"In the time of king Alexander waz mony nobill clerkes: as Hugo—was in his dayes Saint Gilbert, bishop of Catteynes, redemption: ann: M.CCXLIX.
"Gilbert, archdeacon of Moray, a member of the great family of De Moravia, was himself already possessed of great estates in Sutherland by the gift of his kinsman, Hugh Freskyn. He was the son of W. de Moravia, Lord of Strabock and Duffus, and cousin-germ ain of William, Earl of Sutherland. He built the cathedral church of Dornoch at his own expense, and its endowments were procured by him. In the charter-room at Dunrobin is the charter of the constitution of his newly-built cathedral. It is not dated, and its era can only be limited by the period of Gilbert's episcopate: 1223-45."—(Cosmo Innes, Sketches of Scottish History, p. 82.)
So much for the historical value of these legends. As for their mythology, I hear St. Gilbert called in Sutherland the Gobhaìnn Saor, and this epithet connects him as a builder with the fabulous freemason and master-smith to whom seventeen Irish churches are attributed. Gobha means a smith, Saor means free or noble, but the name applies really not to any man but to a class—to those Cuthite builders to whom Ireland owes her round towers. Tradition, however, there affirms that that fabulous Gohha was "a black and lusty youth."[1] It is interesting to see the prehistoric Vulcans and Tubal Cains of Cuthite descent transformed in Sutherland into Holy Gilbert, and in Ireland figuring as St. Gobban and St. Abban.—(See Keane's Irish Temples, and Colgan's Fables of the Irish Saints.)
The tradition of the hammer goes back to the Scandinavian tale of Thor and his hammer.
In his character as a dragon-slayer St. Gilbert forms but one of a goodly company of medieval saints and heroes.
The prowess of certain knights like William de Somervale against the "loathly worm*' gives its name to Ormiston, so-called from the wyrm, or dragon, which perished there. There is a Cheshire legend which goes over the same dangers and the same exploits.
