front was erected and the cathedral was extended westwards. It may be mentioned that the cathedral stands alone in the middle of a large churchyard. There are no other ecclesiastical structures connected with it, such as cloisters or chapter house. The Bishop’s Palace,[168] however, is not far off. It has been a fine stately edifice, but is now greatly ruined. Before considering more minutely the order of construction of the cathedral, it is desirable to glance at the conditions under which it was designed and carried out. Under the rule of the Norsemen, in the ninth and tenth centuries, any early symptoms of Christian influence which may have previously existed in Orkney had died out. But after the conversion of the inhabitants of Orkney to Christianity, about the year 1000, traces of Christian worship became observable. The first actual Bishop of Orkney was William the Old, who held the bishopric for sixty-six years, and died in 1168. He must, therefore, have been consecrated in 1102. His see was first at Birsay (see p. 135), but was removed to Kirkwall on the erection of the cathedral in 1137-52. The Bishop of Orkney was one of the suffragans of the metropolitan see of Throndhjeim, which was erected in 1154. It was not till 1472 that the see was placed under the metropolitan Bishop of St. Andrews. The possession of the Orkneys was sometimes divided between two relatives. In the beginning of the twelfth century two cousins, Hacon and Magnus, shared the government; but in 1115 the latter was treacherously slain in the island of Egilsay by Hacon, who thus obtained the whole earldom. Some time after, however, a new claimant for Magnus’ share arose in Rognvald, the son of Magnus’ sister, who made a vow that if he succeeded in establishing his claim he would erect a “stone minster” in honour of his predecessor, St. Magnus, the latter having been canonised. Rognvald was successful in his project, and immediately proceeded to fulfil his vow by founding at Kirkwall a cathedral dedicated to St. Magnus. The building was designed and superintended by the Norwegian Kol, the father of Rognvald, who had the principal oversight of the whole work. The relics of St. Magnus were brought from Christ’s Kirk, in Birsay, to be deposited in the cathedral as soon as it was ready to receive them; but in the meantime they rested in the Church of St. Olaf, an older edifice which then existed at Kirkwall.[169] The Cathedral of St. Magnus was thus designed and erected by a Norwegian earl, while the bishopric was under the authority of the Norwegian Metropolitan of Throndhjeim. It is thus practically a [Illustration: FIG. 229.--Kirkwall Cathedral. View of North Transept and Choir.] [Illustration: FIG. 230.--Kirkwall Cathedral. View from South-East.] Norwegian edifice, and is by far the grandest monument of the rule of the Norsemen in Orkney.