[MR] BBC: Cathedral Graffiti Survey

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends, Especially Fellow Scots,

Today the BBC is reporting on a project to record over 900 years of
graffiti left on, or inscribed into, the walls of St. Magnus Cathedral in
Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands. The cathedral is one of only two intact
medieval cathedrals in Scotland (the other is St. Kentigern's, or St.
Mungo's Cathedral in Glasgow).

The graffiti ranges from masons' marks, to modern pencil scribbles, and
even includes a probably spurious signature of Lief Erickson (image shown
in the story). Many of the inscriptions are from the middle ages:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-46898421 .

One wonders if the marks were left as devotional tokens, or bored peasants
carved their initials there during overly-long services they could barely
hear from beyond the rood screen. Probably some of both.

More about St. Magnus Cathedral can be found at https://www.stmagnus.org or
at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Magnus_Cathedral .

St. Magnus was an Earl of Orkney and a pious Christian ruler. He was
murdered by his cousin Earl Haakon circa 1116. St. Magnus' remains were
later translated to the Cathedral in Kirkwall. His bones were found hidden
within a niche in the church in 1917:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnus_Erlendsson,_Earl_of_Orkney .

Also discovered in the cathedral during the 19th century were the remains
of Magnus' nephew, St. Rögnvald.  It was he who commissioned the cathedral
after seizing power and murdering Haakon's son and successor Earl Paul:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rögnvald_Kali_Kolsson . Rögnvald may have
been a saint, but he didn't mess around when it came to dealing with his
enemies, especially distant relatives.

Yours Aye,

Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