Wimund

Wimund was a bishop who became a seafaring warlord adventurer in the years after 1147. His story is passed down to us by 12th-century English historian William of Newburgh in his Historia rerum anglicarum, Book I, Chapter 24 entitled "Of bishop Wimund, his life unbecoming a bishop, and how he was deprived of his sight".[1]

Wimund's origins William tells us that Wimund was "born in the most obscure spot in England." He was educated at Furness Abbey, founded 1123–1127 by the future Stephen I of England. Wimund may have been a member of the party sent from Furness to found a house at Rushen on the Isle of Man by request of Amlaíb son of Gofraid Cróbh bhan, the King of Mann and the Isles, in 1134.[2]

King Amlaíb granted the monks of Furness the right to elect the Bishop of the Isles, and it appears that Wimund was elected to the see during the time of Thurstan (II), Archbishop of York. Thurstan died in early 1140, so that Wimund became Bishop of the Isles in the period 1134–1140.[3] This was a very rapid rise for a young man of apparently obscure origins.

However, as William of Newburgh tells us later, Wimund in time claimed to be the son of the Mormaer of Moray. William, and some later writers, doubted Wimund's claims. Modern historians have been more inclined to take this claim seriously. Some have proposed that Wimund was a son of Óengus of Moray (died 1130), grandson of King Lulach mac Gille Coemgáin. However, his link with Cumbria has led to the supposition that Wimund was a son (possibly illegitimate) of William fitz Duncan, son of King Donnchad mac Maíl Coluim. William held extensive lands in Cumbria through his mother, Octreda, daughter of Cospatrick of Northumbria, and is believed to have been Mormaer or Earl of Moray between Óengus's death in 1130 and his own death in 1147.[4]

Bishop Wimund The following is a summary of William of Newburgh's account of the life of Bishop Wimund.

Wimund's bishopric of the Isles had its seat on the Isle of Skye. The ruins of Snizort Cathedral, dedicated to Columba, are still visible near Skeabost. William of Newburgh writes that Wimund, "[n]ot content with the dignity of his episcopal office, he next anticipated in his mind how he might accomplish great and wonderful things; for he possessed a haughty speaking mouth with the proudest heart."

However, Wimund's father, if he was indeed the son of William fitz Duncan, was alive for the first seven years at least of his time as a Bishop of the Isles. So long as his father was alive, Wimund need hardly "[feign] himself to be the son of the earl of Moray and that he was deprived of the inheritance of his fathers by the king of Scotland" as William says. But William may be anticipating himself; Wimund's first conflict was not with his uncle King David, but with a fellow bishop, and there is no reason to suppose that these two conflicts were linked.

During Wimund's episcopate, or shortly before its beginning, Gille Aldan was consecrated Bishop of Whithorn, probably by the agreement of Fergus of Galloway and Archbishop Thurstan, and with the approval of Pope Honorius III. The lands of the recreated Bishopric of Whithorn had probably been subject to the Bishops of the Isles, and for rival bishops to employ armed force to drive off their rivals was hardly unknown. Thus, rather than to gain his inheritance, Wimund's struggle with Gille Aldan was apparently an attempt to prevent his bishopric being partitioned in favour of a rival.[5] After being captured, he was blinded, and castrated and spent the rest of his life at the monastery at Byland Abbey.

Notes

• 1. Historia rerum anglicarum, Book 1 Ch.24, Retrieved Jan. 2005
• 2. Oram, pp.182–183.
• 3. Oram, p. 183
• 4. McDonald, pp.101–102; Oram, pp. 183–186. Wimund has also been conflated with Malcolm MacHeth.
• 5. Richard Oram, The Lordship of Galloway, pp. 164-76.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wimund

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From the Chronicle of William of Newburgh (c.1135-98) Chapter 24: Of bishop Wimund, his life unbecoming a bishop, and how he was deprived of his sight

