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Appointment to a Chaplaincy | MS 1676/1

ST MAGNUS CATHEDRAL ORKNEY CHARTER

MS 1676/1
MS Short Title ST MAGNUS CATHEDRAL ORKNEY CHARTER
Text INSTRUCTION BY ADAM BOTHWELL, BISHOP OF ORKNEY AND SHETLAND, TO THE PROVOST AND CANONS OF THE CATHEDRAL OF ST. MAGNUS, ORKNEY, TO INSTALL MASTER FRANCIS BOTHWELL IN THE CHAPLAINCY OF ST. LAWRENCE (VACATED BY THE DEATH OF JOHN MAXWELL) WHICH WAS IN THE BISHOP'S GIFT
Description MS in Latin on vellum, Kirkwall, Orkney, 3 April 1565, 1 f., 18x45 cm, (10x38 cm), 15 long lines in a cursive secretary documentary script, flourished initial, notarial manual, episcopal seal in red wax of Adam Bothwell, diam. 6 cm, showing St. Magnus within arches of the Cathedral.
Binding Barking, Essex, 1993, red cloth gilt folding case, 73x53 cm, by Aquarius.
Provenance 1. Cathedral of St. Magnus, Kirkwall, Orkney (1565); 2. June O'Donnell (-1979); 3. Alan Thomas, London (ca. 1979-1992); 4. Shirley Thomas, London (1992-1993); 5. Sotheby's 21.6.1993:11(18).
Commentary

Adam Bothwell was bishop of Orkney and Shetland 1559-93. He performed the marriage of Mary Queen of Scots to Bothwell, and christened James VI.

Magnus was co-earl of the Orkneys with Håkon Pålssøn. On 16 April 1115 he was killed by his cousin, Håkon, King of Norway. Magnus was subsequently venerated as a martyr. His sister-son, Earl Ragnvald, started the building of the Cathedral to his honour in 1137. Besides the Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim, the Magnus Cathedral is the most substantial Norwegian building preserved from the Middle Ages.

Any document from the Orkneys are of the greatest rarity. MSS 1676/1-2 are the only ones in a private collection.

Place of origin Orkney
Dates 1565 AD