He fared to Caithness, and was there worthily received of all: Visualising the Impact of the Cult of St Magnus in Caithness

In this article we present and analyse evidence for the cult of St Magnus in Caithness. We do this in the context of the earldoms of Caithness and Orkney in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and with specific attention to visualising the evidence for the cult. By doing so we show differences in ways that the cult is manifest, and by extension consider how Magnus may have been venerated, in the three ecclesiastically, politically, and familially linked communities of Orkney, Shetland, and Caithness. In doing so we engage with wider political and ecclesiastical concerns impacting this area in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and their impact upon the spread of the cult of St Magnus in the Northern earldoms.