[1] This person was born in England, of the meanest origin and after acquiring the first elements of literature, not having wherewith to support himself at school, he undertook, as he had some know]edge of the art of writing, for a maintenance the office of scribe to certain monks. After this, he received the tonsure at Furness, and professed the monastic life; when he had obtained access to a sufficient number of books, with adequate leisure, and assisted with three admirable requisites -- an ardent temper, a retentive memory, and competent eloquence -- he advanced so rapidly that the highest expectations were formed of him. After a time, being dispatched with his brethren to the Isle of Man, he so pleased the barbarous natives with the sweetness of his address, and openness of his countenance, being also of a tall and athletic make, that they requested him to become their bishop, and obtained their desire. [2] He now became inflated with success, and began to conceive great designs. Not content with the dignity of his episcopal office, he next anticipated in his mind how he might accomplish great and wonderful things; for he possessed a haughty speaking mouth with the proudest heart. At last, having collected a band of needy and desperate men, and not fearing the judgment of truth, he feigned himself to be the son of the earl of Moray and that he was deprived of the inheritance of his fathers by the king of Scotland. He affirmed that it was his intention not merely to assert his rights, but to avenge his wrongs, that he wished them to be partakers both of his dangers and of his fortunes; and though the matter might be attended with some labor and peril, still much glory and great advantage were attached to it. All the people being incited, and having taken an oath to him, he began his mad career throughout the adjacent islands; and became, like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the Lord, forgetting that his episcopal office required of him to be, with Peter, a fisher of men. Everyday he was joined by troops of adherents, among whom he was conspicuous above all by the head and shoulders; and, like some mighty commander, he inflamed their desires. He then made a descent on the provinces of Scotland, wasting all before him with rapine and slaughter; but whenever the royal army was dispatched against him, he eluded the whole warlike preparation, either by retreating to distant forests, or taking to the sea; and when the troops had retired, he again issued from his hiding-places to ravage the provinces. [3] But, while he was thus successful in everything, and had become an object of terror even to the king, a certain bishop -- a man of singular simplicity -- repressed his audacity for a time. When this bishop was threatened with extermination by war, if he did not pay him tribute, he replied, "God's will be done; but from my example no one bishop shall ever become tributary to another." Whereupon spiriting up his people, superior only in faith, for in other respects he was greatly inferior, he met him as he was furiously advancing, and himself striking the first blow in the battle, by way of animating his party, he threw a small hatchet, and, by God's assistance, he felled his enemy to the earth, as he was marching in the van. Gladdened at this event, the people rushed desperately against the marauders, and killing vast numbers of them, compelled their ferocious leader shamefully to fly. [4] Wimund himself used afterwards, with much pleasantry, boastingly to relate among his friends, that God alone was able to vanquish him by the faith of a simple bishop. This circumstance I learnt from a person who had been one of his soldiers, and had fled with those who had made their escape. Recovering his forces, however, he ravaged the islands and provinces of Scotland, as he had done before. The king was, therefore, compelled to soothe the plunderer, adopting the wise counsel of acting by stratagem against a proud and crafty foe; for this was a case in which strength was of no avail. Therefore, yielding a certain province to him, together with the monastery of Furness, he suspended his incursions for a while; but whilst he was proudly proceeding through his subject province, surrounded by his army, like a king, and severe to a degree against the very monastery where he had been a monk, some of the people, who were unable to endure either his power or his insolence, with the consent of the nobles, laid a snare for him. Obtaining a favorable opportunity, when he was following slowly, and almost unattended, a large party which he bad sent forward to procure entertainment, they took and bound him, and as both eyes were wicked, deprived him of both; and, providing against all future excess, they made him an eunuch for the sake of the kingdom of Scotland, not for that of Heaven. Afterwards he came to us at Byland, and quietly continued there many years till his death. But he is reported even there to have said, that had he only the eye of a sparrow his enemies should have little occasion to rejoice at what they had done to him. http://legacy.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/williamofnewburgh-one.asp#24