page_title: Fergus of Galloway
section_title: Ecclesiastical activities
hierarchical_section_title: Fergus of Galloway / Ecclesiastical activities
caption_attribution_description: English: Soulseat Loch
context_page_description: Fergus of Galloway was a twelfth-century Lord of Galloway. Although his familial origins are unknown, it is possible that he was of Norse-Gaelic ancestry. Fergus first appears on record in 1136, when he witnessed a charter of David I, King of Scotland. There is considerable evidence indicating that Fergus was married to a bastard daughter of Henry I, King of England. Although the identity of this woman is unknown, it is possible that she was the mother of Fergus's three children.
  Fergus forged a marital alliance with Óláfr Guðrøðarson, King of the Isles through the marriage of the latter to Fergus's daughter, Affraic. As a consequence of this union, the leading branch of the Crovan dynasty descended from Fergus. When Óláfr was assassinated by a rival branch of the dynasty, Galloway itself was attacked before Fergus's grandson, Guðrøðr Óláfsson, was able to seize control of Isles. Both Fergus and his grandson appear to have overseen military operations in Ireland, before the latter was overthrown by Somairle mac Gilla Brigte, Lord of Argyll. The fact that there is no record of Fergus lending Guðrøðr support against Somairle could be evidence of a slackening of Fergus's authority.
context_section_description: In about 1128, the Diocese of Whithorn was revived after three centuries had passed since the consecration of the last diocesan bishop. The revival itself is revealed by a papal mandate dated December 1128, and the record of the oath of the bishop-elect, Gilla Aldan, to Thurstan, Archbishop of York between about 1128 and 1140. It is uncertain who was the driving force behind the revival. David's known ecclesiastical activities could suggest that he was responsible. On the other hand, the extent of David's authority in Galloway is questionable. As for Fergus himself, there is no conclusive proof that he controlled the lordship at this point in time, or that he himself established the see.
  The fact that Gilla Aldan was likely of native origin—as opposed to David's apparent preference for Anglo-Norman clergy—and the fact that Gilla Aldan professed obedience to the Archbishop of York—an ecclesiast whom David was attempting to exclude from influencing the Scottish Church—would both appear to indicate Gilla Aldan was a non-Scottish appointment. If Fergus was indeed responsible for Whithorn's revival, it would have almost certainly aided his royal aspirations since securing ecclesiastical independence could have been part of the process of ensuring political independence. Gilla Aldan's successor was Christian, a man who was consecrated in 1154 by Hugh d'Amiens, Archbishop of Rouen, who in turn may have been acting as a proxy for Roger de Pont l'Evêque, Archbishop-elect of York.
  Fergus and his family were remarkable ecclesiastical patrons, working with Augustinians, Benedictines, Cistercians, and Premonstratensians. Surviving charter evidence reveals that Fergus granted the lands of Dunrod, St Mary's Isle (upon which a priory was at some point erected), and nearby Galtway to the Augustinian abbey of Holyrood. A fifteenth-century list of properties belonging to the Knights Hospitaller reveals that Fergus had granted this order of the lands of Galtway (within the mediaeval parishes of Balmaclellan and Dalry) at some point in his career. This transaction appears to further evidence Fergus's alignment with the English Crown.
  The necrology of the abbey of Newhouse states that Fergus was the founder of a Premonstratensian house at Whithorn. Both he and Christian are stated by the necrology of the abbey of Prémontré to have founded a monastery at Whithorn. Christian's tenure as bishop (1154–1186), and Fergus's reign as lord (×1160), suggest that the priory of Whithorn was founded at some point between about 1154 and 1160. According to the annals of Maurice of Prato, this house was transformed into a Premonstratensian house by Christian in about 1177. These sources, therefore, appear to reveal that Fergus was responsible for the establishment of a possibly Augustinian house at Whithorn, whilst Christian was responsible for its later refoundation as a Premonstratensian institution. Such a switch was not an unknown occurrence in England or on the Continent.
  Either Fergus or David—or perhaps both Fergus and David—may have been responsible for the foundation of the abbey of Dundrennan, a Cistercian house situated well within the confines of Fergus's lordship. John Fordun and Walter Bower accord its foundation solely to David, although the near contemporary John Hexham failed to note the house amongst David's known foundations. The fact that Walter Daniel, a Cistercian monk from the community at Rievaulx, was highly critical of Galloway and its inhabitants may be evidence that Fergus was unlikely to have been the sole founder. David's own close connections with the Cistercians could suggest that the monastery owed its formation, as a daughter house of Rievaulx, to cooperation between David and Fergus.
  The abbey of Dundrennan appears to have been founded in about 1142, which in turn places its formation at a time when David had extended his power in the south west. Such a date also places the foundation at about the time Máel Máedoc was in the region, which in turn may hint at his own involvement. In any case, if Fergus and David were involve
caption: Soulseat Loch, sometimes called the Green Lake,[113] where the abbey of Soulseat once stood. The abbey could be identical to "Viride Stagnum" ("green lake"),[114] where Máel Máedoc founded a monastery.
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