The seated dean (robed like a canon but distinguished by his hat) is handed the pope’s letter by a kneeling cleric who points to William (standing in front of him). The letter states that William’s election should stand so long as an oath is sworn by the dean that the election was valid. The bishop in the background and the abbot (with blue habit, monastic tonsure and crozier) represent Ralph Nowell, the bishop of the Orkneys, and a Benedictine abbot, both of whom subsequently swore the oath in lieu of the dean.
