Rodulff (''Rodulf'') is claimed by a 15th-century chronicle ''Chronicon episcoporum Finlandensium'' to have worked as a missionary "bishop" in

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

after Bishop Henry had died in the 1150s.
Chronicon episcoporum Finlandensium
' by an unknown writer. Part of the Palmsköld collection. In Latin. Rodulff was allegedly from

Västergötland Västergötland (), also known as West Gothland or the Latinized version Westrogothia in older literature, is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden (''landskap'' in Swedish), situated in the southwest of Sweden. Vä ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. No historical records of Rodulff survive, and no Bishop or Diocese of Finland is mentioned in a papal letter from 1171 (or 1172) by the seemingly well-informed

Pope Alexander III Pope Alexander III (c. 1100/1105 – 30 August 1181), born Roland (), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 7 September 1159 until his death in 1181. A native of Siena, Alexander became pope after a Papal election, ...

, who otherwise addressed the situation of the church in Finland. However, the Pope mentions that there were preachers, presumably from Sweden, working in Finland and was worried about their bad treatment by the Finns. Pope had earlier in 1165 authorized the first missionary Bishop of Estonia to be appointed, and was a close acquaintance of both Eskil, the

Archbishop of Lund List of (arch)bishops of Lund. Until the Reformation in Denmark, Danish Reformation the centre of a great Latin (arch)bishopric, Lund has been in Sweden since the Treaty of Roskilde in 1658. The Diocese of Lund is now one of thirteen in the Ch ...

, and Stefan, the

Archbishop of Uppsala The Archbishop of Uppsala (spelled Upsala until the early 20th century) has been the primate of Sweden in an unbroken succession since 1164, first during the Catholic era, and from the 1530s and onward under the Lutheran church. Historical ove ...

, who both had spent time with him in France where he had been exiled in the 1160s. Following the situation in Estonia, Pope personally interfered in the Estonian mission in 1171. Furthermore, in a surviving list of Swedish bishoprics from 1164, there is no reference, factual or propagandist, to Finland.''Suomen varhaiskeskiajan lähteitä'', 1989. . According to the ''Chronicon'', Rodulff was captured and killed by

Curonians :''The Kursenieki are also sometimes known as Curonians.'' The Curonians or Kurs (; ) were a medieval Balts, Baltic tribe living on the shores of the Baltic Sea in the 5th–16th centuries, in what are now western parts of Latvia and Lithuania. ...

and succeeded by

Bishop Folquinus A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

. Though other legends possibly place his death in Piispanristi.

References

Finnish Roman Catholic bishops Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown {{Finland-bio-stub

See also

References