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174 Gaelic Society of Inverness.
Bishops of ]\Ian rocoivod Irish consecration, tJiat in 838 tlio
Bishopric of Sodor was constituted by Pope Gregory, and that
subsequent Bisliops of Man not knowing wlietlier they shouUl
obey Drontlieini, Yoi-k, or Canterbury, sought confiruiation from
the Pope. Most of this is true, but I believe St German of Man
is St German of Auxerre, and that his parish and cathedral on
the Peel islet confirm views, which, on other gi-ounds, T hold
regarding the Christianising importance of the work of St Ninian
and the mission of St Palladius. I believe St German was never
in Man, except l)y the representation of his friends and (lisci}»los.
It is a different case with Maughold, the secondary patron saint
of Man. He was an Irishman, and the chief of a band of rol)bei*s.
He was (i?L\x^tflagrante delicto or red-handed, brought to St Patrick,
and converted. But either foi' penance or for punishment he was
sent to sea in a skin-covered wicker boat, with feet and hands tied.
Wind and currents drifted him safely to IMaugliold Head in ]\Ian,
and he became in due time Bishcp of the island. After Maug
hold tliere was an obscure succession of Irisli, Welsh, and Scotch
bisliops. About 1130—the Manx date i.s, by evident mistake,
1113 arose a man who in a curious way connected the Island
of INIan with our own district, by much trouble, and a fearful
baptism of blood. In his profession this man thus styled himself
: Ego Wymunihis snnctae ecclesice de Schid— I, Wymundus,
of the holy Church of Skye. He someway became one of the
first monks of the splendid monastery of Furness, on the Cambrian
shore opposite Man, which was founded in 1124 in the
midst of a still thoroughly British population, who had been long
allied with the Albanic nation. Olave, tlie Norwegian King of
Man and the Isles, granted land at Rushen to Yvo, abl^ot of Furness,
and Abbot Yvo sent over Brother Wymundus and other
monks to take possession of the affiliated house tliere. Brother
Wymundus quickly ingratiated himself, not only with the King,
l)ut with the Celtic people of the isle, who with one acclaim
elected him for their Bishop, and sent him to Thurstan, Archbishop
of York, who consecrated him. We may be sure that
there was not much difference between the Gaelic of Skye and
the Gaelic of Man in the 12tli century, and it seems the Norwegian
king as well as the Celtic people of Man were carried
off their feet liy the eloquence and good looks of Wymundus, wlio
was tall, handsome, open-faced, and enthusiastic. No .sooner,
liowever, was Wymundus con.secrated and in.stalled, than he called
him.self Malcolm M'Heth, the lieir of the Earl or Maormor of
Moray, who was slajn in 1130, when acting as one of the princi-