Thorulf or Torulf (fl. mid-11th century) was medieval

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Christian clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which means 'carry before', 'be set above or over' or 'pre ...

, a

Bishop of Orkney The Bishop of Orkney was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Orkney, one of thirteen medieval bishoprics of Scotland. It included both Orkney and Shetland. It was based for almost all of its history at St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall. Th ...

. Although probably a native Scandinavian, he is known only from the account of the German writer

Adam of Bremen Adam of Bremen ( la, Adamus Bremensis; german: Adam von Bremen) (before 1050 – 12 October 1081/1085) was a German medieval chronicler. He lived and worked in the second half of the eleventh century. Adam is most famous for his chronicle ''Gesta ...

. Adam reported that he was appointed bishop by Adalbert,

Archbishop of Hamburg The Archdiocese of Hamburg (Lat. ''Archidioecesis Hamburgensis''; Ger. Erzbistum Hamburg) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese in the north of Germany and covers the Federal States of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein as well as ...

, the first Orcadian appointee under Hamburg overlordship. Thorulf's period of appointment coincided with the reign of Earl

Thorfinn Sigurdsson Thorfinn Sigurdsson (1009?– 1065), also known as Thorfinn the Mighty (Old Norse: ''Þorfinnr inn riki''), was an 11th-century Jarl of Orkney. He was the youngest of five sons of Jarl Sigurd Hlodvirsson and the only one resulting from Sigu ...

, alleged builder of the

Birsay Birsay () (Old Norse: ''Birgisherað'') is a parish in the north west corner of The Mainland of Orkney, Scotland. Almost all the land in the parish is devoted to agriculture: chiefly grassland used to rear beef cattle. There are various ancient ...

church and founder of the bishopric of Orkney.

Hamburg and Orkney

Thorulf is known only from one source. According to the late 11th-century Saxon writer

, he was appointed as bishop of ''Blascona'' in Orkney by Adalbert,

. In the mid-11th century, the Archbishop of Hamburg's jurisdiction extended over Scandinavia. Historians identify ''Blascona'' with

(

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...

: ''Birgisherað''), ''Blascona'' a Latinisation perhaps derived from an older form. Adam leaves no personal details about Thorulf, but supplies some information about the Orkney see, stating that the:

...Orkney Islands, although they had previously been ruled by English and Scottish bishops, our primate dalberton the pope's order consecrated Thorulf bishop for the city of Birsay 'in civitatem Blasconam'' and he was to have cure of all.

The date was approximately 1050, though could have been at any point between 1043 and 1072, the episcopate of Adalbert. The date 1050 is suggested as this was around the time that Earl

, ruler of Orkney, visited Rome.

Thorulf and Thorfinn

As Adam mentioned that the Orcadians had sent legates, it is thought that Thorulf was appointed at Orcadian instigation, and it has even be suggested that the earl himself was among these legates. Historian Barbara Crawford thought that Thorulf was a Scandindavian, and a close associate of the earl. The '' Orkneyinga saga'' related that Birsay was the permanent residence of Earl Thorfinn, and that the earl built a minster there edicated to Christas the seat of the first Orkney bishop. Although this specific claim may not be true ne previous bishop is known it is nevertheless taken as evidence that Thorfinn's reign was a significant turning point for the earldom, suggesting according to historian Ronald Cant "a deliberate plan on the part of the earl to perfect the organization of the church in Orkney". Thorfinn and Thorulf's Christ Church has been identified with the Romanesque ruins on the

tidal island A tidal island is a piece of land that is connected to the mainland by a natural or man-made causeway that is exposed at low tide and submerged at high tide. Because of the mystique surrounding tidal islands, many of them have been sites of ...

known as

Brough of Birsay The Brough of Birsay is an uninhabited tidal island off the north-west coast of The Mainland of Orkney, Scotland, in the parish of Birsay. It is located around 13 miles north of Stromness and features the remains of Pictish and Norse settle ...

, but there is also evidence that it was located over in the

Mainland Mainland is defined as "relating to or forming the main part of a country or continent, not including the islands around it egardless of status under territorial jurisdiction by an entity" The term is often politically, economically and/or dem ...

next to the Earl's palace.Thomson, ''New History'', pp. 85–87

Notes

References

* * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thorulf Of Orkney 11th-century deaths Bishops of Orkney Year of birth unknown 11th-century Scottish Roman Catholic bishops