. The arms of the Scottish bishoprics. cese and cathedral.{2) Bishop Thomas Murray de Pingask, consecrated1343, bore on his seal the device of a Bishop betweentwo shields; the dexter shield bearing the paternalarms of Murray, and the sinister, a Lymphad orGalley within a double tressure, flory counter lattcv shield is something of a mystery. Thearms are those of the Lord of the Isles, and the inscrip-tion on tlie seal as read by Laing is s. tiiome deiGRA EPi CATHENENSis ET INSULA, the scal of Thomas,Bishop of Caithness and the Isles. Laing thereforeregarded this shield as having been
. The arms of the Scottish bishoprics. cese and cathedral.{2) Bishop Thomas Murray de Pingask, consecrated1343, bore on his seal the device of a Bishop betweentwo shields; the dexter shield bearing the paternalarms of Murray, and the sinister, a Lymphad orGalley within a double tressure, flory counter lattcv shield is something of a mystery. Thearms are those of the Lord of the Isles, and the inscrip-tion on tlie seal as read by Laing is s. tiiome deiGRA EPi CATHENENSis ET INSULA, the scal of Thomas,Bishop of Caithness and the Isles. Laing thereforeregarded this shield as having been borne on his sealby Bishop Murray in allusion to his see of the Isles,the arms of the Earldom of Caithness being a galley orlymphad without the tressure. There is, however, norecord of this Bishop having held the see of the Islesin addition to Caithness, and according to Woodwardthe shield is intended to allude to the latter diocese. .\ later writer on Scottish seals (McDonald, Scot-tish Aimorial Seals ) throws new light on the ques-. 51 tion. He reads the inscription : s. thome dei graEPi IN scociA. The shield thereforewould thus appear without doubt to be intended for thediocese of Caithness. But the tressure still presents a difliculty. Lind-say of the Mount, Burke, and others all agree inblazoning the arms of the Earldom of Caithness as a galley in full sail —no tressure. But thoughas a general rule the galley is blazoned without thetressure, on the seal of John, Earl of Caithness(1296), there is a shield charged with a galley withinthe royal tressure, so the use of this device was notunknown. It may therefore be assumed that the shield onBishop Murrays seal is intended to represent thearms of the Earldom of Caithness; and that for somereason, unknown to us, the shield was charged withthe honourable addition of the royal tressure. (3) The arms of the province of Caithness, as alreadynoted, were a galley in full sail, and this deviceappears as quarterings on
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookidarmsofscottishbi00lyonric
