ABSTRACT
A narrative account is presented of the location and functions of residences of the bishops of Aberdeen and Moray. Archaeological, documentary and place-name evidence is used, as well as vernacular traditions, to examine the development of bishops' palaces, castles and manors in the two sees from Pictish times up to the Reformation. The role of chapels in bishops' residences is addressed as well as the co-option of the cults of local and national saints in the maintenance of episcopal authority. Because the documentary evidence is sparse and there is considerable variation in the surviving physical evidence (from earthworks to an extremely large masonry tower at Spynie), bishops' palaces in Scotland have received less attention than is the case with monasteries. In reviewing the evidence, this article contrasts the geographically widespread distribution of residences in the diocese of Aberdeen with the concentration of sites round the now drained Loch Spynie in Moray.
