Michael of Glasgow

Michael of Glasgowis the earliest knownbishop of Glasgowof the 12th century. Records of his episcopate do not survive from the records of theKingdom of Scotland,however a bishop and a bishop with the name Michael is recorded in foreign records. A letter ofRalph d'Escures,Archbishop of Canterbury(1114–22), toPope Calixtus II,records thatThomas,Archbishop of York(1109–14), had ordained a bishop for theseeof the "Britons of Glasgow". The bishop here is not named. However,Thomas Stubbs,a historian writing in the second half of the 14th century, tells us that Archbishop Thomas had ordained a man called Michael at the request ofDavid,thenPrince of the Cumbrians.Stubs informs us that Michael had dedicated churches in the diocese of York. According to Stubbs, Michael was buried inSt Laurence's Church, Morland,Westmorland.It is possible that Michael was merely a nominal bishop, like the nominal York-appointedbishops of Orkney,whose main duties consisted of assisting the Archbishop of York in day-to-day duties.

References

• Anderson, Alan Orr,Scottish Annals from English Chroniclers: AD 500–1286,(London, 1908), republished, Marjorie Anderson (ed.) (Stamford, 1991), pp. 133–4
• Dowden, John,The Bishops of Scotland,ed. J. Maitland Thomson, (Glasgow, 1912), pp. 294–5