oft, the monk went out at the door;
and was straightway smitten across the face, and fell down dead inside
the loft. And when the bishop was told that, he answered, 'That had
not happened sooner than was likely, for he was always making our
matters worse.' Then the bishop bade Rafn tell the freemen that he
wished to be reconciled with them. But when this was told to the
freemen, all those among them who were wiser were glad to hear it.
Then the bishop went out and meant to be reconciled. But when the
worse kind of men saw that, those who were most mad, they seized
Bishop Adam, and brought him into a little house and set fire to
it. But the house burned so quickly that they who wished to save
the bishop could do nothing. Thus Bishop Adam died, and his body was
little burnt when it was found. Then a fitting grave was bestowed
on it,[9] and a worthy burial. But those who had been the greatest
friends of the bishop, then sent men to find the King of Scots.
Alexander was then King of Scots, the son of King William the Saint.
But when the king was ware of these tidings" (he took it) "so ill that
men have those miseries in mind which he wrought after the burning of
the bishop, in maiming of men and manslaying, and loss of goods and
banishment out of the land."

From the above account of the matter, it appears that Earl John, who
was responsible for law and order in Caithness at the time, although
invited by Rafn the Lawman to intervene, and although he was on the
spot, did nothing, saying "he could give no advice" and "that he
thought it concerned him very little," and adding that "two bad things
were before them, that it was unbearable" and that "he could suggest
no other choice,"[10] that is, but to pay the bishop's tithes, however
exorbitant, or not pay them, or possibly to make an end of him. It is
clear also that the monk who was with the bishop was to blame for his
exactions. But there is some excuse in the fact that Bishop John had
been censured by Rome for his neglect in collecting the dues of Rome
or Peter's Pence as greatly as Bishop Adam was blamed by the people of
Caithness for his greediness. There is no need to brand Bishop Adam as
a voluptuary for excessive drinking and immorality.[11]

These events took place in 1222, and King Alexander, urged by the
remainder of the bishops in Scotland, at once marched into Caithness
with an army, and took vengeance on the bishop's murderers by
mutilating a large number of t