Máel Ísu I is the third alleged
Bishop of Cennrígmonaid (fl. mid-10th century), equivalent to latter day
St Andrews
St Andrews (; ; , pronounced ʰʲɪʎˈrˠiː.ɪɲ is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fourth-largest settleme ...
. He is mentioned in the bishop-lists of the 15th-century historians
Walter Bower
Walter Bower (or Bowmaker; 24 December 1449) was a Scottish canon regular and abbot of Inchcolm Abbey in the Firth of Forth, who is noted as a chronicler of his era. He was born about 1385 at Haddington, East Lothian, in the Kingdom of Scotl ...
(Malisius) and
Andrew of Wyntoun (Malice) as the successor of
Fothad I
Fothad I (died 963) is the second alleged Bishop of the Scots (906x955). We know he had the status of "bishop" during the reign of King Dub mac Maíl Coluim because the ''Chronicle of the Kings of Alba'' has his death in the period of his reign ...
, and it is claimed that he reigned as bishop for eight years. If Máel Ísu's predecessor did get expelled from the bishopric in 955, (and Máel Ísu succeeded immediately), and if Máel Ísu's reign really was eight years, then Máel Ísu would have held the bishopric between the years 955 and 963.
Our only sources for Máel Ísu list his name in the forms ''Malisius'' and ''Malice'', forms clearly identifiable with the common medieval Scottish name Máel Ísu ("tonsured one of Jesus"), and thus he cannot be identified with the "Bishop Máel Brigte" mentioned in the early 11th-century source known as the ''
Chronicle of the Kings of Alba
The ''Chronicle of the Kings of Alba'', or ''Scottish Chronicle'', is a short written chronicle covering the period from the time of Kenneth MacAlpin (Cináed mac Ailpín) (d. 858) until the reign of Kenneth II (Cináed mac Maíl Coluim) (r. 971 ...
'', whose death can be placed sometime between 966 and 971.
[Alan Orr Anderson, ''Early Sources of Scottish History: AD 500–1286'', 2 Vols, (Edinburgh, 1922), vol. i, p. 475; "Maelbrigde" is the form wrongly chosen by the editors of the ''Scotichronicon'' - see John MacQueen, op. cit. pp. 345, 463.]
According to the lists, Máel Ísu was succeeded by Bishop
Cellach II
Cellach II is the fourth alleged Bishop of the Scots (fl. mid-10th century), the predecessor of the later St Andrews bishopric (the bishopric may not actually have been fixed at St Andrews at this period).
He is mentioned in the bishop-lists of ...
.
See also
*
Máel Brigte
Notes
References
*
Anderson, Alan Orr, ''Early Sources of Scottish History: AD 500–1286'', 2 Vols, (Edinburgh, 1922), vol. i
*MacQueen, John, MacQueen, Winifred & Watt, D.E.R. (eds.), ''Scottichronicon by Walter Bower in Latin and English'', Vol. 3, (Aberdeen, 1995)
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mael Isu 01 Of Cennrigmonaid
10th-century births
960s deaths
Bishops of St Andrews
Medieval Gaels from Scotland
10th-century Scottish bishops