Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 21.djvu/323

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and two ‘maturæ sorores.’ The moral dangers inherent in his system, of which in later years Walter Map speaks so apprehensively, had made their appearance before 1166, as may be seen from the disgusting story of the ‘Wotton nun’ told by Ailred of Rievaulx (Digby MS., 147b2; Capgrave, fol. 157a2; cf. Dugdale, fol. 97. Ailred's narrative may be read in Bale, p. 225–7, and in Migne, vol. cxcv. col. 789–96).

Gilbert's writings include a treatise, ‘De Constructione (or de Fundatione) monasteriorum’ (Digby MS., fol. 14a2, 31a1; cf. Dugdale, pp. 9, 18, 19), rules and regulations for his own order, which were confirmed by Eugenius III, Hadrian IV, and Alexander III (Digby MS., 21ab; Dugdale, p. 13), and are printed in Dugdale, pp. 29, &c.; and a letter to his order (Digby MS., 45a–46a2). De Visch adds a volume of letters and certain discourses, ‘conciones’ or ‘exhortationes’ (p. 113; cf. Bale, p. 661).

Gilbert's life, written by one of his own order, and dedicated to Archbishop Hubert, is preserved, along with many other documents relating to the saint, in a fifteenth-century manuscript (Digby MS., 36) (see fol. 4a1, 6a1). The author had known Gilbert personally, and wrote at the request of Abbot Roger (ib. fol. 7b1, 6a1). Cotton. MS. Cleopatra, B. 1, fol. 31–173, as printed in the ‘Monasticon’ (pp. i–xcix), following p. 795, seems to be an abbreviated, or perhaps an earlier, form of this biography (cf. Digby MS., 6a1, 2). Two shorter lives are printed in the Bollandists' ‘Acta Sanct.’ for 4 Feb., pp. 570–573, one of which is a reprint of Capgrave. Both the Cottonian and Digby MSS. give an account of Gilbert's canonisation. The latter is prefaced by a dedicatory letter to Archbishop Hubert (fol. 4–6). It also includes two treatises on St. Gilbert's miracles (fol. 38–46a2, with which cf. Dugdale, p. 22, and fol. 63b–77a). It concludes with the correspondence relating to Gilbert's translation and canonisation, and a number of interesting letters written to him or on his behalf by Henry II, Alexander III, Henry, bishop of Winchester (d. 6 Aug. 1171), William, bishop of Norwich (d. 16 Jan. 1174), Archbishop Roger of York (d. 20 Nov. 1181), Cardinal Hugo, and other prelates, which seem to throw the Ogger dispute between 1170 and 1175 (for dates see Roger Hoveden, ii. 70; Flor. Wig. ii. 153; Ralph de Diceto, ii. 10, i. 347).

[Digby MS. 36 in Bodleian Library, Oxford; Dugdale's Monasticon, ed. 1817, &c., vol. vi. pt. ii. pp. i–xcix inserted between pp. 945 and 947; Walter Map's De Nug. Cur. ed. Wright (Camd. Soc.), 1850; William of Newburgh, ed. Howlett (Rolls Ser.); Ralph de Diceto and Roger of Hoveden (Rolls Ser.), ed. Stubbs; William of Newburgh, ed. Howlett; John of Hexham (Rolls Ser.); Bollandists' Acta Sanctorum, February, vol. i.; Capgrave's Legenda Angliæ, 1516; St. Bernard's Works, ap. Migne, vol. clxxxii.; Epistolæ Eugenii, vol. iii. ap. Migne, vol. clxxx.; Ailredi Opera, ap Migne, cxcv. 789–96; Harpsfeld's Hist. Eccles. Anglic. pp. 265–7; Planta's Cat. of Cotton. MSS.; De Visch's Bibliotheca Script. Ord. S. Cisterc. Douai, 1649; Henriquez's Menologium Cisterciense, 1630; Butler's Lives of the Saints, ed. 1847, ii. 48–50; Baring-Gould's Lives of the Saints, ii. 99–105, ed. 1872, Bale ed. 1559, pp. 214–17; Pits, pp. 252–3.]

T. A. A.

GILBERT of Moray (d. 1245), bishop of Caithness, and the last Scotsman enrolled in the Kalendar of Saints, was a member of the noble family of Moray, and son of William, lord of Duffus and Strabrook, who had vast estates in the north. Fordun (bk. viii. ch. xxvi.), in his account of the council of Northampton in 1176, gives at length the speech of a young canon named Gilbert, who defended with great eloquence the rights of the church of Scotland. It has been sought by Bower, Spotiswood, and others to identify this Gilbert with the bishop of Caithness; but it is absurd to suppose that if, as they say, he thus made a brilliant reputation, he would have waited nearly half a century for a bishopric. After a good religious and secular education, Gilbert became archdeacon of Moray, in which capacity his name occurs in several charters dated between 1203 and 1221 (given with facsimiles in Registrum de Moravia). He was elected bishop of Caithness by the assent of all the clergy and people in 1223. It does not appear that he was ever, as has been asserted, chamberlain of Scotland, for he is never mentioned with that title in the charters which he granted or witnessed, nor does any chamberlain named Gilbert appear in any authentic document till long after St. Gilbert's death. Probably, however, he administered the property of the crown in the north, and was employed in the guardianship and repair of castles. Through the position which he thus held and through the influence of his family he was able to play a great part in civilising his province, winning popularity where his two predecessors had both been murdered. He built the cathedral of Dornoch at his own cost, and drew up for its chapter a constitution, preserved in the records of his bishopric. According to Dempster (vii. 663) he wrote ‘Exhortationes ad ecclesiam suam,’ and ‘De libertate Scotiæ.’ He died on 1 April 1245; he was soon afterwards canonised, and was held in great reverence till the Reformation.