
preaching peace and practising it, must have been a centre of good in
the north, and Bishop Gilbert's name deserves to be honourably
remembered for his statesmanship, beneficence, and Christian character.
"He